ACADEMIA

EDUCAUSE and Internet2 are implementing a new series of pilot efforts to evaluate technologies and business models in the fast evolving migration from traditional textbooks to electronic content. For the fall 2012 term, the pilot is being conducted in partnership with McGraw-Hill Education and Courseload, through which more than 25 colleges and universities will provide etexts to their students.

Including educational institutions across the spectrum from major research institutions to community colleges, this pilot aims to advance a new model for the purchase, distribution, and use of electronic textbooks and digital course materials. Participating colleges and universities are listed at the end of this announcement.

The pilot departs from current etext practices in three key ways: it replaces individual purchases by students with site licenses negotiated and funded by campuses, it replaces paper textbooks owned by students with electronic materials licensed for use in specific classes, and it uses an ereader not associated with a specific publisher.

Based on the pilot, EDUCAUSE, Internet2, and the participating institutions will assess the appeal and scalability of the new model, and especially how the model supports lowering the cost of educational materials. The pilot will help higher education progress toward adoption of more cost-effective procurement of electronic class materials, which are in turn much less expensive than their print predecessors.

Students and faculty in participating courses will use McGraw-Hill Education eBooks and digital learning material, as well as the Courseload reader and annotation software, which allows content to be delivered directly through their school’s learning management system.

Students will have automatic access to etexts without any additional payment to a bookstore or the institution. The ereader will enable students and instructors to access, highlight, and annotate their etexts and learning materials on almost any Internet-enabled device, even when they are not connected to the Internet. Students who want a printed copy may print portions of their etext directly, or may order a print-on-demand version of the etext for a fee.

The fall 2012 pilot expands upon a more limited experiment involving the University of California at Berkeley, Cornell University, the University of Minnesota, the University of Virginia, and the University of Wisconsin at Madison and a successful earlier effort at Indiana University. These initial efforts both demonstrated the appeal of the new model -- more than 100,000 online pages read, with almost none printed, and virtually no negative reaction from students or instructors.

As a faculty participant at the University of Virginia said, “the main benefits have been for the students, who don’t have to pay outrageous amounts for required texts, and can have their texts on the various machines they carry around with them all the time.” The initial efforts also underscored important goals for future efforts, such as ensuring that etexts are accessible to blind students and others requiring special accommodation.

The fall 2012 pilot is now closed for additional participants. We plan to hold an additional pilot for the spring 2013 term.

Partial List of Fall 2012 Participants:

Baylor University
California State Polytechnic University, Pomona
Colorado State University
Cornell University
Dartmouth College
Iowa State University
Madison Area Technical College
Miami University
Middlebury College
Michigan State University
Northeast State Community College
Northern Kentucky University
Southern Illinois University, Edwardsville
University of Iowa
Stony Brook University
University at Buffalo, The State University of New York
University of Alaska
University of California, Berkeley
University of Colorado
University of Hawaii
University of Kentucky
University of South Florida
University of Virginia
University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee
University of Wisconsin, Madison
Vermont State Colleges
Virginia Tech
Wichita State University

Additional Information About the Fall 2012 Pilot

Slides from spring 2012 informational webinar:
https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1TKUS9qaebIwT9aU_cUvgoNZka5nVH9XZJXMyKibC8n0/edit

Recording from spring 2012 informational webinar: https://internet2.adobeconnect.com/_a823099699/p7iusi4ufi7/?launcher=false&;fcsContent=true&pbMode=normal

FAQ:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1IBpDgTxjvKd_mtyVsFAuiqOJ7T4g4VfEEj3ANFKCnjQ/edit

Pilot Prospectus:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1n1atsjfsHFQ6G_6R6uVG4DpojIEZo10G2rbfa5D-5JU/edit

http://www.internet2.edu/netplus/etext/index.html