Coursesmart recently debuted in the UK last month and has been steadily gaining traction for their partners September back to school semester. There is lots of excitement for students to save up to 60% on digital textbooks and have an alternative to the bulky ones they have known all their lives. CourseSmart announced today their new eCommerce platform in the UK and Europe.
“The world of textbooks is changing. Through the proliferation of tablets, handheld devices, laptops and computers, the academic world is moving online and engaging with students like never before. We are very excited to be at the forefront of this evolution,” said Fionnuala Duggan, Managing Director of CourseSmart International. “The eCommerce platform will help students to save money, instructors to engage online, publishers to access a developing market and booksellers to be part of this significant development in publishing.”
Basically the new platform actually allows students to buy the books they had free samples of. The Online Sampling Platform allows you to instantly preview and select eTextbook titles for use in specific courses. With the advent of the new eCommerce platform students can now buy the books they want and read them on on a myriad of platforms. You can read the books online directly from the CourseSmart website or their various apps for mobile devices and tablets.
Students can make highlights and annotations on the books they buy and the books actually maintain the page fidelity and preservation, mirroring the print edition’s page numbers, full text, diagrams, illustrations and charts. You also gain the ability to ability to cut and paste as well as email sections, notes and highlighted text.
Michael Kozlowski is the editor-in-chief at Good e-Reader and has written about audiobooks and e-readers for the past fifteen years. Newspapers and websites such as the CBC, CNET, Engadget, Huffington Post and the New York Times have picked up his articles. He Lives in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
