Q & A

From September 2012 Q&A sessions for faculty

How do students get to the eTextbook?
Students who are registered for your class will see a link for your etextbook when they log in to the course hub. Here’s what you can tell your students:
1. Go to the course hub (http://go.middlebury.edu/hub) and log on.
2. You’ll see a list of all the courses you’re registered for. The listing for [your course] will include a link called “eTextbooks.”

Where are the help documents?

The Getting Started page of our eTextbook Pilot site has links to help documents and self-paced tutorials. The instructor for our Faculty Q&A session referred to some of these documents and tutorials. Contact etextpilot@middlebury.edu with any questions.

 Which browsers work?
-The Courseload e-reader works best with Mozilla Firefox and Google Chrome. It also works with Safari and Internet Explorer 9 (for earlier versions of IE, install Google Chrome Frame.
-If you’re using IE, to remove the top IE toolbar in Courseload’s “full-screen” mode, press the F11 key.
-If you have Firefox or Chrome and want to always use them rather than Safari or IE, you may wish to reset your browser preferences. Instructions for FirefoxInstructions for Chrome.

About print-on-demand books
-Students can request a printed (looseleaf) copy of the entire etextbook at a subsidized rate. Instructions are here.
-The print-on-demand versions on not meant for redistribution or resale.
-There is no barcode on the print-on-demand version of the text.
-Annotations don’t show up in print-on-demand copies.

When we’re searching an etextbook, can we use quotation marks (for phrases) and wildcards (for truncation)?
No need. Courseload searches on the entire phrase provided, so no quoting or wildcards are needed. If an individual types theory of development, Courseload searches for the entire phrase in the text and not the individual words.

Can citations for eTextbooks be exported to citation tools, eg Zotero?
Nope.


More Q&A

Who will be providing the eTextbooks?

McGraw-Hill will provide participating institutions access to e-textbooks to specific classes during the pilot.

Who is paying for these eTextbooks?
For this pilot, the participating institutions (that is, Middlebury College) will pay a flat fee. The pilot explicitly excludes per-student, per-item, and other à la carte approaches. This simple model is designed so that each institution doesn’t need to worry about contract negotiation, billing students, etc. In effect, LIS has offered to subsidize the costs of these electronic textbooks for one semester in order to experience, first hand, the use of electronic texts across the curriculum.

How will you find the eTextbooks?
The etextbooks will be made available through Courseload which works on just about every device with a browser including Windows, MacOS, or Android. The e-reader allows faculty and students not only to read the etexts, but also to annotate them, to highlight passages, and to share annotations with fellow students and with faculty. Courseload is available both online and offline, so that students and faculty can access their etexts even when their devices are not connected to the Internet.

When a student takes notes in their eText, can those notes be downloaded and archived by the student to use after the course?
Students can print out their notes and export them for archiving purposes.

Can faculty members customize the actual text in addition to adding multimedia materials and annotations?
Yes, the faculty can add links to multimedia, annotations, highlights, and notes. Those resources will be immediately propagated in each student’s eText.

If a student wants to purchase or rent a printed text or print a portion of the electronic text, can they do so?
Students can print out the e-texts personally (on their own printer, at a computer lab, etc.). Students can print out specific chapters of interest or literally print out the entire e-text if desired. For an additional fee, students will be able to receive a complete printed version of the textbook for approximately $20. This request for a print copy will be available through Courseload.

If the e-text is in a student’s major, or if it will be used for consecutive semesters and they want to retain access to the textbook, what are their options?
The best option for this pilot would be a print copy. The print-ordered copy is of laser print quality. It is certainly not equal to a hardback, glossy, full color textbook, but it does not look like someone photocopied the book either.

Can I examine a print-ordered copy for myself?
If you would like to see the quality of these print copies, ask at the Davis Library Circulation desk for the “eTextbook Pilot print copy” held on two-hour reserve.

Does the College Bookstore play a role in this pilot?
The Bookstore and LIS have worked very closely in the planning stages of this pilot. Both LIS and the Bookstore see change a-comin’ and we want to learn as much as possible so that we can best support the teaching and learning needs of the College. For this pilot, the bookstore will carry a small number of required textbooks for students who would prefer to pay full price for a print copy.

Will McGraw-Hill or Courseload retain any information about us? Our students?
Neither McGraw-Hill nor Courseload may use data on student identity, attributes, usage, or similar information for any purpose not directly relevant to the pilot or any related research project, and must purge all student data at the conclusion of the pilot.

How will the evaluation of this pilot be carried out?
Participating institutions will be offered the opportunity to participate in a coordinated research study regarding the effectiveness of the pilot on their campuses.


For librarians

For librarians: Where should I go for troubleshooting advice?

Consult eTextbook Pilot Support Procedure (password-protected)