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.” 

A recent ezine article gave 7 reasons why students should be offered e-books as a choice.  To read that article, click here.

Success Strategies for Online Students | The Sloan Consortium

Success Strategies for Online Students

August 23, 2010 – 4:27pm | by Sloan-C
Date: 
October 27, 2010 – 2:00pm – 3:30pm

Important Guidance Tips to Address Student Concerns

Students have a variety of unique issues they face in the online environment. Many are either too intimidated to ask, or are unaware of what to ask instructors about how to be successful. This webinar will address how students and online professors can both benefit from guidance provided in the online classroom.
The following topics will be addressed:
  1. Navigation Issues
  2. Terminology Issues
  3. Academic Honesty
  4. Goal Setting
  5. Time Management
  6. Motivation
  7. Increasing Retention
  8. Learning Preferences
  9. Writing and Formatting Skills
  10. Test Preparation Techniques
Although these are common topics addressed in many online courses, many instructors may be inadvertently omitting some important guidelines necessary for their students’ optimal success. In this webinar, the focus will be on providing satisfactory answers to questions students really have,  alleviating their concerns. The end result of learning these techniques will be more successful online students as well as more effective online professors. 
Price:
Individual Members (Free)
Institutional Members ($25/participant)
Guest and Non Members ($99/participant)

 

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Facilitators: 
Diane Hamilton received her B.S. in Business Management from Arizona State University, her M.A. in Organizational Management from the University of Phoenix and her PhD in Business Management from Northcentral University. She currently teaches bachelor-, master-, and doctoral-level courses for six online universities. Her books and articles focus on understanding online education, career reinvention and understanding personalities in the workforce. At one of the universities where she teaches, her book The Online Student’s User Manual: Everything You Need to Know to be a Successful Online College Student, is required reading for first-time online students.
Register here: 
Guests and Non-Members ($99/participant)
via sloanconsortium.org

Please click on the above link to find out more about a webinar I will be fascilitating for The Sloan Consortium. “The Sloan Consortium is an institutional and professional leadership organization dedicated to integrating online education into the mainstream of higher education, helping institutions and individual educators improve the quality, scale, and breadth of education. Membership in the Sloan Consortium provides knowledge, practice, community, and direction for educators” (Sloanconsortium.org).

For a list of members of this important consortium of institutions and organizations, please go to: http://sloanconsortium.org/members_list

I personally teach for some of these universities that are listed here. It is an honor to be part of such a quality institution that is committed to teaching excellence. I highly recommend checking out this site by clicking here.