Ebook Editions of University Textbooks Expand

Growth of Electronic Books Reduces Cost of Higher Education

Aug 26, 2009 Shelley Aylesworth-Spink

Cheap textbooks reduce university costs and are becoming closer to reality with advances in electronic books and digital ebook readers.

Electronic textbooks are the holy grail of reducing the cost of a university education for students. Advances in ebook readers, access to digital textbooks and ebooks continue to transform these printed materials into a virtual format.

Considering the number of laptops owned and used by North American university and college students, the market for ebooks or electronic textbooks, with content delivered on computers, is growing.

Ebook Readers, Electronic Textbooks Embraced by Some Universities

Universities are entering the electronic ebook and textbook market as a way of helping reduce students’ university costs. For example, at Northwest Missouri State University, university leaders hope that soon, the institution will be an ebook only campus.

Already, Northwest buys textbooks and rents them to students. The university also bought ebooks for about 500 of its 6,700 students in 10 different courses. Textbook publisher McGraw-Hill is making digital access codes accessible to up to 3,000 additional students.

Northwest President Dean L. Hubbard told Inside Higher Ed, in its January 14, 2009 edition, he believes that “students will read more and they will learn more, by using this medium.”

Digital Book Readers as Ebooks Result in Cheap Textbooks

This type of support for ebooks as textbooks is the driving force behind CourseSmart, a digital textbook company started by five major textbook publishers. More than 5,000 textbooks are available digitally through CourseSmart and the company commands about 30% of the market.

CourseSmart reports that 72 percent of its customers say an electronic format for textbooks is preferred.

Organizations are finding ways to reduce costs for university textbooks. For example, an application by CourseSmart for the iPhone and iPod Touch can be downloaded from iTunes, allowing students to buy thousands of texts from large publishers. In many cases, these textbooks are half the cost of printed versions.

Electronic Books as Textbooks Reduce Cost of Education

At the University System of Ohio, professors are being offered grants of up to $50,000 each to create free materials for the most commonly taught courses. The system includes half a million students enrolled in Ohio’s four public universities, 24 branch campuses, 23 community colleges and more than 200 adult workforce education centers and training programs.

CourseSmart is partnering with the Ohio university system to allow students to use the university web portal to buy electronic textbooks as ebooks.

CourseSmart also partnered with San Diego State University on materials being available in an electronic format for about 200 courses. The campus store sells the ebooks to students.

Universities are turning to students’ interests and the availability of new technology to bring cheap university textbooks as ebooks to campuses. At the same time, students who take up these electronic resources will enjoy the benefits of lower university costs.

The copyright of the article Ebook Editions of University Textbooks Expand in Universities is owned by Shelley Aylesworth-Spink. Permission to republish Ebook Editions of University Textbooks Expand in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.

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