There's also a video tutorial available in addition to this LibGuide. You can also learn more about Kortext's advanced Groups feature in the appropriate tab.
On your Kortext Bookshelf, you can see all the e-textbooks assigned to your modules, as well as any other Kortext e-textbooks you have ever accessed. If there aren't currently any assigned readings for your modules provided through Kortext, your bookshelf may be empty the first time you access it but e-textbooks will appear once you access them via reading lists or the library catalogue.
All titles are displayed in alphabetical order. From the bookshelf you can open the Kortext Reader and read the full text of an e-textbook by clicking any book cover. If you have read an e-textbook on a previous occasion, the reader will open the book to the page you were reading when you ended the previous session.
Across the bottom of some book covers, you may see a yellow banner saying that the book expires in a certain number of months. Your access to e-textbooks not assigned to a module you are studying ceases at the end of the current academic year, though they still appear on your bookshelf. The Filter icon toward the top-right of the screen enables you to hide any such expired e-textbooks. Note that previously accessed e-textbooks cannot be deleted from your bookshelf if they are no longer required.
Below each book cover (to the right of the title), there is a small menu button. By clicking the menu button, you can:
The search box across the top of the screen enables you to search your bookshelf by title and author. This is most useful if there are a very large number of e-textbooks present on your bookshelf. You can exit the search results by clicking My library in the purple column on the left-hand side of the screen.
The Kortext Reader interface is divided into the following four sections based on functionality:
This covers most of the reader interface, is where you can actually read the full text of the e-textbook, and where most of your learning activity takes place. From here you can also highlight, copy and add notes by selecting portions of the text with your cursor. When text is selected, a menu displaying the following options appears:
This runs across the bottom of the reader (boxed in blue in the screenshot) and allows you to move between e-textbook pages:
In the lower-right of the toolbar, you can also enter a specific page number to view that page. These correspond to the page numbers actually printed on the page, and the digital page view within the e-textbook is indicated in brackets next to the entry field. If the page numbers do not match up and you are struggling to use an e-textbook, let us know and we will ask Kortext to fix this for you.
This runs down the left-hand side of the reader (boxed in green in the screenshot) and chiefly allows you to quickly jump to different sections of the e-textbook. Secondary functionality is also located here. Note that this toolbar may not be immediately visible on small screen resolutions, in which case it will move and replace the Fullscreen button on the Display Toolbar at the top of the reader.
In total, seven different tabs may be accessed from this toolbar:
Display ToolbarThis runs across the top of the reader (boxed in red in the screenshot) and allows you to manipulate the appearance of the full text:
If these options aren't visible for the e-textbook you are reading you may be using a PDF. Note that PDF versions of e-textbooks have less functionality than others – page background tone and text font cannot be altered for example. You will see the following buttons in the display toolbar:
Zoom out – indicated by a magnifying glass with a minus sign in the lens.In the top left-hand corner of this toolbar there is also a Return button (indicated by a left-facing arrow next to the e-textbook title) that closes the current e-textbook and returns you to your Kortext Bookshelf.
There's also a video tutorial available in addition to this LibGuide. The Kortext App is a great way to study on the go or offline using Kortext e-textbooks. The key benefit of the app is that any notes, highlighting, or bookmarks you create automatically sync across devices, between PCs and devices. However, advanced functionality (such as printing, and the ability to manage and share notes with Groups) is not currently available in the app.
On the home screen of the Kortext App, you can see all the e-textbooks assigned to your modules, as well as any other Kortext e-textbooks you have ever accessed. If there aren't currently any assigned readings for your modules provided through Kortext, the app home screen may be empty the first time you access it but e-textbooks will appear once you access them via reading lists or the library catalogue. E-textbooks are displayed in the order in which you have read or downloaded them, the most recent being at the top of the your bookshelf.
From this screen you can launch the Kortext Reader and read the full text of an e-textbook by tapping any book cover. If you have not previously downloaded that e-textbook to your device, the app will first prompt you to do so. A purple download symbol and file size to the right of each e-textbook title indicates that it is not downloaded. If you have read an e-textbook in the app previously, the download symbol will not be displayed, and tapping the title will open the e-textbook to the page you were reading when you ended the previous session.
Between study sessions within the app, you might access other Kortext e-textbooks in a web browser on your PC. These titles will not initially be displayed when you reopen the app. To display new titles, drag your bookshelf down from the top of the screen, and this will force the app to reload and any new titles will then appear at the top of your bookshelf.
To the right of each e-textbook title, there is a small menu button. By tapping the menu button, you will see the following options:
The search box across the top of the screen enables you to search your bookshelf by title and author. This is only really useful if there are a very large number of e-textbooks present on your bookshelf. You can exit the search results by tapping the cross sign that will appear on the right-hand side of the search box.
The Kortext Reader interface is divided into the following three sections based on functionality:
This covers most of the reader interface, is where you can actually read the full text of the e-textbook, and where most of your learning activity will take place. You can sequentially move between pages by tapping the left- and right-hand sides of the screen, and you can show or hide the toolbars by tapping the top-centre of the screen. You can also highlight, copy and add notes by selecting portions of the text with your fingers. When text is selected, a menu displaying the following options appears:
This runs across the bottom of the reader (boxed in blue in the screenshot) and allows you to move between pages:
At the bottom of the toolbar (below the slider), you can also enter a specific page number to view that page by tapping the underlined number. This corresponds to the page numbers actually printed on the page, and the digital page view within the e-textbook is indicated in brackets next to the entry field. If the page numbers do not match up and you are struggling to use an e-textbook, let us know and we will ask Kortext to fix this for you.
This runs across the top of the reader (boxed in red in the screenshot) and allows you to change the appearance of the full text as well as navigate through it. Note that this combines the Display Toolbar and Navigation Toolbar of the web-based Kortext Reader. The following buttons are located in this combined toolbar:
In the top left-hand corner of this toolbar there is also a Return button (indicated by a left-facing arrow next to the e-textbook title) that closes the current e-textbook and returns you to your bookshelf.
Kortext's Groups functionality is a fantastic way to encourage collaborative learning. This is intended to be used by both students and tutors alike, and allows you to share your Notes on the full text of any e-textbook with others. Students can share notes to collaborate with and support their peers, whilst tutors can annotate crucial passages and quickly disseminate this to their students.
In the purple column on the left-hand side of your Kortext Bookshelf, you will see a Groups button which allows to access the Groups interface. You can invite other Kortext users to join a group individually using their email address, or add all students studying on a module in bulk by selecting the desired module code. Either way, the nominated Kortext users will then receive an email invitation to join the group. If an individual has not yet registered to use Kortext you will be unable to add them to a group, and personal email addresses should not be used to add others to a group regardless of the recipient's preferences.
You can assign another Kortext users to a group as either an Observer, Member, Moderator, or Group Leader with varying degrees of control over group activity and communications. You can also create multiple overlapping groups, so that you can share some notes with all the students studying a given module, or a subset of students such as a seminar group, or just your friends.
Notes can be shared with groups from within the Kortext Reader (see below). In the Groups interface of the Bookshelf, notes are displayed in the order they were created, grouped by e-textbook title which may be collapsed. Clicking any note returns you to its location within the full text of the associated e-textbook. Although notes have a date and timestamp, they are all anonymous.