Other departments have since followed suit with set texts from seven different publishers being adopted in biology, marine biology, biomedical science, geography, geology, environmental science, maths and statistics, computer science and on a smaller scale in accountancy.

From the universitys perspective, the provision of free e-books not only plays a significant role in student recruitment, it also enables us to ensure that all students regardless of how poorly or well they are funded are placed on a level educational playing field.

Most importantly, personal e-books improve results. In the psychology department we have seen a small percentage improvement in module marks as students most of whom have the set texts downloaded to their smart phones and tablets make the best use of every available moment, invest more time in study and gen up on topics prior to and after lectures.

Its a greener option as well given that the environmental impact of book production and distribution are minimised. So e-book provision is most certainly something that universities across the world should seriously consider.

What are the e-book options?

E-books come in many different formats:

• Dedicated e-books that can be downloaded to the students smart phones, tablets or PCs and are available 24/7 on- and offline. There is also a sense of ownership which comes with this option.
• Pdfs of text books that students can download. The main problem is that the text doesnt reflow to the screen size, so they are very hard to read on smaller screens.
• Library e-books Digital books which students can borrow from the library for a specified amount of time as is the case with a traditional printed book the disadvantage being that once the set number of texts have been taken out, students must wait until they have been returned in order to access the material. This type of e-book typically has to be read online through a web browser, which makes them inaccessible when there is no internet, and difficult to read on mobile size screens.

I favour the downloadable e-book which becomes the property of the student for core reading, coupled with library print and e-book access for supplementary material.

Whether it is a pdf or downloadable e-book, students can choose to have their lecturers notes appear on their copy, can share their notes with friends and form a virtual study group or keep their notes private. They can set different levels of sharing for different notes.

Impact on learning

Making the causal connection between e-books and improvements in grades is fraught with difficulties as other factors can impact on results. We are, however, currently undertaking further research into this area.

In September, Plymouth will also be investing in a virtual learning platform which will provide us with analytics on student usage of resources.

Monitoring of student activity is a contentious issue. I believe readers should simply enjoy becoming absorbed in a book rather than fretting about who is monitoring them every time a page is turned. The flip side of this, however, is that analytics can benefit students.

Should a lecturer see a decline in the usage of an e-book, they can deploy an early intervention strategy and take action to ensure that all their students achieve the very best results. From my perspective, the perfect scenario would be to anonomise data.

Improving grades

Making core material more widely available and more easily accessible is bound to improve grades.

I do, however, feel more can be done to enhance the learning experience and am keen to see more interactivity included in the e-books we purchase embedded videos and quizzes at the end of each chapter to cement each students knowledge in an engaging manner.

Student spend on books

We surveyed 5,000 undergraduate students at Plymouth regarding their expenditures on set texts. Results from the surveys 700 respondents revealed that the average spend per student is just 62 (US$105) similar to the national data.

Two-thirds of our students buy books and a third do not. Reading lists published by each department vary from six to 24 set texts and students typically buy just two books a figure reflected in the declining sales of publishers.

What's in it for publishers?

So why should publishers invest in e-book provision for universities? The benefits to them are significant. They can:

• Maintain the role of the book, placing it right back at the heart of education and making it the core element of the learning experience
• Secure their client base that is, universities with budgets rather than the cash-strapped students
• Reduce the prevalence of illegal downloads
• Eradicate the second hand market e-books cannot be sold on to a third party after use
• Save on production and distribution costs
• Create better customer relations by dealing directly with the university itself rather than working through an aggregator or reseller
• Establish partnerships with universities, co-developing high quality material pertinent to each course.

E-book technology is transforming education and helping to ensure that the materials required by students to succeed are available anytime, anywhere. If we can find a solution that is sustainable for both the university and the publishers, its a great way forward.

* Dr Phil Gee is director of the BSc psychology programme at Plymouth University. His department provides set texts in e-book format from Cengage Learning free of charge to all first-year students. This article was written in collaboration with Cengage Learning.