DRPFConsults.com > Get Ready For Digital Textbooks In K-12 Education

Get Ready For Digital Textbooks In K-12 Education / DRPFConsults.com /  April 21 2010 / Dr. Patricia Fioriello

A silent revolution has taken place in the world of school education in the form of digital textbooks online . It is though too early to say that traditional school education has lost the battle to digital textbooks online, but it can be safely claimed that digital textbooks online are gradually making their way to claim the prominent and even the only way of imparting school education.

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Advantages of Digital Textbooks

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The idea of creating digital textbooks online was conceived chiefly to cater to the K-12 students. They have been created according to the public and private school curriculum and has also taken care of the need of the homeschooling children. While regular students can take the advantage of digital textbooks online from their home as do the homeschoolers, it is also advantageous for teachers to help individual students with solutions that was otherwise difficult in the time bound class room teaching. [snip].

An added plus point of digital textbooks online is that the teachers after discussing the performance of a particular student with the parents can customize the curriculum. [snip]. Similarly, if a student shows potential in a particular subject more than the others, his study plan can also be customized accordingly. This customizing is impossible with traditional printed text books.

Digital Textbook Sites

When the uploading and conversion process of digital textbooks online is still an ongoing process, there has been already a good sizable library of digital textbooks online created. Digital textbooks online library consists of a good collection of language, science, mathematics and others subjects. [snip].

[snip]. Sites such as the Zinio, CourseSmart, Cengage Brain, McGraw-Hill eBookstore, Taylor and Francis eBookstore, eCampus.com, Vital Source Bookshelf, Books on Board, Universal Digital Textbooks and CafeScribe are some of the popular and authentic suppliers of digital textbooks online. While these sites claim a minimal cost for the textbooks, sites like Freeload Press, Textbook Revolution and Textbooksfree allow you to get your useful textbooks completely free of cost.

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Source

[http://drpfconsults.com/get-ready-for-digital-textbooks-in-k-12-education/]

Experiential eLearning > The Future Of Textbooks

The Future Of Textbooks / Experiential eLearning / September 27 2010 / Denis Saulnier

Source

[http://saulnier.typepad.com/learning_technology/2010/09/the-future-of-textbooks.html]

The textbook landscape is changing so rapidly that it's hard to pinpoint current state in order to benchmark it against possible evolutionary paths.  [snip].   But that industry is fast-reforming and the reforms are worth noting for both consumers and competitors alike.  Here's a brief recap of some of the activity. 

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DIGITAL TEXTBOOKS

In 2009 digital textbooks generated an estimated $40 million in sales and in 2010 it is expected to grow to $80 million — but that’s still just 1 percent of the total higher education textbook market.

Digital textbooks offer a number of real benefits to both educators and students, including convenient access, cost … , search/findability, chapterization, integration with online ancillary products, etc.  eBooks in general are one of the most-cited emerging technology trends affecting education, … .

One of the leading providers of digital textbooks is CourseSmart.  They offer a wide array of textbooks (7,000 +) and students can choose between online and downloadable versions, … . CourseSmart is a very real reformative option being developed by the textbook players themselves -- it is a partnership of Pearson, Cengage Learning, McGraw-Hill Education, Bedford, Freeman & Worth Publishing Group (Macmillan), and John Wiley & Sons.

Additional digital textbook delivery vendors include Jumpbooks, Zinio, eCampus, and Universal Digital Textbooks.  [snip]. And this will only become more prevalent -- K-12 initiatives like the CK-12 Foundation's FlexBooks program increase the likelihood that today's K-12 learners will grow accustomed to, and expect, eTextbooks as they enter Higher Education. [snip].

COLLABORATION

Online collaborative environments (as a subset of digital textbooks) are being introduced that fundamentally change the learning model and hence challenge the textbook model. CafeScribe is a platform owned by bookstore giant Follett that allows students to "view, study, and collaborate around eTextbooks and PDF files".  [snip].

OPEN CONTENT

The digital textbook environment allows for many additional innovations, including the ability to change the fundamental authorship model.  FlatWorld Knowledge is one of those innovators. The company provides free, open-content, customizable textbooks for faculty. [snip]. Connexions is another offering -- "an environment for collaboratively developing, freely sharing, and rapidly publishing scholarly content on the Web."  [snip]. Free textbooks can be found at Textbook Revolution and Textbooks Free.

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TEXTBOOK APPS

The era of the 'app' has introduced new options for textbook providers as well.  eTextbook apps have been introduced by Barnes and Noble, CourseSmart, and all the major publishers.  [snip]. And new entrants like Inkling combine all the best elements of the categories described above. Many publishers are inking deals with companies like ScrollMotion to develop the apps. [snip].

WHAT'S NEXT

The nonprofit group Project Tomorrow surveyed 281,000 students from K–12 in all 50 U.S. states in 2008 and asked them about digital textbooks.  Here were their desired features and functionality:

• Ability to personalize book with highlights and notes (63%)
• Self-assessment (62%) or self-paced tutorials (46%)
• Links to real-time data like NASA and Google Earth (52%)
• Tap into an online tutor whenever necessary (53%)
• Link to PowerPoints of lectures supporting content (55%)
• Explore concepts through games (57%) or animations and simulations (55%)
• Access videos (51%), videoconferences (30%), podcasts from subject experts (34%)
• Create own podcasts or videos to support learning (48%)

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Ames Tribune > ISU Bookstore To Offer e-Textbooks

ISU Bookstore To Offer e-Textbooks /  Ames Tribne / December 31 2010 4:36 PM CST / pp. 1, 4 / Laura Millsaps

Joining a national trend toward electronic textbook use, the Iowa State University Bookstore will offer electronic versions of 230 titles for the spring semester.

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The bookstore is offering the electronic textbooks through the Universal Digital Textbook program by MBS, a national textbook wholesaler. Students will purchase a scanned e-book card which authorizes them to download the title on MBS’ e-textbook website.

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The e-textbooks will cost between 30 percent and 55 percent of the cost of a new traditional textbook. Some e-textbooks will be available for permanent purchase, and others will be essentially “digital rentals,” with the purchase price giving the student access to the book for six months to a year.

Charles Schmidt, director of public relations for the National Association of College Stores, said that e-textbooks represent 2.8 percent of course material sales nationwide today. The association expects that number to grow to 10 percent to 15 percent by 2012.

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Additionally, despite the popularity of e-readers in the general market, college students are not buying into the trend. The National Association of College Stores study found students are reading e-books on a computer rather than a dedicated e-reading device.

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Part of the problem is the lack of features on e-readers.

“I think we will see a slow steady growth of e-textbooks over time,” Wierson said. “Once e-readers develop to a point they allow students to highlight text and make notes, once they have ones that are more interactive and will appeal more to the needs of college students, that will help e-textbooks sales take off.”

 Schmidt agreed technology hasn’t quite made digital reading accessible for the way college students study.

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Schmidt said that as the medium improves, electronic textbooks gradually will take precedence.

“We don’t feel that the hard copy of the print textbook will ever go away totally,” he said, “but we foresee it taking a more secondary role.”

Source

[http://www.amestrib.com/articles/2011/01/01/ames_tribune/news/doc4d1e535f36a1c005197030.txt]