Open Educational Resources (OER) are here to stay. Publishing, despite the rumors, is not dead. The real question is not “if” but “how” these two options will co-exist in the instructional materials market. A starting point is sorting out where each type of resource makes the most sense. For me…
In January 2001 as the dot com boom burst online education site wwwrrr.com went out of business overnight, literally. Coverage tended to focus on the employees – who ultimately filed a class action lawsuit for back pay and 401k contributions. Lost in that ugly coverage was the blunt reality for teachers and…
Texas has been a vocal holdout on adopting Common Core State Standards (CCSS) since the beginning. Last week all 14 publishers who submitted high school biology textbooks for adoption in TX ignored the state’s demand to include creationism. I believe these two news items are directly related and reflect a huge shift in the market dynamics for instructional…
The Association of Educational Publishers (AEP) and the Association of American Publishers School Division (AAP) announced their intent to merge last week. I’m currently the Board President at AEP. As one of the principals in the deal I thought it would be useful to share my perspective on why we…
The Common Core Standards are causing a lot of angst across the world of education. Fortunately Brandt Redd is here to help. Over at Of That he lays it all out in a lucid and well linked overview “The Common Core State Standards – For My Concerned Friends.” He cuts through…
Education publishers have taken a lot of fire in the last few years – many believe that we are too big, too powerful, and that things would be better if teachers just wrote their own materials or used free stuff. So why do we continue to exist? Are publishers a…
PCI Education was sold to PRO-ED, Inc. in mid-December 2012. Since then I’ve fielded a lot questions about the sale. This post is an attempt, from my perspective as PCI’s former CEO, to answer the big questions in one place.* What Is The Rationale For The Deal? There are several…
Last Tuesday the Secretary of Education said “I think we should be moving from print to digital absolutely as fast as we can over the next couple of years. Textbooks should be obsolete.” He was clear that he sees the digital transformation in schools as a “critical game changer” for…
Quick – what percentage of your iTunes library is produced by amateurs? For that matter how many books on your eReader of choice are self-published works? If you are like most people the answer to both questions is “slim to none.” The point is that quality matters in any medium.…
iPads in the classroom are all the rage in the education publishing market – somedays the oxygen for discussing anything but learning tablets has been sucked out of the room. As we move beyond the giggling crush stage there are a couple of points to consider that might give publishers…