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McGraw-Hill Education Launches E-Book Program for Higher Ed
McGraw-Hill Education has announced its new Digital Learning Partnership Program, an e-book program for colleges and and universities, which will launch this week at the Educause 2012 conference in Denver.
The new program is the result of a pilot program that McGraw-Hill Education developed with Indiana University and several other institutions, and which was recently expanded to more than 25 educational institutions across the country.
The Digital Learning Partnership Program enables instructors at participating institutions to provide their students with e-books from McGraw-Hill Education or any of its partners: CourseSmart, Courseload, and Vital Source, but they are not locked into the program and retain the academic freedom to choose other textbooks.
The McGraw-Hill Education e-books contain tools for searching, sharing content, annotating, and highlighting. Students who prefer not to use e-books also have the freedom to order a print-on-demand copy of the e-book.
In addition to e-books, the Partnership Program enables instructors to use other McGraw-Hill Education digital solutions, including the McGraw-Hill Connect teaching and learning platform, the LearnSmart adaptive study tool, the Tegrity Campus lecture capture system, and the ALEKS adaptive math program.
The e-books and digital solutions available through the Partnership Program can integrate with any learning management system, and they are accessible through laptops or mobile devices.
Participating institutions can collaborate with McGraw-Hill Education to customize any aspect of the program, including preferred e-book vendor, pricing model, and subscription length, which can extend beyond the duration of the course.
McGraw-Hill Education claimed that its e-book prices under the program are "competitive with rental and used book prices" and that its adaptive learning tools can "identify areas of academic strength, remediate areas of weakness, and create individualized learning plans."
"Finding new ways to make course materials more affordable to students is a core focus of this program, but the ultimate goal is helping universities and students transition to digital in ways that encourage deeper learning, better pass rates, and higher rates of retention," said Tom Malek, vice president of learning solutions and services for McGraw-Hill Higher Education, in a prepared statement.
The McGraw-Hill Education Digital Learning Partnership Program is open to colleges and universities now for implementation in fall 2013.
About the Author
Leila Meyer is a technology writer based in British Columbia. She can be reached at [email protected].
