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7 Textbook Publishers Move to Electronic Format

  • By Dan Thompson
  • 07/29/09

Several textbook publishers have recently joined the ranks of publishers offering their works in electronic format. Last week, seven, including Elsevier Science and Technology, SAGE, and Taylor & Francis signed on to offer their higher education textbooks through CourseSmart's eTextbooks service.

Those signing on with CourseSmart also include F.A. Davis, Jones & Bartlett, Sinauer Associates, and Wolters Kluwer Health.

"These partnerships will help us expand the range of core textbook offerings and move forward in our mission of enabling every college student to find their assigned textbooks as eTextbooks," said Sean Devine, CEO of CourseSmart, in a prepared statement. "We will continue to partner with large and small publishers to ensure we meet faculty and student demand for eTextbook versions of the core textbooks that are essential to their teaching and learning success."

Specialty course subjects include:

  • Mathematics and statistics, life and Physical Science, computer science, engineering, media technology, and business and hospitality;
  • Nursing and health professions;
  • Biology, health, criminology, fitness and wellness, and computer science;
  • Psychology, sociology, statistics, and criminology;
  • Psychology, biology, and neuroscience;
  • Life Science, humanities & social sciences, psychology, business, computer science, and mental health; and
  • Medicine, health professions, and nursing.

CourseSmart's electronic textbooks are generally available for 50 percent off the cost of print textbooks, according to the company, and allow students to access their textbooks from personal computers. The electronic versions also support highlighting, electronic notes, search, and copy and paste.

CourseSmart currently offers about 7,000 textbooks in electronic format. Further information can be found here.

About the Author

Dan Thompson is a freelance writer based in Brea, CA. He can be reached here.

Comments

Tue, Aug 11, 2009 Patrick Aievoli

This is what we have been trying to tell the academic community for years. Please visit our site to see what we have done about this. I am an academic who use to work for a textbook publisher. I saw the future in 1987 and have been trying for 22 years to explain this to people. Allan Kay tried it in the 1970's with the DynaBook. He saw the potential while at Xerox PARC. Please visit my website and see for yourself http://www.theCampusCenter.com

Tue, Aug 11, 2009 Nate Gemberling Ohio University

I used a CourseSmart product in my Microeconomics class. I believe it was a Pearson publication, Microeconomics 7th edition with MyEcon Lab. It was horrible. The tools never worked, and it continuously froze while I was trying to read or complete a problem on my MacBook. I eventually had to start using my roommate's Dell to complete my work. If CourseSmart wants to have a handle on the eBook industry they need to fix these kinks, and make sure it their products operate efficiently with all OS.

Wed, Aug 5, 2009 Richardson Univ. of Texas-Austin

The most important access is where the book is kept on a laptop carried to class (or a jump drive if a computer equiped room is used) and the students can use Adobe Acrobat to highlight and add questions and comments as they read. If appropriate local networks are available and the library journals are available in electronic format, this innovation with the e-book is very helpful in students learning library research, journal formats, styles to read effeciently (M&M last, for example, Abstract first, etc. Publishers are addressing marketing strategies and student use dynamics. CourseSmart, for example, requires an internet link active to while a "PDF" file locally gives freedom to store and be reviewed by instructor on BlackBoard, for example. This technology opens the options for animations of drawings, streaming video and microscopy. Security and multiple users will be new skills for instructors, along with effecctive student learning habits. Using multimedia is a major technological advance. Better design of tablet and laptop computers and wireless networks will be easily integrated technologically, but for me the change in classroom dynamics will be interesting, particularly with "active" or "discovery" learning approaches.

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