The proliferation of AI tools has reached the classroom, and students now use them regularly to reinforce or even introduce new concepts into their studies. That leaves academic leadership wondering how to provide learners with responsible AI tools they’ll want to use while keeping them focused only on content that’s been carefully selected by faculty.

AI’s explosion has happened differently in the classroom than in our everyday lives. Initially banned, sometimes restricted; it has rarely been well-guided. VitalSource is leading the industry out of the fog by developing AI tools sourcing only from specific content and informed by increasingly rigorous scientific input and pedagogy.

Launched in September, Bookshelf+ is an AI study partner built to drive deeper engagement while offering responses grounded only in instructor-assigned materials. It was designed to enhance, not replace, effective learning, and is founded on:

• More than a decade of learning science research
• Compliance with the most stringent benchmarks in data security and operational excellence
• Internationally recognized accessibility standards  that extend across all our tools and platforms

Here's more good news: institutions don’t need to do anything to implement Bookshelf+. The student interface appears automatically on included titles, directly within the student’s Bookshelf platform. There are no new integrations and no additional lift needed from IT teams.    

AI is part of the future of higher education, and it requires purpose-built technology to harness its power responsibly. Bookshelf+ is the only tool that applies learning science insight across the content provider ecosystem to assist students at the point of learning with faculty-approved content.   

That said, thanks to Bookshelf+, it’s never been easier to curate and enhance students’ AI experience while maintaining academic integrity.

For more information on the learning science principles that inform how VitalSource approaches responsible AI, look at this research on scaling the Doer Effect and the impact of AI-generated questions on the effectiveness of studying.

For more on the features and capabilities of Bookshelf+, visit this webpage.