Vital Source Technologies, Inc., an e-textbook arm of Ingram Content Group company, and Taylor & Francis, a global publisher of academic books, journals and online reference content, have announced a product alliance, Routledge Interactive. This collaborative e-textbook initiative is seen to give the education community greater control over its learning experience through media-rich interactive content.
Students who purchase a Routledge Interactive textbook will receive 12-month complimentary access to the e-textbook through the VitalSource Bookshelf e-textbook delivery platform. Each title includes specially-tailored interactive content, ranging from embedded videos to walkthroughs and quizzes to best suit the needs of each textbook. Users are expected to benefit from the portability, search functionality and note-sharing made possible by the platform.
The VitalSource Bookshelf platform, which fully supports EPUB3, can be accessed online or via download, on a variety of device types including Mac, Windows, iPad, Android and Kindle Fire.
With Routledge Interactive, Taylor & Francis has developed some of its supposedly best textbooks into integrated book and e-textbook packs. The print textbook encourages students and educators to gain more from interactive content like LMS-ready assessments and author videos via the Bookshelf platform.
These e-textbooks were developed using the EPUB3 format standard and Vital Source FLOESM, an interactive learning object publishing platform. The EPUB3 format standard, based on HTML5, supports rich media, interactivity, global languages and enhanced accessibility features in e-textbooks.
Using the Vital Source FLOE platform, the team from Routledge created HTML5 learning objects, such as quizzes and assessments, and seamlessly integrated those objects within their e-textbooks. Interactive learning objects created with FLOE are said to be easily embedded throughout e-textbooks and can be set up to report directly to learning management system (LMS) grade books through Vital Source LMS integrations.
