Digital Books | News

3 Canadian Colleges Move to iPad Textbooks

• By Dian Schaffhauser
• 09/06/11

The Apple iPad-based textbook has arrived--at least in Canada. Eminata Group, which runs six for-profit colleges and universities on 38 campuses in 22 Canadian cities, will be replacing traditional textbooks with digital ones over the next three years in a new deal with Pearson.

Starting in September, 1,600 students at CDI College, Vancouver Career College, and Reeves College will receive iPad tablets preloaded with their textbooks running on Pearson's eText for iPad app. Two of those institutions have run pilot programs with the technology. Over the next three years, Eminata representatives say they expect to convert all of the company's school programs for 14,000 students to digital textbook delivery.

Pearson's free eText for iPad app version 1.1, currently available in the Apple iTunes Store, allows students to access digital versions of its college textbooks with a Pearson username and password. The app's "bookshelf" displays all the titles available to that particular user. Once the student has opened the text, he or she can create and maintain notes, highlights, and bookmarks with automatic synchronization. Users can create study groups for sharing notes with others while in the same Wi-Fi hotspot or via an iPad Bluetooth connection. They can also access those notes and highlights from their PC or Mac as well, with Pearson's eText browser-based book reader.

"Our students will have an opportunity to take their post-secondary learning experience to a new level. The iPad holds each student's textbooks, learning tools, and assignment work in one portable device. No matter what program our students are enrolled in, ranging from business to healthcare to technology, they will find iPads in the classroom a more interactive and enriching experience," said Randy Cox, president of CDI College as well as president and CEO of Eminata.