2. eBooks in Higher Education
What's on the Horizon?
Rob Kadel, Ph.D.
Manager, Academic Training & Consulting
Pearson eCollege
(Also Adjunct Professor of Sociology, University of Colorado, Denver)

3. Changing Hats…
eBooks in Higher Education: Feb. 16, 2010

4. What’s the current climate for eBooks?1
eBooks in Higher Education: Feb. 16, 2010

5. Amazon Kindle
Amazon sparked the initiative with the Kindle and its already impressive collection of eBooks
Estimates put number of Kindle readers sold at about million units
For every 100 paperbacks Amazon sells, they are selling 115 Kindle books
For every 100 hardcover books, 143 Kindle books
Sources: NY Times and Techcrunch
eBooks in Higher Education: Feb. 16, 2010

6. Others have followed… Sony Reader Barnes & Noble nook
Like Amazon, Sony and B&N do not release exact sales numbers on how many Readers/nooks have been sold.
Estimates are in the low millions – one million plus.
eBooks in Higher Education: Feb. 16, 2010

7. Apple’s Contribution
Apple has fanned the flames with the iPad and its offerings in the iBookstore
7.3 million iPads sold in Q4 of 2010
15 million iPads sold in all of 2010
During the iBookstore’s first 2 months, 5 million books downloaded
But performance has been sluggish – still limited offerings compared with Amazon, B&N.
Remember, the iPad was released only in April of 2010, so that 15 million represents only three business quarters of sales.
eBooks in Higher Education: Feb. 16, 2010

8. Color costs more; touch display limited
The differences
One-trick Ponies
Multimedia Devices
Kindle, Reader, nook
Lower cost
Prices range from $140 to about $250
Color costs more; touch display limited
Impressive array of books available
iPad, Motorola Xoom, Samsung Galaxy Tab
Higher cost
$250 up to about $800
Full-color touch display
Somewhat limited book stores, but more coming
Kindle and nook apps available!...
Ron Callari, in his blog at InventorSpot, characterized the distinction as “one-trick ponies vs. multimedia devices”
eBooks in Higher Education: Feb. 16, 2010

9. Tablets: Taking us by storm
No one can deny that the tablet is here to stay
Kindle, B&N, and other eBook providers have recognized this, are offering apps to their content on tablet devices
Here are some images of just some of the content and functionality available through third-party apps on the iPad…
eBooks in Higher Education: Feb. 16, 2010

10. Kindle on iPad
eBooks in Higher Education: Feb. 16, 2010

11. nook on iPad
eBooks in Higher Education: Feb. 16, 2010

12. CourseSmart on iPad
eBooks in Higher Education: Feb. 16, 2010

13. inkling on iPad
Now, I’m not trying to sell the iPad here. In fact, apps like the Kindle and nook apps are already available for Android OS too. So even though we have competing content providers, they all seem to want a piece of the tablet business and are willing to work with their apps in that sphere.
Any questions at this point?
eBooks in Higher Education: Feb. 16, 2010

14. The Promise of eBooks 2
eBooks in Higher Education: Feb. 16, 2010

15. Learning from anywhere (Wi-Fi, 3G, 4G)
You can take it with you
Learning from anywhere (Wi-Fi, 3G, 4G)
Interactive content
Definitions, video, simulations
Personal interactivity
SMS/MMS messaging, polling,
Short Message Service, Multimedia Message Service
This is a screen capture of an inkling textbook -- their books feature ways for instructors to annotate the text and have those annotations shared with their students on the students’ own iPads.
eBooks in Higher Education: Feb. 16, 2010

16. Seemingly unlimited functionality
Automatic updates
Customize per course (buy certain chapters or the whole book)
Instructor/student interactivity right in the book
No need for separate
discussion forums
Augmented reality
eBooks in Higher Education: Feb. 16, 2010

17. Benefits of eBooks to the student
Accessible Anytime and Everywhere
Flexible and Integrated into Course Curriculum
Interactive and Engaging
Delivers Content in a format and method based on students needs and requirements
These are just a few. What other benefits to the student can we think of?
eBooks in Higher Education: Feb. 16, 2010

18. Benefits of eBooks to the instructor
Integrate into online Course Curriculum
Keeps students engaged in online world and outside of the classroom
Provides required course material to students everywhere and anytime, enabling success
Enables instructors to communicate with their students on the go (depending on the app used)
These are just a few. What other benefits to the instructor can we think of?
eBooks in Higher Education: Feb. 16, 2010

19. Roadblocks to adoption in higher education3
eBooks in Higher Education: Feb. 16, 2010

20. Cost and ease of use Co$t
Readers range from $140 to $250, multimedia devices from $250 to $800
While fiction and non-fiction bestsellers are somewhat cheaper electronically, e-text books are barely less expensive than their cloth/paper counterparts.
Ease of Use
Novel reading is linear. Text book reading is anything but.
Ever tried to share a “page number” from a Kindle book with your class?
Update! You can now do this, and share notes across Kindles too!
The Kindle’s black-and-white screen and long battery life may be perfect for reading, but publishers cannot do much to control the layout of content on it. That’s a problem for textbooks, where text must often share the page with diagrams, equations and photos. Students read a textbook differently from how they read a novel. With a novel or a nonfiction book, reading is linear: You read from front to the back and there’s little switching back and forth between chapters. With a textbook, most students skim through the chapters, sometimes reading only a few chapters out of the entire book.
eBooks in Higher Education: Feb. 16, 2010

21. File formats and conversions
(Non)ubiqity of file formats
Distributors using proprietary formats that can’t be read on others’ systems
Some change in this now, e.g., Kindle, nook apps on iPad
Also, non-ubiquity of sourcing/citations
Conversion process is (has been?) slow
Where’s the book that I use?
New and popular titles are much more quickly converted than older and academic titles
eBooks in Higher Education: Feb. 16, 2010

22. Food for thought
Most roadblocks are technological and can/will be overcome
Costs will continue to come down (at least for hardware)
So what’s stopping the adoption of eBooks in higher education?
WAIT TO CLICK TO THE “WHAT’S STOPPING” LINE?
What other roadblocks or challenges can we think of? What have any of you experienced?
Finish discussion, then click mouse for “What’s stopping” line.
eBooks in Higher Education: Feb. 16, 2010

23. Cultural shift required!4
eBooks in Higher Education: Feb. 16, 2010

24. Instructors
Have to want to use eBooks Will need to get full use out of them to justify price Will not want to pay for eReaders/tablets Loss of tactile functionality
Loss of tactile functionality?
eBooks in Higher Education: Feb. 16, 2010

25. Students
Have to be willing to accept and pay for eBooks and hardware Loss of tactile functionality Possibly hardware provided by the institution
Loss of tactile functionality?
eBooks in Higher Education: Feb. 16, 2010

26. Institutions
Will have to support and actively encourage the use of eBooks Possibly use resources to provide hardware to students and faculty
eBooks in Higher Education: Feb. 16, 2010

27. Thank you Rob Kadel, Ph.D. Pearson eCollege robka@ecollege.com