By: Melinda Duckett

The Future of Textbooks

What problem or need existed that gave rise to e-textbooks? Cost of textbooks The need for multiple delivery forms Easy accessibility Outdated content in a textbook

Research on e-textbooks There were several pilot studies conducted among universities to test this new innovation. Northwest Missouri State University became the first public university to offer all of its textbooks electronically The majority of students indicated through research that e-textbooks outperformed regular tangible textbooks Overall 47% percent of students preferred the tangible textbook over the e-textbook, but were willing to reconsider Cost played a big part in the decision making process

Development Problems Not enough e-reader- Compatible e- textbooks Campus wide No space for note taking Challenging to Navigate inside the e-book Technical supportNo page numbers

Intended Audience The intended audience was college or post high school level students

Commercialization Publishers are eager to be part of the experiment Innovation is considered to be “General Motors Moment” (Young, 2009) Amazon marketed Kindle, but Sony as well as publishing companies have marketed their own version of an e- book.

First novel offered through e-book

References Rogers, E. M. (2003). Diffusion of Innovations (5th Ed.). New York: Free Press. Guess, Andy. (2008). Retrieved September 14, books Diffusion and Integration of Technology in Education. Laureate Education, Inc. (2008). Baltimore: Author

References Continued Rickman, J. T., Holzen, R., Klute, P. G., & Tobin, T. (2009). A campus-wide e-textbook initiative. EDUCAUSE, 32. Young, Jeffrey R. (2009). Six lessons one campus learned about e-textbooks. The Chronicle of Higher Education, 55(39), A18.