Arizona State University Partners with CourseSmart to Provide Faculty Seamless Access to the Largest Catalog of Digital Course Materials

SAN MATEO, Calif., March 17, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- CourseSmart, the world's largest provider of eTextbooks and digital course materials, today announced that Arizona State University (ASU) has adopted CourseSmart's Faculty Instant Access program in support of ASU's efforts to meet selection timeliness and transparency standards in course materials selection as stipulated in the Higher Education Opportunity Act (HEOA). Through this secure information portal integration, ASU's faculty now have real-time, on-demand access to CourseSmart's entire catalogue of eTextbooks and digital resources, representing over 90% of core higher education textbooks in use today. Using CourseSmart's Faculty Instant Access, ASU faculty can immediately review course materials to determine their appropriateness for course use without waiting for print copy delivery. Unlike print books, faculty can compare multiple versions of textbooks online using the features of the CourseSmart eTextbook Reader such as cross-book searching, note taking and highlighting. Furthermore, a custom-developed reader through its downloadable Mac and Windows version addresses the latest accessibility standards, ensuring that any users with vision-related disabilities may take advantage of the Faculty Instant Access program.

Significantly augmenting the course materials evaluation-to-selection process, which can be time consuming and costly due to print text shipping fees and wait times, ASU faculty members can now order any CourseSmart eTextbook via the university's information portal, My ASU, and gain instant, free access to an unlimited number of materials for review. Students can then purchase the selected eTextbook(s) or other digital course material, such as a study guide, through CourseSmart at up to 60% off the price of traditional print texts. Both faculty and students can access CourseSmart's eTextbooks from any computer, laptop, browser-based mobile device, as well as the free CourseSmart iPhone or iPad apps, available here: http://www.coursesmart.com/go/mobile/.

"Streamlining the materials review process for ASU's faculty and ensuring full compliance with HEOA is a priority for ASU," said Leah Lommel, senior director of development, Arizona State University. "The instant access program provides our faculty with versatile options to review course materials. Moving to more electronic materials is a more sustainable option versus receiving hard copy materials for selection."

"Establishing seamless integration for faculty instant access has transformed institutions' potential for working with digital course materials. With the ability to evaluate innumerable eTextbooks and eResources in the cloud, the overall selection process timeline has diminished drastically," said Sean Devine, chief executive officer, CourseSmart.  

CourseSmart's advanced integration capabilities leverage IMS Global Learning Consortium's compliance standards to provide ASU with secure, yet flexible cloud-based access to the largest selection of eTextbooks and digital course materials available on the market. Last year, CourseSmart became the first eTextbook provider to receive "Basic LTI v1.0 Compliant" status from IMS, creating ease of integration into campus systems such as the LMSs and SISs. Institutions are able to integrate the CourseSmart catalog into faculty workflows with a minimal level of effort.

CourseSmart boasts the world's largest catalogue of digital course materials, as well as the following eTextbook benefits:  

• Anytime, anywhere access to materials via www.coursesmart.com or through various mobile devices and tablets, including the iPhone and iPad;
• Search function for topics within a single book or across an entire eTextbook stack;
• Highlighting and note-taking capabilities within the eTextbook, which can be easily recalled or searched;
• Page fidelity and preservation, mirroring the print edition's page numbers, full text, diagrams, illustrations and charts;
• Ability to cut and paste as well as email sections, notes and highlighted text;
• The choice to print only what one needs;
• Savings of up to 60% for students; and
• 80% of CourseSmart's top selling titles have been optimized to be more accessible for students and instructors with print-related disabilities.

For more information, visit www.coursesmart.com/instructors, and click the Institutions link.

About CourseSmart

CourseSmart provides eTextbooks and digital course materials that improve the higher education learning process by offering instructors and students a unique combination of the right course material, anywhere, any-time access and a low cost. As the world's largest digital course materials supplier, CourseSmart has a rapidly growing digital library of more than 90% of core higher education textbooks offered as eTextbooks, the same titles produced by major publishers in print and recommended by faculty across North America. The company's eTextbooks can be purchased for up to 60% less than print texts and offer users the ability to print what they need as well as search and copy and paste features which help to streamline students' studies. Additional information can be found on the company's website: www.coursesmart.com.

SOURCE CourseSmart