One of the largest etextbook pilot programs to date has been announced for fall 2013. The pilot will include 50 publishers and about 30,000 textbooks. It is a continuation of the etextbook pilot sponsored by two non-profit organizations, Internet2 and Educause. The goal of the pilot is to provide students with substantial savings, enhance digital educational materials, and to test a new etextbook purchasing model by delivering e-textbooks to students and faculty via an institutional site license, rather than through individual purchases by students. Institutions participating in the pilot are allowed to select their textbooks from 50 different publishers and from three etextbook platform providers: CourseSmart, Courseload, or MacGraw-Hill Education.
The University of South Florida participated in the pilot of fall 2012 with over 3,000 students and currently has about 1,600 students in the spring 2013 pilot. Those students were provided with their etextbooks at no charge for partaking in the pilot. A data report from the fall 2012 pilot is almost finalized and the results will be posted on the TAP website soon.
If you would like to learn more about the pilot, visit:
http://www.informationweek.com/education/instructional-it/e-textbook-pilot-puts-college-books-in-c/240150097
