The VitalSource Resource

 As you may have read about in either my post back in December or our recent press release with Pearson, VitalSource continues its commitment to improving and simplifying access to course materials. We’re happy to report back some numbers based on recent industry leading improvements in removing courseware access codes and simplifying faculty and student access to course materials.

As a father or two young boys, I recently attended parent-teacher conferences where my children went through stations showing their recent work. When we reached the computer station, my techy self was appalled. Not because of antiquated technology, but because my son had to dig through a bag of 25 passwords to find the correct credentials for both the computer and his reading courseware. As I watched him dig to find his login details, I thought of how frustrating the process must be for teachers and students, and how much time is wasted that could be spent learning.

Unfortunately, the story isn’t much different in higher education. Applications from various providers all require different logins, passwords, access codes, or course keys. When we think about improving learning outcomes with adaptive learning, analytics, and personalization, we often forget that the first, and most important step, is making it easy for the learner to access these great new learning tools.