New York University’s College of Dentistry Places Entire Curriculum at Students’ Fingertips with VitalSource^TM Bookshelf

College Administrators Embrace Digital Reference Library as Means of Enriching Learning Experience, Extending Classroom Frontiers

In today’s accreditation-driven environment, professional schools are facing a new set of challenges. Encouraging students to seek knowledge beyond what is required to pass a test has become increasingly challenging for faculty. Meanwhile, accommodating the learning styles of a generation accustomed to the speed and convenience with which they can find information on the Web has many school administrators stumped. Combined, the two phenomena have made it difficult for colleges to ensure that graduates amass the foundational knowledge required for enduring professional success.

Faced with new entrants’ evolving requirements, administrators at New York University’s renowned College of Dentistry looked for new technologies that might enhance students’ experience. In 2001, NYU learned of VitalSource’s cutting-edge e-book application, Bookshelf. Both PC and MAC-compatible, it had the capability to store, index and display a great number of digital resources without weighing down the user’s machine. What’s more: VitalSource^TM was prepared to negotiate the licensing rights to the College of Dentistry’s entire list of required textbooks from publishers, digitize the titles and bundle them for student download onto Bookshelf.

Since 2001, one out of five American dentistry schools have launched digital reference libraries on VitalSource^TM Bookshelf.

A survey of NYU College of Dentistry’s faculty revealed that 60% of professors consider the VitalSource-powered digital reference library a good investment for the practicing dentist. A similar percentage would also recommend it to a colleague.

In a bold move, NYU’s College of Dentistry partnered with VitalSource^TM to replace traditional course materials with a digital reference library featuring textbooks, lectures and links to external resources. The library was created in collaboration with faculty who were asked to submit a list of the textbooks they planned to use in class, as well as files of additional resources such as lectures and assessment materials. By providing access to a wealth of curriculum-related content from Bookshelf’s intuitive dashboard, NYU administrators hoped to create a trampoline from which students could reach for knowledge that extended beyond course syllabi.

Once NYU’s digital reference library had been implemented, faculty and students alike realized that the convenience of having tens of 1000-page-plus textbooks at their fingertips was only one of the myriad benefits they would derive from VitalSource’s solution. They could also highlight and annotate those resources much like they would a printed copy. In addition, Bookshelf allows for advanced indexing of digital content. As a result, it enables users to search for specific content within a single textbook, across a group of resources and even the entire library.

NYU professors began leveraging Bookshelf’s robust search functionality in the classroom in order to transform the way in which students acquired and retained knowledge. One faculty member, for instance, will ask the class to write an essay on a topic from the reading

assignment, in class, using Bookshelf. Students have a limited amount of time to complete the exercise and email it to the professor. They are then asked to complete a similar assignment on a more focused topic (a subset of the previous topic) during the following class.

The two tasks serve to help create scaffolding for the knowledge that will be built throughout the remainder of the course. They also encourage students to actively search for, make sense of and cobble together information that is spread across their entire digital library, making for an active learning process. In addition, all of the College of Dentistry’s clinics are equipped with computers loaded with Bookshelf so that students may quickly research answers to clinical questions.

Today’s students, unlike previous generations, rarely retain their college textbooks as reference resources once they have taken a class or graduated from college. Large, heavy, print editions are cumbersome to transport and students will often opt to sell the used textbook back to the college bookstore in order to save money. This trend poses a particular problem for students at professional schools as they will be required to recall information from their college textbooks for the remainder of their professional careers.

Administrators at NYU’s College of Dentistry view VitalSource^TM Bookshelf as a key tool to ensure graduates embrace lifelong learning. The digital reference library they had at their fingertips while pursuing a degree can now remain with them for the duration of their careers. Seven years after VitalSource^TM Bookshelf was first implemented at the school, NYU’s College of Dentistry continues to empower Digital Age students with a key to active learning both in school and beyond.