7 May, 2015
Institution as eTextbook Publisher
Ebooks 2015, UCL
Institution as e-textbook publisher
Project scope
Three-year national project: April
2014 - September 2017
To help answer this question:
“Will the institution as etextbook creator help students
by providing a more affordable
higher education, and promote
a better, more sustainable
information environment for
libraries, students and faculty?”
2
Institution as e-textbook publisher
Ebooks support strategic priorities for
universities
“Ebooks have the potential to engage with three key
strategic priorities common to most universities: to
enhance the student experience and academic
outcomes within an increasingly competitive
environment; to drive innovation in learning, teaching
and research; and to help to use space and human
resources more effectively and efficiently.”
Christine Fyfe, Pro-Vice-Chancellor, University
of Leicester
Ebooks in higher education: a strategic priority?;
Ebooks in education: Realising the vision; Jisc /
Ubiquity Press; 2014
3
Institution as e-textbook publisher
Ebooks support strategic priorities for
universities
Ebooks “enhance educational benefit by improving
access to titles that students are expected to read.
Ensuring timely access to key books has been a
fundamental, and largely intractable, challenge for
universities and their libraries for many years, and lack
of sufficient copies has regularly featured as the top
complaint in student surveys over many years”
Christine Fyfe, Pro-Vice-Chancellor, University
of Leicester
Ebooks in higher education: a strategic priority?;
Ebooks in education: Realising the vision; Jisc /
Ubiquity Press; 2014
4
Institution as e-textbook publisher
Project scope
E-textbook developments supported by the project must:
Support a range of activities and interactions carried out by teachers or
learners
Be based on principles of:
» Re-usability
» Accessibility
» Interoperability
» Durability
Be available to users whenever and wherever - “bring your own device”
Enable effective use through VLEs – or similar environments
… and mobile devices
5
Institution as e-textbook publisher
Project scope
Project takes as its premise that any new business model for e-textbooks
should:
Make a compelling case for adoption by institutions
Have a clear mechanism for driving adoptions
Be able to compete in the area of reward for author (and institution)
Offer cost savings to purchasing HEIs
6
Institution as e-textbook publisher
7
Books in development
Institution
University of
Liverpool
Title 1
Essentials of Financial Management by Dr
Jason Laws
Title 2
Using Primary Sources edited
by Dr Jon Hogg
University of
Nottingham
Corporate Responsibility & Sustainability
in Practice by Nottingham University
Business School and the International
Centre for Corporate Social Responsibility
Applied Ethics by Professor
Christopher Woodard and Dr
Isobel Gois
UHI & Edinburgh
Napier
How To Produce A Research Dissertation
by Professor Frank Rennie and Dr Keith
Smythe
Student Research Projects by
Dr Keith Smythe and
Professor Frank Rennie
UCL
Reconstructive & Plastic Surgery edited by Public Archaeology edited by
Dr Deepak Kalaskar
Dr Gabriel Moshenska
Institution as e-textbook publisher
8
Business models, technologies, platforms
Business models
Technologies
Platforms,
distribution channels
OA
Xerte
Kindle
Kindle pricing
BiblioBoard
Freemium
Print-on-demand
Etc. etc.
Smashwords
Apple i-Books
Yudu
Etc. etc.
Google Play
Etc. etc.
Institution as e-textbook publisher
Benchmarking
Project reporting will assess:
• Impact
• Extent to which access has been improved
• Cost-benefit gains, if any
• How content creation, production, and other processes could be improved
• Author experience
• Student experience
• Pedagogical value
• Success of business models, licensing models, distribution models,
technologies …
9
Institution as e-textbook publisher
University of the Highlands and Islands /
Edinburgh Napier
»How to Produce a Research Dissertation
»Guide to Research Methodology
Joint universities imprint - eTIPS
Focus on core generic skills
Reference for over 20 degree programmes and in excess of 500 students
10
Institution as e-textbook publisher
How to Write a Research Dissertation
• Content has been written and edited
• Electronic file conversion for Kindle underway
• Permissions have been granted and licences for use acquired where needed.
11
Institution as e-textbook publisher
Guide to Research Methodology
•
•
•
Scheduled release Q4 2015
Wider circle of contributors
Take advantage of content already being used in learning and teaching at
UHI / Napier.
1 Introduction to research methods
2 Foundations of research
3 Quantitative research methods
4 Qualitative research methods
5 Mixed research methods
6 Data analysis
7 Understanding the relevance of your research
8 Ethical considerations
12
Institution as e-textbook publisher
Institution as publisher – opportunity
Mainstream consumer acceptance of e-books has created sustainable
marketplace
Path to publication streamlined – traditional publisher intervention not
needed
Online sales channels offer access to consumers with minimum effort
» … and to consumers an increasing wealth of material
Academics creating textbooks tailored for their course and for wider access
… freely or at affordable cost
13
Institution as e-textbook publisher
Institution as publisher – opportunity
“A natural progression”
Equal access for remote students
E-resources that can be used online and offline
14
Institution as e-textbook publisher
15
How to Write a Research Dissertation: production
Institution as e-textbook publisher
“Freedom” to amend / update book content
16
Institution as e-textbook publisher
Author relationship
•
Need for formal contract?
•
Author or colleague?
17
Institution as e-textbook publisher
Companion web sites
18
Institution as e-textbook publisher
Business model
•
Amazon KDP (Kindle Direct Publishing):
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Familiar
Strong brand
Wide range of titles
Large audience
International
Customizable
DRM protection
Companion website OA
19
Institution as e-textbook publisher
Benefits
•
Reducing institutional spend on electronic resources
•
Pedagogical benefits
• Aim for compelling content
• Local content
•
Reputational benefit
20
Institution as e-textbook publisher
Challenges (UHI / Napier view)
• Developing in-house knowledge and expertise
• Getting to grips with publishing conventions
• Finding the best and most suitable authors from within the
institution
• Keeping everyone to time
• Developing iteratively
• Keeping stakeholders informed and involved
• Achieving consistency of quality, style, tone
21
Institution as e-textbook publisher
The University of Nottingham
• Applied Ethics
• Corporate Responsibility & Sustainability in Practice
22
Institution as e-textbook publisher
23
Corporate Responsibility &
Sustainability in Practice:
functionality layers
Target group
Textbook offers…
Development path
Open market
Standard iBook, ePub etc.
functionality
iBook or other third-party route
to market
Nottingham undergraduates
Higher functionality spec eg
interactive learning materials
Xerte online toolkits
Nottingham MBA and
Nottingham Exec MBA
International Centre for
Corporate Social
Responsibility (ICCSR)
members
As undergraduate functionality,
but with additional ability to
embed web pages within the
package
As MBA functionality, but with
development around ICCSR
corporate social responsibility
framework
Xerte online toolkits plus thirdparty services
Xerte online toolkits plus thirdparty services
Institution as e-textbook publisher
24
Institution as e-textbook publisher
25
Institution as e-textbook publisher
26
Institution as e-textbook publisher
27
Institution as e-textbook publisher
Thank you!
Roger Tritton
roger.tritton@jisc.ac.uk
28
30/05/2016
30/05/2016
Institution as e-textbook publisher
eTIPS aligns with university strategic aims
The eTIPS project seeks to “align clearly with both UHI’s and Edinburgh
Napier University’s underpinning strategic aims, in particular, where they
articulate to the development and promotion of innovative practice, to the
enhancement of the learning experience, and to collaboration with and
between sector partners”
31
Challenges so far
Keeping the writing on schedule
Learning new technical skills
Gathering the right data for comparisons later
Title of presentation 00/00/2013
DO I NEED THE FOLLOWING SLIDES?
33
Context
» Jisc has negotiated ebook agreements for HE and FE
» And has carried out research into ebooks in education, including:
› Jisc national ebooks observatory project (2007-2010)
“To learn about how users discover and navigate through e-books, exploring the
attitudes of academics and students and assessing the impact of making course text
e-books available via university libraries to thousands of students on print sales.”
› E-textbook Business Models Study (2009) “To work collaboratively with publishers
and libraries to identify and pilot four potential e-textbook business models”
21 March 2014
34
Context
[Through these and other projects] Jisc has sought to find business
models that enable the wide access needed in libraries and give
publishers revenues they require / already achieve (especially from
direct sales to students) … and has not achieved that.
E-textbook Business Models Study piloted potential models for
library provision of textbooks … but did not successfully come up
with a new model that meets this goal.
21 March 2014
35
Context
» In 2013, Jisc workshops with CourseSmart, Kortext, Bilbary and VitalSource –
exploring potential for agreements, but inability to find suitable business
models proved barrier.
However
Commitment from those workshops that:
» Jisc Collections should investigate the potential for institutions to be the
creators and providers of e-textbooks, perhaps in collaboration with each
other or with their university press.
21 March 2014
36
Context
Other initiatives also provide context, eg Open SUNY Textbook programme
Project involves:
» Incentives to SUNY faculty authors and peer reviewers to produce open textbooks
» Editing and instructional design support services using a cooperative library service
framework
» Publishing platform using Open Monograph Press (open source software from the
Public Knowledge Project)
» Aims to produce 15 textbooks Autumn 2014.
“The average college student nationally spends $1,200 on textbooks per year, and Open
SUNY Textbooks position us to cut those costs for our students while expanding their
opportunities and options for completing their degree, which is still the most effective
way to save students money.” Carey Hatch, SUNY associate provost for academic
technologies and information services
21 March 2014
37
Context
Library Publishing Coalition (US)
» Over 50 academic libraries (collaboration with the Educopia Institute).
» Created Library Publishing Directory: Describes the publishing activities of 115
academic and research libraries, including information about the number and types of
publications they produce, the services they offer authors, how they are staffed and
funded, and the future plans of institutions that are engaged in this growing field.
21 March 2014
38