NASHVILLE, TN – Ingram Content Group Inc., today announced that DeSales University and Salus University have selected Ingram's VitalSource Bookshelf e-learning platform to enhance the interactive learning tools, curriculum and content for students in their physician assistant programs.
"Technology continues to fundamentally change the classroom, and educators and students are looking for new ways to enhance the learning experience," said Dr. Richard C. Vause, Jr., Physician Assistant Program Director and Associate Dean, Program Development, Salus University. "The integration of the VitalSource Bookshelf platform into our comprehensive program helps us to provide the finest curricula and online learning tools available to our students now and in the future."
Collaborating with DeSales University and Salus University, Vital Source created custom e-textbook programs for the physician assistant curriculums offered by each institution. Content for each program was acquired by Vital Source from multiple, leading textbook publishers.
"Using Vital Source, we are able to provide our students the required texts of the entire curriculum without compromising on any particular text or publisher," said Wayne C. Stuart, MD, Program Director Physician Assistant Program, DeSales University. "The students are able to have all of our favored texts with them in the classroom and on rotation, and the search function across books is a well-used feature of the program."
Students in both programs have the flexibility to access their e-textbooks through the school's learning management system. Content may also be used online and offline through a variety of operating systems and devices, and users can make notes, highlights and annotations in their e-textbooks, which automatically sync across devices. In addition, students can share and subscribe to notes and highlights from their peers.
"More schools are reshaping and enhancing their curriculums with digital content and technology," said Kent Freeman, Chief Operating Officer, Vital Source Technologies, Inc. "We will continue to collaborate with leading publishers and enhance our platform to ensure content is easily accessible to students and institutions in the most popular formats. Vital Source is pleased to support DeSales University and Salus University with our technology and content rich library."
The VitalSource Bookshelf platform is the most used e-textbook delivery platform in higher education with more than 3.25 million users across 6,000 campuses around the world. It uses the latest technology to enhance the learning experience through e-textbooks and digital education. Content from more than 350 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. For more information about Vital Source Technologies, visit www.vitalsource.com.
About DeSales University
DeSales University, in Center Valley, Pa., is a private, coeducational, four-year liberal arts university affiliated with the Roman Catholic Church. Founded by the Oblates of Saint Francis de Sales in 1965, the 480-acre suburban campus is located 50 miles north of Philadelphia and about 90 miles south of New York City. A total enrollment of nearly 3,300 includes undergraduate day and evening students and graduate students. DeSales has approximately 100 full-time faculty members and offers more than 35 bachelor's degrees and eight graduate programs in a wide range of disciplines. For more information visit www.desales.edu
About Salus University
Salus University, founded as the Pennsylvania College of Optometry in 1919, today is a diversified, globally recognized, professional academic medical center of learning that offers a wide range of accredited post-graduate degree programs including: Optometry, Audiology, Physician Assistant, Public Health, Education and Rehabilitation of the Blind and Visually Impaired, Biomedicine, and Occupational Therapy. The University's nearly 1,800 students include PhD and post-doctoral candidates, and there are more than 10,000 Salus alumni worldwide. For more information, please visit www.salus.edu.
About Ingram
Ingram Content Group Inc. is a subsidiary of Nashville-based Ingram Industries Inc. Ingram provides books, music and media content to over 39,000 retailers, libraries, schools and distribution partners in 195 countries. More than 26,000 publishers use Ingram's fully integrated physical and digital distribution, logistics, and manufacturing solutions to access global consumer demand, and realize the full business potential of book content. 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. For more information, visit www.ingramcontent.com
