Dean Hendrix
Assistant Director for University Libraries
State University of New York at Buffalo
Electronic textbooks (or e-textbooks) and their business models are evolving quickly and represent a singular opportunity for the higher education community to serve students more efficiently both academically and financially. Motivated by the desire to enhance student learning outcomes, reduce student expenditures on course materials and influence the terms of sustainable business models, the University at Buffalo Libraries has administered four different e-textbook pilots serving over 2000 students over the last nine months. These include:
– a course-based pilot facilitated by Internet2/ EDUCAUSE (CourseLoad)
– a site license targeted to introductory biology courses (Nature Publishing Group)
– a multi-campus State University of New York pilot (CourseSmart)
– a student-based pilot facilitated by Internet2/ EDUCAUSE (CourseSmart)
This project briefing will discuss the common and unique administrative challenges and opportunities of the pilots, including engagement of teaching faculty, identity management issues, necessary partnerships, and license negotiations. The briefing will also focus on student and faculty attitudinal survey data and usage statistics that address learning outcomes, e-textbook features and functionality, format preferences, and cost considerations.
http://library.buffalo.edu/findlibrarymaterials/e-textbooks/