Top 10 ed-tech stories of 2013, No. 10: Digital textbooks


“Flipped” and adaptive learning programs gained traction on campus. A high-profile internet hoax involving a college athlete propelled the term “catfishing” into the public consciousness. MOOCs hit some key stumbling blocks, while the notion of a college degree became more fluid.

techThese were some of the key ed-tech developments affecting colleges and universities in the past year—and we’ve got a full recap for you right here.

In this special all-digital publication, the editors of eCampus News highlight what we think are the 10 most significant higher-education technology stories of 2013.

To learn how these stories have made an impact on colleges and universities this year—and how they’ll continue to shape higher education in 2014 and beyond—read on.

10. Digital textbook options keep multiplying—but are students taking advantage?

At the beginning of the year, Pearson said it was buying a 5-percent stake in Barnes & Noble’s Nook eReader as technology companies seek new inroads into the potentially lucrative digital textbook market.

In August, Google announced that its Google Play digital media store would offer digital textbooks from some of education’s best-known publishers, including Pearson, McGraw-Hill, and Macmillan.

And Boundless Learning, which uses a process called “alignment” to pull together open content to create a free, digital version of an existing textbook, has expanded its mobile presence by launching premium textbook options with a variety of new features.

These are some of the many developments in the past year that have expanded the textbook options available to students.

Two key features of the new custom textbooks from Boundless, which cost $19.99, are “active recall” and “spaced repetition.” The eTextbooks frequently summarize information and provide quizzes at important parts of the reading to improve a student’s memorization, the company said.

Using an algorithm designed to detect when a student might forget specific points of the material, they also provide quizzes and flashcards to help cement the lessons in a student’s memory.

In another important development for digital textbooks, the California Community Colleges Board of Governors voted in September to require any and all material created with state funding to be available at no charge to anyone in the state, including college students.

That means students and educators in California community colleges soon will have access to textbooks and other classroom materials made under the Creative Commons Attribution license, a policy that could save money for taxpayers, campuses, and students.

A Virginia community college already is moving forward with open digital textbooks. Tidewater Community College began offering a textbook-free degree program in the fall that could reduce the price of earning an associate degree by about a third.

TCC says its associate of science degree in business administration is the first in the nation by an accredited institution to use only open-source educational materials.

“I think we have a responsibility as a college to do what we can to help control the costs of textbooks, because we know there are students who can’t afford them,” said Daniel T. DeMarte, vice president for academic affairs and chief academic officer.

The two-year pilot program is the result of a partnership with Lumen Learning, an Oregon company that helps schools integrate open educational resources into their curriculum.

Despite all these developments, adoption of digital textbooks continues to lag. One reason is that many students like having permanent ownership of a text. Expect more companies to offer flexible licensing of digital texts in the future—something CourseSmart has started to do this past year.

See also:

Pearson invests in Barnes & Noble’s Nook

Free digital textbooks surge in popularity

Community college to offer textbook-free degree

Open-source textbooks projected to save students $3.7M

Google Play, Boundless increase eTextbook options

New state policy could lower textbook costs

 

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