[Press Release]
Vital Source and edX Deliver Content to Millions of Students
Vital Source Technologies, Inc., a global leader in building, enhancing and delivering e-learning content, today announced that edX, the nonprofit online learning initiative, has selected the VitalSource Bookshelf® e-textbook platform to distribute publisher content for its massive open online learning courses (MOOCs).
“EdX’s mission is to educate the world and revolutionize the way people learn,” said Anant Agarwal, edX CEO. “This collaboration with Vital Source provides an additional tool for our students to work together no matter where in the world they may be.”
Vital Source will distribute e-textbook content from leading publishers to the millions of students who participate in edX courses annually. In a pilot of three participating courses offered by Harvard and MIT, tens of thousands of students collectively viewed more than 500,000 e-textbook pages delivered by Vital Source from John Wiley & Sons, Inc., a global provider of content and content-enabled workflow solutions.
Through the integration of edX with the Vital Source Bookshelf® platform, students and educators can interact with course content seamlessly and can share notes and highlights with peers around the world. Publishers that make content available through edX can expand the reach of their content to the global education community.
“Developments in distance education through MOOCs are opening new doors to learning for people around the world, giving unprecedented access to college courses with the only prerequisite being internet access,” said Kent Freeman, Chief Operating Officer, Vital Source Technologies, Inc. “EdX shares our mission of improving learning experiences worldwide, and now more students will have access to first-class curriculum and content from the world’s leading professors and publishers. We are pleased to have a role with edX and this emerging education model.”
EdX is a non-profit venture offering more than 170 free, open, online courses from 47 academic institutions, nonprofits, corporations, and international organizations worldwide.
The VitalSource Bookshelf platform is the most used e-textbook delivery platform in higher education. It uses the latest technology to enhance the learning experience through e-textbooks and digital education. Content from hundreds of the world’s top academic publishers is available to VitalSource Bookshelf platform users, including those living with disabilities, on a variety of operating systems and devices. More than 6.5 million e-textbooks were delivered by Vital Source in 2013, and recently, Ingram expanded its digital textbook offer with the acquisition of CourseSmart. For more information about Vital Source Technologies, visit www.vitalsource.com.
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ABOUT INGRAM
Ingram Content Group Inc. is a subsidiary of Nashville-based Ingram Industries Inc. The company got its start in 1964 as a textbook depository and has since grown and transformed into a comprehensive publishing industry services company that offers numerous solutions, including physical book distribution, print-on-demand and digital services. Committed to the success of its partners, Ingram works closely with publishers, retailers, libraries and schools around the world to provide them with the right products and services to help them succeed in the dynamic and increasingly complex world of content publishing. Ingram’s operating units are Ingram Book Company, Lightning Source Inc., Vital Source Technologies, Inc., Ingram Periodicals Inc., Ingram International Inc., Ingram Library Services Inc., Spring Arbor Distributors Inc., Ingram Publisher Services Inc., Tennessee Book Company LLC, Coutts Information Services, and ICG Ventures Inc. Learn more about Ingram Content Group at www.ingramcontent.com.