Digital Textbook platforms

2023. Pooks.ai creates personalized learning books



Pooks.ai is an innovative platform designed to enhance the reading and learning journey for individuals. The platform aims to completely transform the way readers engage with literature and assimilate information. By combining personalized elements, Pooks.ai provides a diverse collection of e-books and audiobooks. This customization extends to both the content and individual preferences. Content-based personalization enables readers to tailor their experience by selecting specific topics, while preference-based personalization caters to unique reader requirements. The platform gathers details such as learning style, preferred subjects, and even the reader's favorite historical period to curate an exceptional book encounter. E-books on Pooks.ai are available in PDF, EPUB, and .mobi formats, while audiobooks are provided in m4b audiobook files as well as .mp3 files, ensuring a comprehensive range of choices.


2022. Pearson releases new curated videos in their textbook app



Pearson introduced their digital textbook platform, Pearson+, a year ago, and it has since garnered 4.5 million registered users and 330,000 paid subscribers. In preparation for the back-to-school season, the company has recently unveiled exciting enhancements. These include engaging and curated content tailored to students' preferred study methods, as well as a dynamic and interactive video system called Channels. Channels features over 10,000 short-form videos carefully produced, selected, and organized by experts, focusing on 16 course areas with an emphasis on science, math, and business—challenging subjects in which countless students seek video-based tutoring. In an early release, Channels is accessible to all college students for free, irrespective of whether they are using a Pearson textbook or not.

2021. Pressbooks adds Directory collections



Pressbooks Directory has undergone updates to enhance its usability and design, including the introduction of human-curated collections, which are groups of open educational resources (OER) organized around a specific theme or subject. These collections aim to showcase the best of OER, offering suggestions for individuals who are new to OER. Collections also serve as examples of high-quality OER, which can inspire the creation of new open textbook projects or be used as examples when advocating for investment in OER and open education. The resources in collections range from straightforward textbooks to interactive learning tools with multimedia and built-in student feedback and assessment, providing a range of examples to follow.


2019. Perlego - textbook subscription service



Calling itself the "Spotify for textbooks," Perlego offers students a subscription-based platform to access a vast collection of textbooks. With over 300,000 eBooks from more than 2,300 publishers, Perlego provides a cross-device experience through web browsers and iOS and Android apps, catering to users in multiple languages. In addition to U.K. publishers, Perlego has expanded its content to include renowned publishers from Germany, the Nordics, and Italy. The allure for students is evident: purchasing textbooks has become increasingly costly, and public libraries often face resource limitations. In the U.K., Perlego offers readers unlimited access to its complete digital library for £12 per month, presenting a significantly more affordable alternative, assuming the required textbooks are available on the platform.


2018. Perlego - Spotify for textbooks



The newly launched service, Perlego, offers students and professionals an enticing proposition with unlimited access to an extensive collection of academic and professional eBook titles for just £12 per month. Facilitating this service, Perlego has established partnerships with 650 publishers, including renowned names like Oxford University Press, Princeton University Press, Macmillan Higher Education, and Cengage Learning. Publishers receive a significant share of 65 percent from each subscription, calculated based on consumption. Perlego's innovative platform helps publishers monetize their valuable content, catering to a sizable demographic of cost-conscious students who may otherwise resort to the used-books market or unauthorized copies. Moreover, Perlego provides publishers with comprehensive data on the utilization of their titles, enabling valuable insights into consumption patterns.


2015. New Kindle Textbook Creator allows to create ebooks for students



Amazon has introduced a new tool, the Kindle Textbook Creator, as part of its Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) platform. This tool is specifically aimed at educators and academic institutions and falls under the newly established KDP EDU wing. The Kindle Textbook Creator enables authors to prepare electronic textbooks for students, making them available across various devices such as Fire tablets, Android devices, iPhones, iPads, Mac, and PCs. In some ways, it is similar to Apple's iBooks Author and iTunes U, but with a distinctive approach. Kindle Textbook Creator utilizes existing PDFs of textbooks as a starting point and offers enhanced digital features specifically tailored for Kindle-based consumption. The tool prioritizes speed and collaboration with the traditional textbook publishing industry, while iBooks Author focuses more on assisting educators in creating digital-native educational experiences from scratch.


2014. Apple iBooks Textbooks Now Available in 51 Countries



Apple is extending the reach of its educational service, iBooks Textbooks, as part of its ongoing efforts to establish dominance in the global education market. The interactive digital textbook platform, iBooks Textbooks, is now accessible in 51 countries across Asia, Latin America, Europe, and other regions. Notable additions to the list of countries include Brazil, Italy, Japan, Russia, Thailand, and Malaysia. By utilizing the iBooks app on Mac or iOS devices, publishers can create immersive, digitally-native educational materials for students. Eddy Cue, Apple's Senior Vice President of Internet Software and Services, expressed excitement about the expansion, stating, "We are eager to witness the impact of interactive textbooks, apps, and engaging digital content on teachers' lesson plans in these additional countries."


2013. Google Play to sell and rent digital textbooks



In August, Google will introduce the option to purchase and rent digital textbooks through the Google Play Books store. Google has collaborated with the five largest textbook publishers to provide students with the opportunity to buy digital textbooks or rent them for a duration of up to six months. According to Google, these textbooks will be priced at "up to 80 percent" lower than the print list prices, which aligns with Amazon's claim for Kindle textbook rentals. While Google already offers a few digital textbooks on the Play store, these are not from major publishers and are not available for rental. By entering the textbook market, Google aims to compete with established players such as Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Apple, who have already ventured into the digital textbook space.


2013. Kno Me helps students monitor their progress as they read



Kno, the intelligent educational book reading app and seller, has unveiled a new offering called Kno Me during CES. Kno Me is a personal study dashboard designed to assist students in tracking their progress while they read. With this dashboard, students can conveniently check in and access real-time statistics regarding their study behavior, time management, level of interaction, and overall progress. They can view metrics such as their average time spent engaging with textbooks, percentage of annotated pages, mastery of glossary terms, and more. Additionally, users have the option to share these results with peers or monitor the engagement levels of their fellow students. Currently, Kno Me is available on all Kno interactive textbooks for iPad, Windows 8, and web browsers, with plans to expand its availability to Android and Windows 7 platforms in the near future.