Free textbooks will change the education biz…
Monday, February 13th, 2012 by Roberto Saracco
Rice University has just unveiled a plan to provide free on-line quality textbook, thus disrupting a 4 billion$ business (in the USA).
The books will be available on the Connexions platform in the initiative called Openstax.
What is interesting is that they claim to “transform” the eduction biz, not to destroy it. With the availability of high quality free books for college the market will have to evolve and today’s publishers will need to create a higher value offer. No longer is information on paper sufficient to win the market. You need to provide education help based on the information that is already available for free,
It remains to be seen if indeed there is space for “added value” on textbooks (in the sense of willingness to pay for it). We have seen in other markets, like telecommunications, that it has been very difficult to create a sellable value proposition.
It is however true, that being a student today is very exciting, at least, this is what it looks to me. There is an unlimited amount of information, available in many forms, that can be explored through the web. Initiatives like Openstax ensure the quality of the information and provide an open ecosystem for many players to build on it.
Tags: ebooks, education platform, free books