Jisc, a leader in digital solutions for education and research, has introduced a new guide for its e-books for Further Education (FE) platform, helping learning resource centre staff, teachers, and students maximize its latest AI-powered features.
The Jisc e-books for FE collection provides free access to hundreds of curriculum-mapped titles for UK further education institutions, covering GCSEs, vocational qualifications, and study skills. Available through ProQuest’s Ebook Central platform, the collection is refreshed annually and requires authentication via a UK Federation-registered identity provider.
Since March 2025, Ebook Central has featured Research Assistant, a generative AI tool that generates key learning points and summaries of e-book content, offering students concise takeaways and structured insights. The platform also includes accessibility-focused tools, such as OpenDyslexic typeface, text-only mode, and adjustable text size, earning it a 100% gold rating for accessibility from ASPIRE in 2024.
The guide outlines how educators can integrate e-books into classroom activities, flipped learning, and group study. Features like bookmarks, highlighting, and free-text notes support student engagement, while the Bookshelf tool enables the creation and sharing of reading lists via permanent URLs.
Library staff play a key role in embedding e-books into lesson plans, running training sessions, and ensuring resources align with evolving curricula. The platform supports academic integrity and digital research skills, offering unlimited concurrent access, offline PDF downloads, and assistive features such as text-to-speech and adjustable text formats.
The e-books for FE subscription is managed via the Jisc licence subscriptions manager, with the current licence set for renewal in August 2025.
Click here to read the original press release.
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