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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

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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The Portmont College Story
April 1, 2013

Srikant Vasan is Founder and President of Portmont College at Mount St. Mary's. When I was growing up in India, college was not the norm in my family. My father barely received…
Bigfoot, Goldilocks, and Moonshots: A Report from the Frontiers of Personalized Learning
April 1, 2013

The creativity of higher education innovators has produced three categories of solutions with the potential to break the "iron triangle" of cost, quality, and access.   …
Spending Better, Spending Less, and Spending Not at All: Alternative Strategies for Making College Affordable
October 3, 2012

Key Takeaways To avoid spending too much on college tuition, students can seek better information and advice in making decisions about what to study and where to enroll . …
Technology and the Broken Higher Education Cost Model: Insights from the Delta Cost Project
September 5, 2012

Rita Kirshstein is the Director of the Delta Cost Project and a Managing Director at the American Institutes for Research. Jane Wellman is the Founding Director of the Delta Cost Project and t…
Rethinking Higher Education Technology
May 9, 2012

Stephen Laster is Chief Information Officer, Harvard Business School. He is Editor of the EDUCAUSE Review Viewpoints department for 2012. These are interesting times for hig…
The Kansas State University Human Nutrition (HN 400) Flexbook
December 15, 2011

Key Takeaways Flexbooks are "a free and open-source textbook platform " that allows users to " build and edit collaborative textbooks ." Respons…
From the Campus to the Future
February 4, 2010

© 2010 Diana G. Oblinger. The text of this article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 License ( http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/ ). …
Big Broadband Connectivity in the United States
May 7, 2008

© 2008 EDUCAUSE. The text of this article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 License ( http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/ ). EDU…
Action Analytics: Measuring and Improving Performance That Matters in Higher Education
January 18, 2008

© 2008 Donald Norris, Linda Baer, Joan Leonard, Louis Pugliese, and Paul Lefrere EDUCAUSE Review, vol. 43, no. 1 (January/February 2008): 42–67 Donald Norris, Linda Baer, Joan Leonar…
Voluntary Counter-Reformation: Stepping Up to the Challenge
July 6, 2007

© 2007 William H. Graves EDUCAUSE Review , vol. 42, no. 4 (July/August 2007): 26–39 Voluntary Counter-Reformation: Stepping Up to the Challenge William H. Graves William H. Grav…

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