The Digital Reader

I almost didn’t cover this, because this program was announced back in May.  Right now all they’re doing is announcing that they’ve signed a bunch of textbook publishers to add their books to The Digital Marketplace.

So what is The Digital Marketplace? Basically, the California State University System decided to adopt a single platform for digital textbooks.

From the press release:

The Digital Marketplace, an initiative of the California State University Office of the Chancellor, announced plans today to launch a pilot to license digital course content from Bedford/Freeman/Worth, Cengage Learning, McGraw-Hill Education, Pearson, and John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Starting in the fall 2010 semester, pilot courses are scheduled at five CSU campuses: Dominguez Hills, Fullerton, Long Beach, San Bernardino and San Francisco State. Each participating instructor volunteered for the program that promises students will pay the lowest price available for the licensed, digital version of their course materials that are interactive and engaging. Students will purchase their personal-use subscriptions for the digital content through their local campus bookstore.