Education

In This Case, Publishers Should Root for the OER Guys
October 11, 2016 at 9:36 am

When an organization that has created open educational resources (OER), informally known as “free stuff,” and sues FedEx, how much should publishers care about the outcome? The answer: a lot. In case you hadn’t heard, a non-profit curriculum provider called Great Minds has filed a federal lawsuit against FedEx. Here’s the background. Great Minds is…

Translation Issues: Why Don’t Children’s Picture Books Travel?
October 7, 2016 at 1:24 pm

Writer, translator and teacher Avery Udagawa is currently international translation coordinator for the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators. She recently spoke with writer and editor Marcia Lynx Qualey for WorldKidLit about book ecosystems, translation, and publishing. Some highlights follow.

Pearson Partners with Jisc to Speed Textbook Transition to Digital
September 29, 2016 at 2:12 pm

Pearson has signed a one-year partnership agreement with Jisc to speed the transition of its school textbooks to digital. The agreement with Jisc, a UK not-for-profit specialised in digital technology for higher education, further education and research, is said to be based on "extensive engagement and feedback" from Jisc members and following six months of talks between Jisc and Pearson. Pearson revealed yesterday (22nd September) a pilot scheme that will enable…

Academic Ebook Sales Flat, Preference for E-Reference Up
September 29, 2016 at 2:09 pm

Academic libraries continue to add to their ebook collections, but while ebooks are becoming the preferred format for reference materials, many students still prefer to read and study monographs and textbooks in print, according to “Ebook Usage in U.S. Academic Libraries 2016,” a survey conducted by Library Journal and sponsored by Gale Cengage Learning. Forty-seven percent of…

Transforming the Textbook Publishing Industry with Digital Print
September 28, 2016 at 2:11 pm

Just a few years ago, there was panic among the education book publishing segment, especially with book printers. Tablets and e-readers were all the rage. Large school districts were distributing iPads and other tablets to students en masse. A 2012 Pearson Foundation survey found that 63 percent of college students and 69 percent of high…

Should Educational Publishers Be Disruptors?
September 27, 2016 at 11:24 am

Call me old-fashioned, but I’ve never warmed to the idea that disruption is a good thing in business. I’m not a fan of companies that set out to disrupt the industries in which they operate (take that, Jeff Bezos and Elizabeth Holmes) and I am particularly skeptical about those that set out to disrupt education,…

Bibblio Uses AI-Powered Recommendations to Drive Reader Engagement & Learning
September 23, 2016 at 11:13 am

Taking its cue from media giants like Netflix, Facebook, and YouTube, startup Bibblio recognizes that high-quality recommendation is the future of content consumption. Bibblio wants to improve the quality of publisher recommendations by using artificial intelligence (AI) and transforming how readers discover learning content. The startup offers a B2B software-as-a-service (SaaS) tool that enables education…

Audiobooks Can Support K-12 Readers in the Classroom
September 20, 2016 at 10:48 am

In a digital age, with the increasing use of technology in the classroom and in school libraries—69 percent of school libraries provide students with digital content—audiobooks are gaining ground. In fact, they are the fastest-growing sector in the book-publishing industry, spurring publishers and authors to focus on…

Dissecting Eyeballs and T-Rex’s: Virtual Reality in the Classroom
September 14, 2016 at 8:30 am

In the fall of 2015, the Montour School District opened its doors to a new Virtual Immersion Lab. At first, students did not know what to expect (nor the teachers). However, on his first day using the lab, a physics student engage with virtual reality and expressed, “This is like hands-on learning, without wanting to…

Cengage Reports OER May Triple in Use as Primary Courseware Within Five Years
September 12, 2016 at 8:00 am

Open Educational Resources (OER) in higher education have the potential to triple in use as primary courseware over the next five years, from 4 percent to 12 percent, according to a survey of more than 500 faculty by Cengage Learning. In addition, the use of OER for supplemental learning materials may nearly quadruple in size,…