Page 17 - Campus Technology, April/May 2017

MANAGING DIGITAL EDUCATIONAL CONTENT
SPONSORED REPORT |
GAMECHANGER
are using the material and where they may be struggling. Any technical issues in rolling out electronic course- ware campus-wide have long been resolved. In fact, Hale points out that in the for-profit higher education space, e-textbooks have been prevalent for many years. Those institutions have long ensured every student receives af- fordable electronic course content on the first day of class. “The issue [of immediate access to content] has been solved there,” he says. “In two- and four-year schools, it’s just a question of implementation. The technology is
ready and tested.”
In fact, as early as 2000, Hale says, five of the top dental
schools in the country moved to deliver all relevant course content for a four-year dental program digitally through Vi- talSource on day one. “People sometimes seem to think that day-one digital content is something new,” he says, “when in fact we’ve been delivering to institutions and stu- dents for a very long time, and at scale.”
In the past 12 months, 5.7 million learners have ac- cessed content using VitalSource worldwide. Of the 22 million titles delivered to these users, the majority are the result of an institution adopting an inclusive access pro- gram of some design. Furthermore, those users have gen-
RETHINKING HOW TECHNOLOGY IS USED IN EDUCATION
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CAMPUS TECHNOLOGY | April/May 2017
“THE MISSION OF
A UNIVERSITY IS TO GIVE STUDENTS THE BEST OPPORTUNITY TO BE SUCCESSFUL IN THEIR COURSES”
—MIKE HALE, VICE PRESIDENT OF EDUCATION IN NORTH AMERICA, VITALSOURCE
erated more than 2.4 billion page views in that time period, so “the scalability is clearly already there,” says Hale.
One critical factor in a campus-wide adoption of a digital course materials program is ease of use. “You need to make the program easy to implement into what- ever LMS the institution has on campus,” he says. With more than 3,000 integrations worldwide, VitalSource works closely with a wide range of institutions to ensure a smooth rollout.
“Students go into their course within the LMS on day one, and click,” he says. “We take care of all the backend integration.” To meet federal Department of Education regulations, VitalSource provides opt-out solutions which
allow students to easily remove themselves from the program if they choose.
Working closely with campus bookstores is also critical to ensuring the success of a campus-wide digital course- ware program. “We make it easy for those already on cam- pus managing course and content to play a role,” he says. To that end, VitalSource has also announced their intent to acquire Verba Software, the leading provider affordable course materials tools for college bookstores, including Verba ConnectTM, the leading course materials manage- ment tool for inclusive access.
After a digital courseware program is up and running, bookstores’ jobs actually become easier, says Jennifer Solomon, director of market development at VitalSource. Transactions are simpler when the bookstore is the single source for e-textbooks, and students use the campus store much more than when they’re left on their own to purchase textbooks.
In the end, that ties bookstores back to their institutions. “The mission of a university is to give students the best opportunity to be successful in their courses,” says Hale. “This type of program puts the bookstore right at the center of student success.”