“The Future of E-textbooks”
When: 9 a.m.-4 p.m. March 18
Where: Palmer Commons
The U-M Library will host “The Future of E-textbooks: a Symposium on the Influence of E-textbooks on Academic Life” from 9 a.m.-4 p.m. March 18 at Palmer Commons.
The arrival of Smart Boards, personal computers and wireless printers has begun to change the way that students interact with faculty and academic content, and some say the recent arrival of e-readers, tablet PCs and smart phones may bring with it the end of printed textbooks. The symposium will consider various questions about teaching, learning and technology, as well as the economics and future business models of the e-textbook market.
Among the symposium’s scheduled speakers are Maria Bonn, associate university librarian for publishing; Suzanne BeDell, managing director for science and technology books at Elsevier, publisher of science and health information; and Ken Brooks, senior vice president at Cengage Learning.
“E-book penetration is moving quickly,” BeDell says. “Tablets like the iPad should approach a 40 million installed base in 2011.”
The symposium also will feature a panel discussion with U-M faculty instructors doing innovative work with electronic course materials, and another with a group of U-M students who are participating in an e-textbook pilot project in one of their courses.
Susan Hollar, the U-M librarian who is coordinating the panel discussions, says the symposium will provide a venue in which to discuss how technology already has altered the classroom landscape, and what role forthcoming products like e-textbooks will play in continuing that transformation.
“Student and faculty perspectives on these issues are particularly important to the conversation,” Hollar says. “I’m really looking forward to hearing more about their actual experiences with some of this technology in the classroom.”
The symposium is free and open to the public. Refreshments and lunch will be served. For a full schedule and to RSVP, go to bit.ly/giPwhF.
This event is sponsored by Elsevier as part of its Library Connect initiative.
For more information, contact Rachel McCullough from Elsevier at [email protected].
