Colleges to Offer More E-Books
Colleges to Offer More E-Books
Insidehighered reported today that Daytona State will be using e-books to save their students as much as 80% on supplies required for courses.
Other universities have been going that route for some time now. The University of Phoenix has had a lot of success with their e-book program. Insidehighered reported “Phoenix actually mandates that instructors assign digital materials “whenever feasible” — a strategic turn the company started to take back in 2003, but which has come to fruition more recently, with so many more materials now available in digital format. At this point, roughly 90 percent of Phoenix’s course content is delivered via e-books or other electronic means — the only exceptions coming in courses such as art history, where copyright issues surrounding digital renderings of images such as paintings remain a hurdle for e-book publishers, says David Bickford, the vice president of academic affairs at Phoenix.”
I work for several online universities that are utilizing e-books. In fact, I have made my most recent book, The Online Student’s User Manual, available to a university where it will be delivered in an e-book format. I have also made it available on Kindle because I believe that many do prefer to have quick access to resources like these rather than have to lug a bunch of books around with them.
Convenience of access is a big plus for e-books. Cost is also a very important consideration. Toccon.com claims, “The spiraling cost of textbooks is rendering higher education unaffordable to many students, particularly in community colleges, where textbook costs often exceed tuition. While some may think of a digital textbook merely an electronic image of a paper product, others have employed the electronic format in broadening the spectrum of learning. This session examines the emerging future of digital textbooks, including open access; subscriptions; texts bundled with online study resources; innovative texts that include multimedia, simulation models, automated assessments; and business models that will allow publishers to survive and thrive in the future.”Â
A recent ezine article gave 7 reasons why students should be offered e-books as a choice. To read that article, click here.
Book for Online College Students is Now Available on Kindle
The Online Student’s User Manual: Everything You Need to Know to be a Successful Online Student is now available on Kindle. Click here for more information.
The Online Student User’s Manual will show you —
- what you need to know about computer and software requirements
- how to use the search engines and upload assignments
- how to organize and manage your time
- how to track and schedule your assignments
- how to communicate effectively with your professors and fellow students
- how to maximize your grade
- what mistakes to avoid
- how to create measurable goals and stay motivated
- how to prepare for tests…and so much more.
The Online Student User’s Manual is the only “go-to” resource you will need to help you master the world of online education.
To order the traditional paperback version click here.
How to Make a Book Available on Kindle and Other Devices
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QCc2oN9TFak&fs=1&hl=en_US]5 Ways That eBooks Are Better Than Paper Books
Recently I began to buy eBooks for the Kindle application on my iPad. While I still love paper books, the digital wiles of eBooks are looking increasingly attractive to me. Below are five eBook features that may tempt you to buy electronic books too.
If you are looking to read books with a device like Kindle or Ipad, I agree with the 5 helpful features listed in the above article by ReadWriteWeb. I personally was initially leary about reading books on such a device. However, I have recently been using Ipad’s iBooks reader and I am surprised by how much I like it.
With traditional books, I tend to be a page bender. I go through a book initially and bend all of the corners down on pages that I want to return to later. However, it can be hard to remember which book had the information I had initially marked. . . I have so many books that my house looks a bit like Barnes and Noble. You can mark pages on these readers as well. Unfortunately, it isn’t any easier to remember which book had the information I marked in it using these readers though. Initially, I think it is a bit harder to find things, just due to having to remember a new way of doing things. I do think it will take me some time to adapt to this new way of reading.
I like that you can keep a large amount of books on a light-weight device like this. It is convenient for travel. I also like that I can read books in bed at night in the dark.
There are not a lot of books that are available in this format yet. However, I did find Calibre which is a software that will convert PDF files into ebooks. To learn more about how to do this, check out the following article from howtogeek: http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/19217/convert-a-pdf-ebook-to-epub-format/
As with all new technology, I am sure it will just keep getting better and better.