1. Opportunities, innovations, distractions and dilemmas
E-textbooks
Opportunities, innovations, distractions and dilemmas
Tom Davy
Thomson Learning

2. What is a textbook? A synthesis of current knowledge
Teaching aid and learning resource
Learning
objectives
Matches course requirements
Includes supplements
Case studies
Follows a logical sequence
Pedagogical features

5. Textbook Supplements

6. Textbook cost elements

7. Textbook cost elements

9. Teaching Philosophies
A bi-product of research
Learning shouldn’t be fun
Students shouldn’t be spoon-fed
Discovery not prescription
Learner-centred Vs teacher-led

10. Student expectations Get me through the course Grab my attention
Highly visual
Better than Google
The bits I need when I need them
Built-in links for further research

11. Publisher Objectives Win market share Build a superior product
Better syllabus match
Authoritative author
Latest thinking
New material
Makes course delivery easier
Value-adding supplements

12. It’s an arms race…

13. Diminishing returns More returns, less ROI Reducing sell-through
New edition cycles
Second-hand sales
“Web resources are free”

14. US Vs ROW price differentials
Kotler, Armstrong Principles of Marketing
US Edition $160 = £80.00
UK Edition £42.99

15. US Edition UK Edition
$ = £70 £39.89

16. Economics of textbook publishing
High initial investment
Supplements
High Price
In the US
If discretionary purchase for students
Used books, leakage, buying around, piracy
Inefficient supply chain
Multiple intermediaries
High wastage
“Unsuccessful” first editions
Too much content
Returns

17. Corporate exodus from education
“Education slow to adopt digital solutions”

18. Textbook Vs Digital Textbook Digital Portable Tactile
No equipment required
Text better on paper
Organising framework
Linear
Single medium
Too much or too little
Single learning style
Digital
I-pods, mobile phones
Ubiquitous items
E-paper, print on demand
Learner journeys
Interactive
Multiple media
As much as you need
Individual learning styles

19. Context Faculty Tutor contact hours are reducing(
From sage on the stage to guide on the side
Students
Access to huge amount of content
Students will accept “good enough”
Students have become Googleized

20. Is there a better way?
What would we invent today if the textbook did not exist?

21. The Learning Pyramid

22. Book Centric
Case Studies
Companion Website
Learning Assessments

23. Objective Centric
Learning
Objective
Learning Assessments

24. Dilemmas Print pays our salaries The bleeding edge is a painful place
Selling direct to students
Digital rights management

25. Distractions
E-books
Bookshops
Digitalist zealots

26. Innovations The demise of content silos Customised content
                                                                    
The demise of content silos
Customised content
User created and sharing

27. Opportunities
University management: offer your customers a more compelling learning experience
Go digital
Librarians: market your services more effectively
Move into the campus bookshop space
Publishers
Look beyond the textbook
Start thinking objectives and digital learning objects