VitalSource

[condj]

I am interested to hear from students who have had experience with
digital textbooks and VitalSource.

Is this program worth the cost?
Are there particular problems with this program?
Are there special advantages or useful features with this program?
Would you recommend it to other schools?

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[DMD 4 Me]

+1

 

[Vapor1122]

I like it. While my eyes might prefer reading on paper, my neck prefers being upright and reading from a display. It's also nice having 115 textbooks without actually having to store/carry them. Plus, it's easy enough to print or covert chapters to PDF for reading away from your computer.

So to answer your questions:
- Yes
- Not really, though there's room for improvements in usability
- Searching and tree navigation let you find what you want fast
- Yes 🙂

 

[BlueWaveDentist]

I would NEVER EVER recommend vital source to anyone or another school.
It is currently being used at Nova Dental and is disliked by about 90% of our students.
PROS: portability, ability to search the book
NEG: PRICE (we pay around 2000 a YEAR = 8000 total dental school) b/c the book updates every year, just newer chapters or changed around. Not all books but just some. We have only used about 3-4 books in all of vital source which there are about 100. You can take notes/highlights in it, but if you didnt back it up to vital source servers you LOSE ALL YOUR NOTES/HIGHLIGHTS when your computer crashes or you need to re-register. It's basically just a HUGE RIP-OFF and you know someone is getting a "kick-back" for using this. Our class signed a petition to get rid of it to no avail.
Also some of our classes request other books which arent even included on Vital Source so we must go buy these books on top of us paying $8,000.

I know other schools like UNC tried it in the past and have gotten rid of it.
I also believe our med school had it but got rid of it.

 

[Vapor1122]

Regarding cost, consider that these books could easily run in the ballpark of $150 a pop for the paper version. Multiply by 100+ books, and you're easily looking at $15k for all your texts. Granted, you can sell those back, but I've actually found I read them more now that I'm in clinic and suddenly I want to know all this stuff, seeing how it has a new and immediate relevance. Had I sold them back after the respective courses ended, I wouldn't have had that option.

 

[THINKOFMYFUTURE]

Is this the same thing as Vitalbook that NYU uses?

 

[DMD 4 Me]

Can someone explains how it works after you finish dental school?

Yes, you paid 15 grand or so for all the books, but do you get to keep them on the computer forever or load them onto another computer?

Or do you lose them after graduation?

If you get to keep them is it contingent on paying a monthly or yearly fee?

 

[omaralt]

Regarding cost, consider that these books could easily run in the ballpark of $150 a pop for the paper version. Multiply by 100+ books, and you're easily looking at $15k for all your texts. Granted, you can sell those back, but I've actually found I read them more now that I'm in clinic and suddenly I want to know all this stuff, seeing how it has a new and immediate relevance. Had I sold them back after the respective courses ended, I wouldn't have had that option.

Horrible analogy. I probably used five out of the hundreds of books. Its a bug rip off and somebody is getting real rich off of poor students

 

[iLuvDAT]

I would NEVER EVER recommend vital source to anyone or another school.
It is currently being used at Nova Dental and is disliked by about 90% of our students.
PROS: portability, ability to search the book
NEG: PRICE (we pay around 2000 a YEAR = 8000 total dental school) b/c the book updates every year, just newer chapters or changed around. Not all books but just some. We have only used about 3-4 books in all of vital source which there are about 100. You can take notes/highlights in it, but if you didnt back it up to vital source servers you LOSE ALL YOUR NOTES/HIGHLIGHTS when your computer crashes or you need to re-register. It's basically just a HUGE RIP-OFF and you know someone is getting a "kick-back" for using this. Our class signed a petition to get rid of it to no avail.
Also some of our classes request other books which arent even included on Vital Source so we must go buy these books on top of us paying $8,000.

I know other schools like UNC tried it in the past and have gotten rid of it.
I also believe our med school had it but got rid of it.

Same here. It's a huge ripoff, and anybody with half of a brain would agree, but UB doesn't want to get rid of it in spite of many complaints from students. It's funny that the school let us vote on little things like changing around exam schedule, and yet we have no say in this issue. They held a so-called town hall meeting, after they renewed a multi-year contract with vitalsource. The solution they came up with is to drop a few unused books to "appease" the crowd. I wonder what vitalsource has done for the higher-ups in exchange for our admin's loyalty to the corporate. In case any predent is curious, How much would we have spent on textbooks without using vitalsource otherwise? I would say, probably less than $200 for 4 years, if we got used ones from upperclassmen and decided to keep them after we graduate. I hope someone with leads could take this up to ADA or something. This can be another student loan scandal.

 

[browncrack]

Or do you lose them after graduation?

If you get to keep them is it contingent on paying a monthly or yearly fee?

You get to keep the disc. The disc no longer works when you graduate. This is what I've heard from two graduated students. No personal knowledge.

 

[jay47]

Same here. It's a huge ripoff, and anybody with half of a brain would agree, but UB doesn't want to get rid of it in spite of many complaints from students. It's funny that the school let us vote on little things like changing around exam schedule, and yet we have no say in this issue. They held a so-called town hall meeting, after they renewed a multi-year contract with vitalsource. The solution they came up with is to drop a few unused books to "appease" the crowd. I wonder what vitalsource has done for the higher-ups in exchange for our admin's loyalty to the corporate. In case any predent is curious, How much would we have spent on textbooks without using vitalsource otherwise? I would say, probably less than $200 for 4 years, if we got used ones from upperclassmen and decided to keep them after we graduate. I hope someone with leads could take this up to ADA or something. This can be another student loan scandal.

Wow, you guys are really getting ripped. I know for sure that if our class had this sort of reaction, the admin would definitely listen to us. Sounds like someone is turning their head and filling their pockets. I would investigate further because $8000 in book is ridiculous. I have probably spent around $100 my first year. I'll spend a good bit more later for the books that really matter, but not anywhere near $8000. I hate digital books too...