The Future Of Digital Textbooks

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“Ripe for digital destruction,” (A Textbook) were words of the late Steve Jobs referring to the enormous potential for the textbooks industry. He believed the textbook market to be worth an estimated 8 billion dollars in the U.S. alone. His vision was to lessen the burden of carrying heavy textbooks around, while also offering them as a free feature with the iPad. He wanted to change the culture of textbooks forever.

The essay “What are the Enablers and Barriers to Successful Adoption and Commercialization of Digital Textbooks,” discusses the many benefits and drawback of transitioning to digital textbooks. The essay asserts that digital textbooks are on the rise and that there is a good probability they will overtake printed textbooks in the foreseeable future. They are currently accessible to students by download onto a reading device or by logging into the publisher’s site online. The main players involved in the innovation and development of digital textbooks include Flat World Knowledge Inc., Connexions, Courseload, VitalScore, CafeScibe, Coursesmart, Inkling, and Know. The overwhelming factor driving these companies and the user is the cost. The successful implementation of digital textbooks would greatly decrease costs to the consumer and the creators/developers, making it a win-win situation. The three business models include the profit multiplier and the two switch board models. The essay concludes that advances in innovation and technology will lead to advances in education. In this economy, lower costs will lead to more people completing college and a more intelligent society.

Digital textbooks present many advantages and very few drawbacks to both the student and the seller. The primary advantage to the student i...

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...to transform the textbook industry (Kafta).

Paper textbooks have reached their potential a long time ago. Ideas have been exhausted and there simply isn’t any substantial aspects left to improve. We live in a digital time where innovation and technology are constantly reaching new limits, almost overnight. Now is the time to adopt digital textbooks and not just make improvements, but revolutionize the way the next generation will learn.

Works Cited

"A Textbook Manoeuvre." The Economist. 19 Jan 2012. Web. 26 Feb 2012. .

Kafta, Peter. "Publisher Terry McGraw on Steve Jobs and Digital Textbooks: “This Was His Vision”." AllThingsD. N.p., 20 Jan 2012. Web. 26 Feb 2012. .

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