e-Textbooks in the Classroom
Electronic textbooks (e-textbooks) appear to be the next major focus of the ebook industry. Until now, ebook titles were predominately within the genres of popular fiction and non-fiction, ranging from the classics of the Gutenberg Project to the latest Stephen King. However, concerns about students' burdened with heavy backpacks and the skyrocketing prices for even used college textbooks suggest that the consumers of textbooks may be ready for e-textbooks. Although technologically it is not very difficult to digitize an existing paper-based textbook, it can be a myriad of legal issues. Most textbooks are the collaborative writings of several authors, accompanied by the photographs and drawings of potentially hundreds of contributors. Locating everyone who contributed to a textbook and obtaining the rights to a digital version of the work can be a logistical nightmare. As a result, it has taken a few years for e-textbooks to make their debut. Predominately, these are textbooks that were conceived as e-textbooks, with all of the necessary digital rights securely held by the publisher from the onset.
The e-textbook project
generating the most industry buzz comes out of Chicago from the headquarters
of goReader, Inc. goReader's focus
has been to provide e-textbook content, as well as a portable device designed
specifically to the needs of students. 
The device, also called goReader, weighs between
2 and 3 pounds and offers either a 10.4" or 12.1" full-color screen.
The 6GM hard disk drive can hold more than 300 e-textbooks at a time.
The rechargeable battery allows for 5 to 10 hours of use and spare batteries
are available for purchase. The texts can be personalized with bookmarking,
highlighting and annotations. Notes and annotations can be
shared with other goReader users and uploaded to a PC for printing.
Built-in to the device are a calculator, calendar and dictionary, as well
as a speaker and microphone. A plug-in keyboard can be purchased
separately.
Although their initial focus was on the higher education market, goReader has recently decided to expand its market into the K-12 sector (see goReader's "K-12 Solutions" brochure). As of mid-April, goReader had cemented partnerships with the following textbook publishers:
- Harcourt College Publishers
- West Group
- Addison Wesley
- Key College Publishing
The e-textbooks will
be purchased from the goReader website and downloaded onto the goReader
device via PC computer and USB cable. In additional to textbook
materials, local, national and international newspapers and periodicals
will also be available. The goReader device, which supports HTML,
XML, PDF and Java formats, is being beta-tested in a few universities
and colleges in the Chicago area and will be available for purchase in
Summer 2001, with a possible price range of $400-$600.
In March 2000, netLibrary entered into the e-textbook market with its purchase of MetaText, a company which creates web-based digital textbooks.
Unlike the goReader texts, there is no specialized device
to display MetaText editions; they are viewed on a computer screen.
However, the MetaText editions are more than merely digitized versions of
paper-based textbooks. Each e-textbook comes bundled with a set of
tools for the instructor (i.e. online syllabi and class rosters) and student
(i.e. personal annotations, bookmarking and highlighting). Moreover,
communication tools allow for instructor-student and instructor-class feedback.
A January 2001 agreement
between netLibrary and Blackboard will allow MetaText editions
to be used through Blackboard's e-learning software platform. Similarly,
the e-textbooks will also be available to users of CourseCompass,
Pearson Higher Education's customized version of Blackboard. Publishers
who have agreed to provide content to netLibrary/MetaText include Thomson
Learning, Pearson Education, Houghton Mifflin and McGraw Hill. The
first MetaText e-textbooks are expected to be available for purchase in
Fall 2001.
If you do not want to wait until the fall for your first e-textbook, then check out WizeUp.com.
WizeUp e-textbooks are downloaded and viewed
on a Windows or Mac computer using WizeUp software. The one-time download
of the software takes approximately 15 minutes on a network connection and
up to 45 minutes on a 56K dial-up connection. Bundled with the e-textbook
are tools for highlighting, bookmarking and annotating the text, as well
as a full-text search engine. In addition, custom hyperlinks can be
added connecting the text to anything on the web, as well as any materials
on your computer's hard drive.
Based on publisher specifications, portions of the e-textbooks can be printed, but only once. WizeUp editions come with a single user license and can only be downloaded onto one hard drive. Because of this copyright protection, it is not possible to resell a WizeUp e-textbook.
WizeUp's collection
of approximately 140 e-textbooks falls primarily within the subject areas
of business, management and finance. Publishers represented in the
collection include Addison Wesley Longman, Allyn & Bacon, Harcourt
College, McGraw Hill, Wadsworth and W.W. Norton. Most WizeUp e-textbooks
cost significantly less than the printed editions, with savings ranging
between 40% to 65%.
Random Sampling
| Title | WizeUp Price | List Price | Savings |
| Understanding Management, 3rd ed. (Harcourt) | $25.00 | $67.17 | $42.17 |
| Archetypes of Wisdom, 3rd ed. (Wadsworth) | $41.50 | $69.95 | $28.45 |
| Contemporary Marketing, 10th ed (Harcourt) | $37.00 | $98.75 | $61.75 |
| Educational Psychology, 6th ed. (Allyn & Bacon) | $41.00 | $72.00 | $31.00 |
| Principles of Economics, 2nd ed. (Harcourt) | $40.00 | $99.42 | $59.42 |