NACSCORP, OpenStax Launch ACCES

NACSCORP, a subsidiary of the National Association of College Stores, and the Rice University-based publisher OpenStax has expanded their partnership by launching the Affordable Custom Content Enhancement System (ACCES) on the eve of CAMEX 2016 in Houston, TX. The online platform allows faculty to create open educational resources (OER) and offer them through their campus store.

OpenStax has released 16 college titles that are used by nearly 400,000 students this year. The number of instructors using OpenStax titles increased by more than 100% in 2015 because of its partnership with NACSCORP, which provides low-cost print versions of the textbooks.

With ACCES, faculty will be able to reorganize chapters and add their own content. In addition, educational publisher Dover Publications is making its catalog of anthologies of classic literature, poetry, plays, music scores, and other publications available for faculty to insert into ACCES content.

"The OpenStax-NACSCORP custom print partnership is a direct response to faculty requests for customized print versions of OpenStax textbooks that will provide students with useful and affordable course materials," David Harris, editor-in-chief of OpenStax, said in a press release. "Many faculty want to use technology to tailor materials for their students, but they don't want to sacrifice quality. They want to start with a rock-solid, peer-reviewed textbook--preferably one with full-color illustrations and a full suite of homework and testing modules--and they want to make only the changes that are relevant to their teaching."

To make it easier for faculty to track the cost of the books they are working on, ACCES will display associated print costs in real time. ACCES will also automatically format pages and create a new index.

"We are committed to providing our campus store partners with the textbooks their faculty demand, including OER titles and customized materials," said Kurt Schoen, president and chief operating officer of NACSCORP.

Lynn Switching from Minis to iPad Pros

Lynn University, Boca Raton, FL, made headlines with its pilot program to provide 750 students with iPad minis for the fall 2013 semester. The initiative worked so well the device was given to all undergraduate students and new MBA and doctoral students in 2014.

Lynn is upping the ante once again by providing 1,800 iPad Pros with the Smart Keyboard and Apple Pencil included to undergrads and faculty. The school made the switch because of the improved performance and multitasking abilities of the device. The keyboard is more convenient for students to use, while the pencil expands the multitouch powers, according to the university’s website.

The school claims its iPad initiative has reduced costs for students, who no longer have to bring a personal computer or laptop to campus. The program has also allowed the school to replace traditional textbooks with custom e-textbooks.

OpenStax Personalizing College Content

In August, OpenStax received a $9 million grant to develop personalized interactive textbooks for advance-placement biology and high school physics. Now, the nonprofit publisher based at Rice University is turning its attention to personalized courseware for college students as part of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation's Next Generation Courseware Challenge.

OpenStax will use its portion of the $20 million Challenge fund to work on personalized learning technology that can deliver tailored lessons to help students learn at their own pace. It plans to use the new technology in some upcoming textbooks. The goal of the Challenge is to develop personalized digital courseware that will help low-income and disadvantaged student succeed in their college courses.

OpenStax was one of seven finalists named by the Gates Foundation at the Educause 2014 conference.  The other finalists are Acrobatiq, Cerego, CogBooks, Lumen Learning, Smart Sparrow, and the Open Learning Initiative at Stanford University.

“Students learn best when education is personalized to their needs and goals,” said Daniel Greenstein, director of postsecondary success at the foundation. “There is a growing body of evidence that courseware, when integrated effectively by faculty in instruction, can personalize learning at unprecedented scale, potentially enabling all students—not just those who are able to attend the most elite, expensive colleges—to get the best and most effective education at a reasonable price.”

Startup Offering Alternative to Textbooks

Since 2011, students and instructors at Purdue University have been using Jetpack, a hybrid technology developed on campus that allows instructors to create course materials students can access on their computers or smartphones. Now, Jetpack is going public.

The university licensed the technology and a commercial version, called Skyepack was recently launched as a “freemium” alternative to textbooks and e-readers.

“E-books today remind me of how early automobiles were called ‘horseless carriages’ and looked as if they worked best if you harnessed a couple of horses to the front,” said Gerry McCartney, chief information office at Purdue. “This publishing platform is a next step because it allows you to incorporate any type of media and view it on almost any device.”

The technology allows users to combine educational content into packs that are specific to a class lecture at no cost. Instructors can assemble multiple packs and students can access them on most smartphones and tablet devices or online on their desktop computer.

“These mobile apps and software tools are built because they improve student success at Purdue,” McCartney said. “We want to share our success, but we’re not in the business of selling educational technologies. Bu licensing our technologies to companies such as Skyepack, we can make these technologies available to companies and institutions that have a need for them.”

Publishers Find Ways to Make iBooks Work

Apple made a splash when it partnered with the three largest K-12 publishers to provide textbooks for its iPad devices through the iBookstore. McGraw-Hill Education has released six titles for the iPad since that January announcement, with Pearson Learning contributing six math and science texts, and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (HMH) adding two social studies textbooks to the total.

So far, it’s been a good experience for students, who seem to enjoy the enhanced learning experience, and for publishers, who have found new ways to incorporate graphics, audio, and video into their textbooks.

“Really, what an iBook is, at the end of the day, is freed from the constraint of the traditional page as we know it,” said Bethlam Forsa, executive vice president for product development and publishing operations at HMH, in an interview with T.H.E. Journal. “And it’s allowed us to make significant user enhancements around it.”

The publishers have been able to better understand the concerns schools have about the new technology, including costs associated with providing the tablets and the existing infrastructure with which schools must work. Schools will adopt the technology at different rates and the publishers have to keep an eye on making that transition as smooth as possible.

“In terms of purchasing the electronic versions of the content, it follows our same types of sales and licensing and use model,” said Vineet Madan, senior vice president of new ventures at McGraw-Hill. "What usually happens is the school districts will purchase them for a few school buildings or individual school buildings, and then manage provisioning of the associated devices that have access to that content.”

Partnership between XanEdu, Barnes & Noble, and Texas A&M

According to a recent press release, XanEdu, Barnes & Noble, and Texas A&M have partnered to conduct a pilot. Students at the university will access XanEdu’s course materials within the NookStudy application and provide feedback on the usability, accessibility, and features of the content and the application.

As mentioned previously, NookStudy is a free application that can be downloaded to PC’s and Mac’s. It enables students to download e-books and e-textbooks, take notes, tag content, search through both the textbook and annotations, and manage all of their digital content.

Update on DynamicBooks from Macmillan

In February, Macmillan introduced a new platform called DynamicBooks that will give professors the opportunity to create custom digital textbooks from existing titles. Professors will be able to customize the texts by rearranging chapters; uploading links, video or audio; rewriting or deleting portions of the text; and uploading the course syllabus.

Book Business recently interviewed Clancy Marshall, general manager of DynamicBooks, and posted an interesting article on their website. Marshall discussed the benefits for students, instructors, and authors; how the approach will address textbook pricing; and how the model could help fight piracy. The section on piracy is particularly interesting and worth a read. Marshall noted, “I think that the great thing about DynamicBooks is that it addresses the two issues that I think are problematic with textbooks today. One is that they're priced too high for the students. DynamicBooks, on average, are going to be about 40 percent to 50 percent of the price of a traditional book. It also addresses this idea that textbooks aren't worth paying for. It's not like you can just go online and find a pirated version that would include your instructor's individual edits and notes.”

Macmillan introduces new platform for e-textbooks

Earlier this week, Macmillan introduced a new platform called DynamicBooks that will give professors the opportunity to create custom digital textbooks from existing titles. Professors will be able to rearrange chapters; upload links, video or audio; rewrite or delete portions of the text; and upload the course syllabus. According to an article from The Chronicle of Higher Education, changes to the original text will be clearly labeled so that students can easily recognize the modifications. Another article from The New York Times says the books will be sold at about half the cost of the traditional print books. Macmillan is willing to sell the e-textbooks for less because it expects that the e-textbook sales will replace the sale of used books.

Beginning in August, students will be able to buy the e-textbooks through the DynamicBooks website, college stores, and CourseSmart. The books can be read on laptops or the iPhone and the company plans to negotiate with Apple so that the books can be read on the iPad.

CQ Press partners with LibreDigital

CQ Press has partnered with LibreDigital to launch an online publishing platform called CQ Press Custom and Online Books. The platform will provide professors with examination copies of the CQ Press collection and the opportunity to create custom print and digital political science textbooks. Students will also be able to use the platform to access CQ Press texts or the custom texts created by professors. According to a posting on the textbookfacts.org website, the custom textbooks can include in-print and out-of-print publications, public domain content, and material written by the professor. Students that choose the digital version of the text will be able to access it immediately while print copies will take two weeks to arrive.