E-Textbooks

With the cost of textbooks soaring, many colleges and universities are looking to alternatives to the traditional paper text. The electronic textbook field is still emerging, and higher education is experimenting with the concept in various modes. Explore this resource site—a collection of all EDUCAUSE resources related to E-Textbooks.

EDUCAUSE and Internet2 E-Text Pilots

EDUCAUSE and Internet2 are implementing a series of e-text pilot efforts with colleges and universities to evaluate technologies and business models in the fast evolving migration from traditional textbooks to electronic content. Learn More >

E-Texts Constituent Group

Intended for general discussion in addition to news about the pilot, the E-Texts Constituent Group discusses the rapidly evolving domain of digital textbooks, multimedia supplements, tutorial websites, e-reader/annotation software, and related materials. Learn More >

New Resources

7 Things You Should Know About the Evolution of the Textbook, ELI 7 Things, April 2012. This resource examines a new breed of rich-media publishing tools that offer an evolving set of opportunities both for the creation process and for the kinds of resources that can be produced.
Developing a Digital Textbook Strategy for Your Campus, Florida Distance Learning Consortium, February 2012. This one-day symposium examined institution and state level digital textbook initiatives, including national trends and prevailing models for both publisher digital textbooks and open textbooks.
eTexts: A Perishable Opportunity for Higher Education?, EDUCAUSE Live!, January 24, 2012 - This EDUCAUSE Live! program addressd the strategic, business, and policy implications for institutions in light of a changing world of consumer electronics and new models for digital educational resources such as eTexts, website tutorials, and other licensed content.

Articles, Papers, and Reports

A Study of Four Textbook Distribution Models, EDUCAUSE Quarterly, December 2011. In preparation for campus-wide e-text adoption, Daytona State College completed a two-year comparative study of four textbook distribution models: print purchase, print rental, e-text rental, and e-text rental with e-reader device.
Digital Texts and the Future of Education: Why Books?, EDUCAUSE Quarterly, March 2011. Abilene Christian University and GYLO partnered to investigate student attitudes and perceptions of the impact of using a mobile device as a supplemental tool for teaching statistics.
7 Things You Should Know About Open Textbook Publishing, ELI 7 Things, March 2011. Open textbooks can be offered by commercial publishers or found in open repositories. Open resources can promote active learning through student interaction with the text, particularly when they contribute to authorship.
A Cover to Cover Solution: How Open Textbooks are the Path to Textbook Affordability, Student PIRGs, September 2010. This report evaluates cost-reducing options from the traditional textbook market—rentals, e-books and e-readers—and open textbooks as potential next steps to reduce the high cost of textbooks.
E-Textbooks: “An Interesting Ride”, EDUCAUSE Review, March/April 2010. An interview conducted at the EDUCAUSE 2009 Annual Conference about the use of digital textbooks in higher education.
E-Books in Higher Education: Are We There Yet?, ECAR Research Bulletin, January 2010. This ECAR research bulletin presents an update to the rapidly changing e-book and e-textbook landscape and provides some higher education stakeholders with a clearer view of the road ahead.
A Campus-Wide E-Textbook Initiative, EDUCAUSE Quarterly, July 2009. This article focuses on the process that Northwest Missouri State University followed in studying the feasibility of transitioning from the rental of traditional textbooks to the rental of e-textbooks, along with the extensive integration of e-textbooks across the university’s academic environment.

Presentations, Podcasts, Seminars, and Videos

Got Open Textbook? ELI Online Fall Focus Session, September 2011. This session speaker discusses resource discovery, implementation issues, and the pros and cons of using open-source materials and concludes with some recommendations applicable for any stage of open-source resource adoption.
Textbook Affordability: Emerging Solutions in Ohio, ELI Web Seminar, March 2011. This webinar discusses why textbook costs have skyrocketed; how textbook costs impact students, faculty, and institutions; and current initiatives by the University System of Ohio to address textbook affordability and learning outcomes.
Digital Content in Higher Education—Practical Findings, ELI Web Seminar, March 2011. This webinar provides an overview of the digital textbook landscape as it currently exists and a glimpse into the emerging trends that will shape higher education digital content in the near future.

EDUCAUSE Staff Picks

7 Things You Should Know About the Evolution of the Textbook, ELI 7 Things, April 2012. This resource examines a new breed of rich-media publishing tools that offer an evolving set of opportunities both for the creation process and for the kinds of resources that can be produced.
eTexts: A Perishable Opportunity for Higher Education?, EDUCAUSE Live!, January 24, 2012 - This EDUCAUSE Live! program addressd the strategic, business, and policy implications for institutions in light of a changing world of consumer electronics and new models for digital educational resources such as eTexts, website tutorials, and other licensed content.
A Study of Four Textbook Distribution Models, EDUCAUSE Quarterly, December 2011. In preparation for campus-wide e-text adoption, Daytona State College completed a two-year comparative study of four textbook distribution models: print purchase, print rental, e-text rental, and e-text rental with e-reader device.
7 Things You Should Know About Open Textbook Publishing, ELI 7 Things, March 2011. Open textbooks can be offered by commercial publishers or found in open repositories. Open resources can promote active learning through student interaction with the text, particularly when they contribute to authorship.

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EDUCAUSE Library Items for E-Textbooks

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E-Textbooks: E-Textbooks True With the cost of textbooks soaring, many…
Ten Years Later: Why Open Educational Resources Have Not Noticeably Affected Higher Education, and Why We Should Care: February 26, 2013

Key Takeaways Open educational resources made a dramatic appearance with the 2002 debut of MIT's Open Courseware initiative. In the roughly 10 years since, OERs hav…
The Cost and Quality of Online Open Textbooks: Perceptions of Community College Faculty and Students: February 4, 2013

Proponents of open educational resources (OER) claim that significant cost savings are possible when open textbooks displace traditional textbooks in the college classroom. We investigated st…
Stanford School of Medicine E-Book Pilots: January 31, 2013

To investigate the rapidly growing field o f e-books , Stanford School of Medicine piloted the development and u se of e-books in two residency programs. The project focused on the aut…
Born Digital - and Accessible: January 28, 2013

Join Malcolm Brown, EDUCAUSE Learning Initiative director, and Veronica Diaz, ELI associate director, as they moderate this webinar with Larry Goldberg and Madeleine Rothberg of WGBH NCAM. The di…
What We're Learning from eTexts: December 10, 2012

Presentation given at the CNI fall 2012 membership meeting. Faculty, students, authors, and publishers all have a stake in the evolution of textbooks. As texts and business models are transfor…
Kindle Accessibility Concerns Continue: March 13, 2013

The National Federation of the Blind (NFB) continues to raise concerns about the accessibility of Amazon's Kindle devices as well as its Kindle apps for other devices (e.g., the iPad) for pe…
E-Texts or Bust: Observations from the Internet2/EDUCAUSE E-Text Pilot: February 5, 2013 | A session at the EDUCAUSE Learning Initiative Annual Meeting
In 2012, Internet2 and EDUCAUSE sponsored an initiative to pilot the use of e-textbooks across multiple universities. Over 25 institutions are participating in the study, with each evaluating the i…
Finding Your Pathway to E-Textbook Authoring: February 5, 2013
Making and sharing e-books has never been easier. Many tools are available, and many of them are free. The ability to author an electronic document that's portable, accessible on many platform…
E-Textbook Opportunities and Decisions: March 19, 2013 | A session at the Midwest Regional Conference
Institutions are faced with many options for dealing with e-textbooks. University of Wisconsin–Madison has participated in e-textbook pilots for two semesters and has developed a set of instituti…

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