Each semester is rung in with the fact that textbooks must be purchased for upcoming classes. For those students who are adept in finding used textbooks at a deal in comparison with new versions, save money by finding cheap textbooks. Thanks to company’s like Kno, a digital textbook retailer, and the 20 Million Minds Foundation, the weight of purchasing textbooks, might soon be lifted.
Students, teachers and administrators alike find themselves excited over certain classroom technologies, and this will give them something more to be excited over for the next semester. Kno and 20 Million Minds are collaborating to launch the nation’s first web-based 2.0, an open source eTextbook for college students and teachers.
The first of the eTextbooks to be offered will be based on the top twenty-five courses of undergraduates in the country. Some numbers were run looking at California community colleges alone. There will be more than 120,000 students taking General Statistics this year, and the median price for a new book of this subject is typically above $150. Together, students will spend over $10 million on textbooks for General Statistics alone.
If you are one of these students, do not spend your money yet. This week, Kno has launched a promotion offering students the chance to win a free textbook from its Kno eBookstore for anyone who possesses an EDU email address. Simply, give them your email. In addition, they also state that your chances of winning might increase for those who share this information on Facebook with friends.
If you are not familiar with Kno, they debuted their digital textbook program the previous fall, with the intention of lowering costs for students by offering them eTextbooks. They originally created a “Kno Tablet”, including a dual screen, however, the tablet was too expensive. For the spring of 2012, in keeping with the concept of lowering textbook costs, they now will provide eTextbooks via an iPad app. In addition they have launched the browser based textbook app, allowing the student to view the book in the iPad app as well as the browser simultaneously. With these options, students can purchase the 2nd Edition of Collaborative Statistics for $20.
As with most innovative, cost-saving technology, usually there are other entailed perks. With the partnership of Kno, and 20 Million Minds, not only are they offering students a way to save money on textbooks, but they are giving students the opportunity to enhance their learning experience.
“This digitally enhanced eTextbook provides a vision of what is now possible for a new generation of open content and authors,” says Dean Florez, the president of the 20 Million Minds Foundation.
It is not new for college students having a challenge with cash flow, and with this technology, the 20 Million Mind Foundation is expecting a “massive adoption by faculty by spring 2012”. With the partnership of Kno and 20 Million Minds, eTextbooks can now be elevated and enhanced, making education, as it should be, more accessible through cheap textbooks.