Roscoria, T. (2011) CSU System Shares e-Book Pilot Results Converge March 14
This reports on a large pilot with nearly 4,000 students across seven different campuses. In the pilot, 73 percent of students rented digital textbooks, at a cost of roughly one third that of buying a print copy.
Despite this, only one third of students who responded to a questionnaire indicated that they were satisfied with the experience.
“That satisfaction has to be significantly improved,” Hanley [the project evaluator] said. “You can’t have a third dissatisfied and a third neutral and only have a third like it.”
Obviously still a work in progress. My comment is that the student experience is unlikely to improve until texts are designed specifically for digital use, with video, activities, hot-links, and the ability to annotate all incorporated. It looks like most publishers still don’t get it.
Dr. Tony Bates is the author of eleven books in the field of online learning and distance education. He has provided consulting services specializing in training in the planning and management of online learning and distance education, working with over 40 organizations in 25 countries. Tony is a Research Associate with Contact North | Contact Nord, Ontario’s Distance Education & Training Network.
