Cost-effective digital access model allows educators to furnish ebooks and audiobooks for each student, no codes required

 

CLEVELAND – August 25, 2022 – To help educators provide students with the books they need as efficiently as possible, OverDrive Education announced the new On-Demand Class Set digital access model for curriculum titles. This model makes available ebooks and audiobooks on-demand in the Sora reading app to as many students as needed, with or without codes. Digital On-Demand Class Sets give schools the flexibility to allocate budget for assigned classroom reading even in situations where classes and rosters are not finalized. Educators can use this model – as well as many other cost-effective models in the OverDrive Marketplace – with required reading for English language arts, history, social science and other classes, as well as for all-school required reads and literature circles.

Educators can buy digital On-Demand Class Sets in bulk to correspond with the units of study and modules they plan to teach throughout the school year. Rostering a list of students is not required, so schools can purchase the approximate number of class sets they think they’ll need. Students use copies as needed, and if demand is higher than anticipated, schools can purchase more copies and make them available within hours. When a student borrows an On-Demand Class Set title in Sora, they will have access for three months, ensuring availability throughout their unit of study.

“On-Demand (Digital) Class Set rentals significantly increase our capacity to be responsive to district-wide curriculum needs,” said Suzi Tonini from Denver Public Schools in Colorado. “They’re a smart, responsible use of our curriculum budget dollars. In short, they’re a game-changer!”

Educators can purchase units up front in any quantity; there’s no upper limit, and class set prices start at $0.99 per student per three-month rental. More than 300,000 titles are available in this model, including some of the most-read curriculum books in schools such as Hoot by Carl Hiaasen, Hidden Figures Young Readers’ Edition by Margot Lee Shetterly and The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros.

Additional features of digital On-Demand Class Sets in Sora:

  • No access codes are required to read digital class sets, but content bundle codes can be applied if desired.
  • Titles will display under Assignments in Sora.
  • Authorized educators can access school- and student-level data for titles.
  • Bulk purchase of titles can be made any time; three-month rental term only begins when a student borrows a title.

A primary benefit of digital books is that they ensure every student has access to the required reading books they need to succeed. “On-Demand Class Sets also solve other common problems in curriculum deployments,” noted Angela Arnold, General Manager of OverDrive Education. “They allow schools to better manage budgets with a single bulk purchase, which is friendly to annual budget cycles. Digital books are also a remedy to the recent supply chain disruptions schools have encountered with print distribution of trade books.”

Arnold adds, “Unlike print, reading data is available with ebooks and digital audiobooks to help teachers see how students are engaging with core texts.”

Join a product walkthrough of digital On-Demand Class Sets and learn more about the Sora student reading app.

 

About OverDrive Education and the Sora student reading app

OverDrive Education, a division of OverDrive, offers the industry’s largest catalog of ebooks, audiobooks, digital magazines and other content for over 55,000 K-12 schools and millions of students worldwide. The company’s student reading app, Sora, provides every student with access to the right books. Supporting the need to read required curriculum titles, class sets and pleasure reading digital books, Sora’s powerful learning tools and insights help meet the needs of students and educators. Sora was named one of TIME’s Best Inventions of 2019. Acquired in 2021, TeachingBooks.net complements Sora with one of the largest catalogs of original and curated literary resources. Founded in 1986, OverDrive – the leading digital reading platform for libraries – and OverDrive Education are based in Cleveland, Ohio USA. www.overdrive.com/schools

 
Contact:
David Burleigh
Director of Brand Marketing & Communications
dburleigh@overdrive.com

 

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