Courseload News

IDG’s Computerworld Honors Program recently named Indiana University as a 2013 Laureate. The annual award program honors visionary information technology applications that promote positive social, economic and educational change.

Indiana University earned the distinction for its pioneering eTexts initiative and recent wireless network upgrade to ensure reliable and secure access to digital materials. Indiana University’s eTexts program lets students work with leading textbooks or faculty-edited course packs on just about any computer, tablet or smartphone. The eTexts deals also include online simulations, tutorials and labs that provide additional ways for students to learn.

Read more about the recognition of Indiana University's eTexts program using Courseload.

By Dian Schaffhauser, Campus Technology

Ball State University will be promoting greater use of digital course materials among faculty members and students following completion of an e-textbook pilot. The Muncie, IN-based campus has been testing the use of curriculum from Flat World Knowledge and delivered by distributors Courseload and Barnes & Noble since January 2012. Now the university plans to participate in Courseload's eContent Readiness Program to build out use of digital content among its 21,000 students.

"We evaluated Courseload during a pilot program last year as a means for delivering textbook content to students in a digital format," said Yasemin Tunc, assistant vice president for academic solutions. "Courseload was selected based on simplicity, accessibility, and the additional teaching tools it provides for both the faculty and students as they interact with content."

Among those features provided by Courseload:

• The ability for an instructor to pull together content from multiple sources;
• A means for distributingn content to students based on what classes they're in;
• A set of tools for highlighting, annotations, search, evaluation, and collaboration;
• Analytics to expose students' use of content; and
• Management of the transaction of selling the curriculum to students for a given course.

The Courseload program will provide Ball State with people to help recruit faculty and help them make the transition to digital course content, manage re-engineering of business processes related to curriculum, and perform support for faculty and students in the use of the digital formats, among other services.

Ball State University is expanding a partnership with Indianapolis-based Courseload Inc. to provide digital textbooks to students. The school completed a pilot program with the company last year.

Read more about the partnership between Ball State University and Courseload.

Courseload, Inc., the leading innovator in the aggregation, delivery and use of digital course materials, today announced that Ball State University has chosen the Courseload eContent Readiness Program (CERP) to help guide broad-scale eContent adoption at its 21,000-student campus.

Following the success of a recent pilot with Courseload, Ball State made the decision to move forward with an expansion of its digital course materials initiative via the CERP, an institution-specific, multi-phased planning and implementation methodology to advance the use of digital course materials.

“We evaluated Courseload during a pilot program last year as a means for delivering textbook content to students in a digital format,” said Yasemin Tunc, assistant vice president for academic solutions. “Courseload was selected based on simplicity, accessibility, and the additional teaching tools it provides for both the faculty and students as they interact with content.”

The CERP includes a dedicated launch team to guide participating institutions through every aspect of the transition to digital course materials, including course and program selection and rollout, eContent strategy, business process alignment, faculty recruitment and growth, communication, and faculty and student support services.

“This program helps educational institutions such as Ball State recognize the academic return on investment from transitioning to digital course materials, enabled by Courseload’s award-winning platform and innovative business model,” said senior vice president of academic and business partnerships, John Falchi.

by Sarah Max, Entrepreneur Magazine

In 2011, Michael Coffey temporarily moved his family from the San Francisco Bay Area to Indianapolis, where the marketing software company he founded, Sequoia Technologies, had a major client. “We were starting to hit rough waters with our operations here, so I brought my family to Indy for three months while I worked with the team,” says Coffey.

To his surprise, the city wasn’t a black hole of culture or innovation. On the contrary, “I was blown away by what was starting to emerge,” says Coffey, who after about a year in the city lobbied his board to relocate the company to Indianapolis, to no avail. When pressed to choose between his company and his adopted city, he says he chose Indy.

Today, he’s immersed in the startup community and working on a different new venture, MYTM8, a sports-team management platform that allows managers and coaches to handle events and team communication from any device. “There’s a lot happening in Indy, but people here are so humble you tend not to hear about it,” he says.

Long known for its motor speedway and basketball courts, Indiana's capital city of about 830,000 people is quietly bringing up creative new ventures and high-tech enterprises.

Read the full article on innovation in Indy or get a better look at Indy's innovators.

Courseload, Inc., the leading innovator in the aggregation, delivery and use of digital course materials, was again named one of the “Best Places to Work in Indiana” by the Indiana Chamber of Commerce. This is the second time Courseload has participated in and been named to the list of top companies, which is determined through employer reports and comprehensive employee surveys.

“We are honored to be recognized as one of the ‘Best Places to Work in Indiana’ for the second year in a row,” said Mickey Levitan, CEO of Courseload. “Courseload actively cultivates a company culture that fosters innovation and values teamwork. Our dedicated and dynamic team accounts for the great progress we have made and the possibilities we have created.”

This statewide survey and awards program recognizes and honors the best places of employment in Indiana. The 2013 Best Places to Work in Indiana program saw an unprecedented number of applicants and the award list includes a record 100 companies from four categories: small companies (15-74 employees), medium-sized companies (75-249 employees), large companies (250-999 employees), and major companies (more than 1,000 employees).

Courseload will be recognized and honored at the 2013 Best Places to Work in Indiana Awards Dinner coordinated by the Indiana Chamber of Commerce on May 2, 2013, where final rankings will be announced. In addition, all of the ranked companies will be recognized via a special section of the Indiana Chamber’s bimonthly BizVoice® magazine and through Inside INdiana Business with Gerry Dick.

by Ellis Booker, Information Week - Education

How digital textbooks and other educational materials will be distributed, managed and paid for in the future has become a hot topic among academic institutions, textbook publishers and ed tech vendors.

On Monday, one of the largest e-textbook pilot programs to date was announced by a number of key industry players. In total, the project will involve 50 publishers and nearly 30,000 textbooks. Although the number of participating colleges and universities has yet to be determined -- the schools have until the end of April to sign up for the pilot -- last year's test attracted more than two dozen institutions.

Read more about the future of course material delivery.

Courseload has launched version 2.3 of its software with a stated focus on Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act and Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG), touting the release as the first e-text platform to provide a single, unified, collaborative experience for faculty and students of all abilities.

In developing the new version last year, Courseload created an Accessibility Advisory Board (AAB) to guide its efforts to advance accessibility within higher education's transition to digital technologies. The AAB brought together leaders from nine universities and national advocacy and technology groups.

Read more about how Courseload is working toward accessibility for all in higher education.