Ebooks at Liberal Arts Colleges

"CourseSmart also introduced Subscription Packs, which allow students to fill six slots in a "digital bookshelf" for a flat fee of $200. "

I wonder if they are anticipating competition from Oyster.

Useful observations. Good to see Maryanne Wolf cited.

"Major publishers in higher education have already been collecting data from millions of students who use their digital materials. But CourseSmart goes further by individually packaging for each professor information on all the students in a class - a bold effort that is already beginning to affect how teachers present material and how students respond to it, even as critics question how well it measures learning."

Very good, condensed overview of ebook issues.

"Springer has released eBook Use and Acceptance in an Undergraduate Institution. Here's an excerpt : The survey finds high use of eBooks at Wellesley College, with 70% of the respondents indicating they have used eBooks. Other recent international surveys of eBook use have shown 52-64% of students or faculty responding that they have used eBooks (Figure 10). Within the general U.S. population 21% of adults reported having used eBooks in 2011. Some eBook use by Wellesley students and faculty may be non-academic, leisure reading, but half of Wellesley's eBook users report having used eBooks from the Wellesley College Library's collection."

"In a sign of continuing evolution in the college textbook market, an unlikely partnership was announced this week between Wiley, an industry leader, and Rice University-based OpenStax College, a newcomer from the "open education resources" (OER) movement. The partnership calls for Wiley to deliver content from OpenStax College's two new biology textbooks via WileyPLUS with its online learning, practice and assessment resources that are proven to improve learning outcomes."

Interesting to see the I2 link.