Dive Brief:
- Middlesex University in the UK will offer students one free digital textbook per class in a new initiative meant to save students money and improve education outcomes.
- Campus Technology reports the free textbooks will save students an average of $681 per year, offering them course materials digitally through the Kortext platform and John Smith’s bookseller.
- Besides saving students money, the initiative will give researchers a chance to see whether student outcomes can be improved by removing barriers to their access to course materials.
Dive Insight:
Middlesex University signed on for a four-year commitment with its two partners. During this time, the university will track how students interact with the software and which features — like group note-sharing, highlighting, and searching — they use. Colleges and universities across the United States have also experimented with digital textbooks. Some, like Paul Quinn College in Texas and Tidewater Community College in Virginia, offer entire degree programs with no textbook cost to students.