Press Release: Association of American Publishers Announces New Center for Innovation & Digital Learning
WASHINGTON — February 22, 2016 — The Association of American Publishers (AAP) today announced the creation of a Center for Innovation & Digital Learning, an initiative designed to promote new ideas in the digital learning space and to support the development of next-generation educational technologies.
“Learning materials are no longer solely the printed textbooks of generations past. Digital learning materials are increasingly important to improving outcomes throughout a student’s education,” said AAP President and CEO Tom Allen. “While AAP and its education divisions have undertaken many digital initiatives over the past 15 years, our new Center will complement existing initiatives and generate new efforts that support our members, educators, and students nationwide.”
The center has several events scheduled, including its inaugural event- a panel on the challenges of bringing new products to market at SXSWedu in Austin this March. Other activities include a day-long Ed Tech Forum just ahead of the Content in Context (CIC) Conference in June and a series of webinars on topics related to educational technology and digital learning.
The new Center will be housed in the AAP’s 501c3, the non-profit research arm of AAP, and will be headquartered in Washington D.C. Members from AAP’s PreK-12 and Higher Education sectors will develop and implement digital initiatives within the Center, which will:
- Build Capacity for the Industry: offer professional development and educational services and coordinate joint activities with education and technology associations and organizations
- Liaise within the Community: house the new PreK-12 Technology in Education Group and its activities, serve as a conduit between innovators and more established companies to foster new ideas and evolution within the industry, and connect AAP’s diversity initiatives to our members’ work in digital learning
- Act as a Resource: serve as an informational resource for AAP members and others working in the education space, develop webinars, white papers, and email updates on digital and ed tech issues, and track issues related to accessibility, metadata, and other technical specifications; and
- Promote Use of Digital Materials: develop campaigns to promote the shift from print to digital in learning materials
Click here to learn more about the Center for Innovation & Digital Learning.
About AAP
The Association of American Publishers (AAP) represents about four hundred member organizations including major commercial, digital learning and education and professional publishers alongside independents, non-profits, university presses and scholarly societies. Find us online at www.publishers.org or on Twitter at @AmericanPublish.
