2013 Charleston Conference

Do students prefer electronic textbooks over print ones? Are e-textbooks cheaper than their print counterparts? Can e-textbooks enhance learning in ways print cannot? The answers, respectively: some do, sometimes, and maybe someday. Confused? We all are! e-Textbooks are at an awkward stage in their development as they strive with varying degrees of success to provide the functionality, interactivity, and customizability that can drive widespread adoption. The e-textbook landscape is increasingly marked by fragmentation with little consistency in the licensing, pricing, and business models of the e-textbooks currently offered by publishers and platforms. In this session, we’ll attempt to make *some* sense of it all.