Over the next few months, publishers will be meeting with authors, professors and college officials to work out agreements for the upcoming year. There was some skepticism two years ago, but now teachers are saying, 'Finally. This is what we've been asking for for some time,' '' said David Gray, CEO of WizeUp, which expects to triple its electronic offerings by next year. But the desire for e-textbooks is apparently even stronger than the industry's ability to produce them. I'm going to go the whole hog and just use an electronic text,'' said Darryl Poole, an associate professor of sociology at Farmville, Va.-based Longwood College.
Flexibility is the quality professors mention most.
While the traditional college textbook is updated once every few years, e-books can be updated every year, or even during the semester. They make the professor more a guide than a pontificator, which professors should never be anyway. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.