Campus Technology / 01-27-11 / Dian Schaffhauser
A slew of schools are testing out a blend of course management functionality and textbook content that could make for a simpler transition for institutions to the use of more digital curriculum. Blackboard and McGraw-Hill Higher Education have put together an integrated digital course system that combines a single point of access, learning tools, and class content, along with multiple other features.
Currently, 20 colleges and universities are running pilots tests, and an additional 100 instructors are expected to participate. The offering combines the latest version of Blackboard Learn, a learning management system, with McGraw-Hill's Connect and Create. Connect is an application to help faculty create digital course content and assignments and do automatic grading; Create lets faculty compile textbooks that use their own materials as well as content from the company's publishing portfolio.
[snip]. Faculty can build their own textbooks by compiling chapters from the McGraw-Hill catalog and then selling them to students through a link on the course site. Other tools enable instructors to provide students with textual content and recorded lectures, also from within the course site.
The product is expected to be widely available in summer 2011 and will run on Blackboard Learn version 9.1.
"As instructors, we have limited time with our students in the classroom, and have found that digital programs allow us to continually engage with them on their schedule and in an online environment that they are comfortable in," said Kayla Christensen, a lecturer of accounting at Iowa State University, one of the schools that will pilot the new platform. "This solution will give us more time with our students and facilitate on-going learning and assessment through streamlined access to course materials.
[snip]
Ray Henderson, Blackboard Learn president, believes the new offering will lead to "faster and deeper adoption of digital products" in higher education. "This is the industry's first solution that effectively pairs a top-flight learning platform with high quality, cloud-based publisher content and tools," he said. [snip].
The companies have provided a video that explains the integrated system online.
Source
[http://campustechnology.com/articles/2011/01/27/blackboard-and-mcgraw-hill-test-new-course-system-in-20-pilots.aspx]
Converge > E-readers, E-books Represent Future For [Houston[ Community College [Southwest]
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Converge Magazine / January 20 2011 / Tanya Roscorla
After piloting e-readers and e-books in the classroom, Houston Community College Southwest decided the digital tools were ready for prime time this semester. And in the future, they're the way to go for this campus.
"Faculty want these devices, students are intrigued by them and are using them, and generally the response is positive to the device," said Doug Rowlett, instructional design coordinator for the Southwest campus.
With the Chancellor's Innovation Grant, Rowlett placed more than 200 e-readers in students' hands. Between fall 2009 and 2010, faculty members and about 350 students tested the Amazon Kindle, Apple iPad and enTourage eDGe. They also tested e-books to see how they would work in the classroom.
[snip]
Faculty Members In Different Subject Areas Prefer Different e-Readers
Faculty Members In Different Subject Areas Prefer Different e-Readers
In the humanities, faculty said the Kindle worked the best. In the sciences, iPads fit the bill. And in developmental classes, faculty preferred the eDGe.
Rowlett thought the English teachers would be all over the iPad, but they actually preferred the Kindle. In their classes, students primarily read books, and with the iPads, they didn't stay on task. [snip].
But science demands full color, interactivity and video to bring images and concepts to life. And that's where the iPad shines.
In developmental classes, instructors like the eDGe because it allows English language learners to improve their speaking by listening to audio files.They also use a stylus to take notes on the touchscreen, write a journal, watch movies, surf the web and read on the e-ink reading screen.
[snip].
"None of the devices are perfect, but they all work well at what they’ve been designed to do. And so we’re finding that this is going to be the future as far as we’re concerned.”
E-books, e-Readers Represent The Future
But that future won't be device specific.
Rowlett submit[ted] a list of the devices that the college has tested and proven to work well in the classroom to the board. Then he'll leave it up to instructors to decide which devices they want students to use. As new devices come out, the college will test them and add them to the list if they work well.
[snip]
Students Score Higher With e-Books, e-Readers
In the biology classes, students take standard entrance and exit exams, and the college compared classes that scored the same on the entrance exams. In the class with e-books and e-readers, students scored 15 to 17 points better than students in the traditional textbook class. And that's significant because those numbers could represent the difference between a C and B or a B and A.
[snip]
E-readers Hold Up Over Time
E-readers Hold Up Over Time
During the study, the college also wanted to see whether the devices were robust enough to withstand use in the classroom. Out of the 200 devices, only five were damaged enough to be replaced, and that damage mostly came from being dropped. [snip].
E-books Save Students Money
One of the hurdles the college will have to overcome is getting financial aid to pay for the cost of the devices. This semester, faculty members signed up on waiting lists to check out sets of devices. [snip].
Rowlett encourages faculty members to use e-books and content freely available in the public domain as much as possible because of the traditional textbook prices. [snip].
[snip]
If students bought a device the first semester, and their e-books cost 50 percent or less than the paper version, they would break even the first semester. The second semester, they would start saving money, and that's what students are excited about.
Texas A&M University-San Antonio > VitalSource® For Integrated e-Textbook Delivery
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Texas A&M University-San Antonio is excited to announce our cutting edge e-book program using VitalSource, one of the most advanced e-book software systems in the world.
Beginning with the Fall 2010 semester, select courses will be “e-book classes,” where all students will only use e-books, resulting in a savings of money and paper.
Save Money. Use Your Financial Aid.
Using e-books instead of traditional NEW printed textbooks results in a savings of money and resources to both the student and the University. Students enrolled in courses using e-books will typically see a textbook cost savings of about 60% as compared to new textbooks. [snip].
Beginning with the Fall 2010 semester, select courses will be “e-book classes,” where all students will only use e-books, resulting in a savings of money and paper.
Save Money. Use Your Financial Aid.
Using e-books instead of traditional NEW printed textbooks results in a savings of money and resources to both the student and the University. Students enrolled in courses using e-books will typically see a textbook cost savings of about 60% as compared to new textbooks. [snip].
Conveniently Green.
The e-book shelf, VitalSource, allows highlighting, note-taking, and note-sharing among you and your classmates. Professors can also make notes in the e-books and make them available by download to the class. Students will be able to download the e-book to two personal computers AND books are accessible online from any computer that has internet access ... .
[snip]. VitalSource also has apps for the iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch,, so the books go where you go.
Same Quality. More Options.
VitalSource allows for custom e-books built from multiple textbook publishers, so faculty pick and choose chapters from a base textbook and can even add chapters from another textbook, building a resource of unique classroom materials. Faculty can also add case studies and an assortment of other material available from the publisher, including interactive exercises, high quality videos, multimedia links and rich graphics.
Miss The Paper?
Students and faculty also have the option of printing the e-book through an agreement with a local printer. Students will pay about $0.02 per page for a printed e-book. This means that the typical printed price of the e-book will be about $10-$12, depending on the number of pages. [snip],
Links
Student flyer and detailed information
Instructions on VitalSource integration within Blackboard
Spring 2011 printed e-book price list
Source
[http://www.tamusa.tamus.edu/ebooks.html]
Related
Texas A&M University-San Antonio Chooses Ingram’s VitalSource® for Integrated e-Textbook Delivery
[http://www.allvoices.com/news/8061771-texas-am-universitysan-antonio-chooses-ingrams-vitalsource-for-integrated-etextbook-delivery]
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