William Paterson University’s Cheng Library, Instruction and Research Technology department, Office of the Provost, and Technology Across the Curriculum Committee, hosted this forum to clarify e-books for faculty by providing an explanation of the landscape of e-books, profiling e-book delivery systems and evincing their pedagogical uses. Marketing and Management Professor Dr. Bela Florenthal examines the pros and cons of using e-textbooks in an academic course.

1. E-Textbooks
Bela Florenthal

2. Outline
 The e-textbook market
 E-textbook options
 CourseSmart
 Strengths and Weaknesses
 Demonstration
 Inkling
 Strengths and Weaknesses
 Demonstration
 McGraw-Hill Connect
 Strengths and Weaknesses
 Demonstration

3. The E-Textbook Market
Sources: USA TODAY (8/3/11), Pearson Foundation
 $4.5 billion worth of textbooks were sold in 2010
 Predicted growth of e-textbooks:
 3% of sales in 2011
30% 25%
 44% of sales by 2017 25%
20%
15%
 College
students 10% 7% 2011
5% 2012
who own tablets: 0%
 Quadruple growth in 2012 College Students
Owning a Tablet

4. CourseSmart:
A Rent Model
Strengths Weaknesses
 Above 7,000 titles are  Rent is available for 180
available days, non transferable
 Price:  No option to read
 about 50% of the printed offline
version  Does not scale well for
 Free iPhone and iPad iPad landscape
apps  Search option is limited
 iPad app:  iPhone app
 Can highlight content  Can’t take notes
 Can add notes  Can’t double click to
 Ruler for easier read zoom

5. Inkling:
A Purchase Model
Strengths Weaknesses
 Can buy a chapter at a  No rent option is
time; $2.99 per chapter available
 User friendly search  Can be slow to
 Social options: download
 Share notes with other  Only iPad app
students  Very limited selection
 Connect through Facebook  about 100 titles
 Free iPad apps  A start-up company
 iPad app:
 Can highlight content
 Can add notes
 Can take quizzes

6. McGraw-Hill E-Textbook
A Rental Model
Strengths Weaknesses
 Text is interactive  Web based
 Can copy to a word  Can’t use offline
document
 Can’t use through an
 Bundled with Connect app
interface
 Not very scalable
 Pages can be printed
 Connect + costs about
 Interactive search
$80
 Word based
 Can’t resell to recoup
 Definitions of concepts by the cost
hovering over them

7. THANK YOU