Textbooks in Transition

High cost of print textbooksAccessibility of eTexts Rise of open textbooks,

born digitalAdoption of eTexts in K-12Mobile device ownershipNew pedagogies, enabled

by eTexts

UW eTextbook Pilots

Spring 2012 Courseload800 students

Fall 2012Courseload800 students Spring 2013 CourseSmart100 students

CourseloadCourseSmart

eText@Illinois

Guiding Principles

ESSENTIAL Accessibility—all components (text, navigation,

notes/bookmarks/questions) are equivalent or as near-equivalent as possible for students using assistive technologies

Choice for faculty--currency, quality, faculty generated content

IMPORTANT Savings for students Textbook format choice/flexibility/options Long-term and secure accessLONG TERM   Provides learning enhancements Support/leverage open eTextbook adoption/creation

CourseSmartCourseload

Platform/reader for publisher or instructor-created content

Accessibility—NEEDS WORK Faculty choice—PROMISING Savings—PROMISING Formats—NEEDS WORK Long term access—

PROMSING Learning—PROMISING Open—PROMISING

eTextbook vendor for publisher texts and platform/reader

Accessibility—PROMISING Faculty choice—LIMITED Savings—NEEDS WORK Formats—NEEDS WORK Long term access—NEEDS

WORK Learning—NEEDS WORK Open—POOR

Using principles to rate models

Accessibility

Courseload: Requires “alongside” solution

CourseSmart: Accessible formats in a few weeks

eText@Illinois: Highly accessible

The challenge is availability of accessible formats from textbook publishers.

Student experience

Student experience, cont.

Savings for students

Instructor experience

“It was really helpful to be able to annotate the text.”

“Appending current articles to the text was really helpful. Ideally, I would like to move to a system where class time was devoted to those added articles, and not the text itself…. This system really helped to "sync' the content, and make it current.”

“. . . reducing the time spent on reviewing content in the book and focusing on application of concepts in the lectures.”

“I appreciated the ability to track the student's participation. It was helpful for some in diagnosing some problems with student study habits.”

“There will always be students who work better with printed texts. Having that option available is really important.”

Indiana/Courseload Model

100% sell throughInstructors opt in, TimeTable flags eText

sections, students opt in at registrationContracts with Courseload and 8-9 major

publishers and currently negotiating with long-tail publishers

Average 35% of list cost for a textbookStudents have access throughout tenure as

studentPrint on demand copy at low costStudent fees paid through bursar

Our plan for fall and beyond

1. Engage with governance, faculty, and students about eText models

2. Facilitate accessible open/instructor-created eTexts using eText@Illinois

3. As service validator, pursue contract negotiations with publishers and Courseload, aiming for Spring 2014 implementation

4. Provide resources and awareness for faculty to create and deliver accessible textbooks

5. Provide resources for McBurney Center 6. Conduct research on learning with eTexts

1. Engage with governance, faculty, students

Provost and Provost Executive Group

Council of Associate Deans Information Technology

Committee University CommitteeLeadership CouncilASM University Affairs

Subcommittee focusing on textbook affordability

2. Facilitate open, instructor-created eTexts

Test eText@Illinois reader in a few courses

Promote adoption of open texts from Minnesota’s Open Catalog, Michigan Press

Provide incentives to instructors

Organize a fall symposium on open eTexts and eContent

3. Pursue contracts with publishers

Conduct RFP, extending Indiana’s terms to provide: Lower pricingLonger terms of accessTimetable requiring publishers to provide

accessible formatsSeparate publisher and platform contractsBetter print on demand options

Strengthen our position with publishers by pursuing open content in parallel

4. And 5. Provide accessibility resources

For McBurney Student Disability Resource Center to accommodate, train students

For instructors to create accessible content

6. Conduct research on learning with eTexts

Analytics on student reading and performance

Annotations, taggingStudent note-taking

workflowsHow to read research

articlesIncreasingly

interactive eTexts