As digital learning spreads its wings in the educational environment, the long-established operations of traditional publishers struggle to stay afloat. One of the major existential threats traditional publishers face is the second-hand textbook market. While only a small percentage of the student cohort buys new textbooks, most students either rent books or prefer digital content. As opposed to their print counterparts, digital resources are claiming a larger share of the revenue with their interactive content and multimedia elements. The declining demand for textbooks emphasizes the immediate need for publishers to shift their focus to digital publishing.
Aimed at providing a personalized learning experience new age technologies like artificial intelligence, virtual reality, and mobile learning will be instrumental in remodeling the K-12 publishing industry. Traditional publishers need to adopt advanced learning methodologies to meet the student’s needs.
Schools are keeping up with the trend and offering digital content to maximize learning and optimize retention. Projection screens are replacing blackboards as schools aim to educate their students in a digital learning environment. By embracing technology in the classroom, teachers are able to facilitate student-centered learning and provide a more holistic learning experience. Smart publishers have taken the cue and diverted their focus and resources to creating digital learning solutions that are interactive, adaptive and affordable!
As the number of technology-enabled classrooms rises, publishers are being compelled to innovate or face the threat of extinction.
Technologies That Will Redefine K-12 Publishing
1. Cloud Computing: With cloud computing entering the digital education arena, students are no longer bound by the hands of the clock and are free to take learning beyond the physical boundaries of their classroom. Cloud-based applications allow for unhindered learning by enabling students to access study material anytime from anywhere. Future-ready schools are also adopting these applications to streamline the process of homework and assignment submissions. MagicBoxTM is a cloud-based digital publishing platform that allows publishers to create content for use across devices and operating systems.
2. Mobile Learning: Publishers can further tap into the power of technological advancements by offering a responsive eLearning experience that helps students seamlessly transition from one device to another. Publishers have good reasons to explore the mobile learning sphere since digital interaction also holds great power to increase classroom productivity.
Our white-labeled platform MagicBoxTM offers one-click publishing and makes content accessible on various mobile operating systems ensuring your digital learning sources are not restricted to browsers and desktops. Through uninterrupted access to study material across mobile devices, MagicBoxTM ensures your students are engaged, connected and actively involved.
3. Adaptive Learning through AI: The integration of Data Analytics and Artificial Intelligence can significantly enhance engagement and productivity as it helps discern and cater to unique learning needs. Adaptive learning systems can interpret learner preferences from online activity, categorize students based on skill level to suggest appropriate courses and customize content for a more personalized user experience. AI can help publishers address the needs most urgent to them by providing meaningful metrics that can be leveraged to design effective content and design strategies.
Meeting different learning requirement is also important. MagicBoxTM provides digital accessibility solutions to many leading publishers for enhanced and more penetrated solutions.
4. Classroom Gamification: Application of gaming principles to the classroom boost engagement as students are more willing to become an active participant in the learning process. The essential characteristics of a game – communication, cooperation, and competition – improve understanding and cement it to memory. The day is not far when games will be an integral part of every classroom since they make learning fun, improve concentration, generate problem-solving capabilities and help retain information for longer periods of time.
MagicBoxTM allows you to incorporate game-based simulations in a course so as to create more engaging e-learning content to analyze and apply newly acquired knowledge to real-life scenarios.
Winning Strategies for Digital Publishing
Use effective and unique content to create an edge over OERs – Despite the arrival of many and varied modes of content delivery that are expected to reshape the digital publishing industry, content will continue to be the king. While OERs are a threat, they can be won over with strategic content planning since OERs lack the structure a young learner needs. The sheer volume and the confusion arising because of it can work in the favor of digital publishers who are willing to analyze learner activity, learning patterns and preferences to deliver a highly-customized learning experience.
Create personalized learning environments – Creating personalized learning environments entail a lot more than merely imparting choice in learning styles and preferences. Students must be allowed to follow a learning pace that focuses on skill mastery instead of time-bound outcomes. Moreover, instruction and content delivery should be determined by the student’s needs rather than the teacher’s availability. For instance, the mission-based game engines available from MagicBoxTM help publishers to build fun and engaging reward-based games.
Focus on blended learning – Blended learning allows teachers to plan and implement effective teaching strategies that are aimed at helping students of varying skill levels achieve their maximum potential. Blended learning models are student-driven, involve research and drive innovation under the guidance of a skilled instructor. A blended approach to learning offers the best of both worlds by helping instructors deliver the course material in a highly personalized manner.
Associate with educators – While digitizing the learning process, it is equally crucial for a product to fit in the dynamics of teaching. Publishers need to reckon with the instructional needs of an educator and develop an efficient replacement of the textbook that enhances the teacher’s contribution without disturbing the dynamics and workflows of a classroom.
Bring greater creativity – As the number of potential customers increases, so do the challenges for a digital publisher. Greater competition will compel publishers to step up their creativity game to attract new customers and retain the old ones. Data-backed decisions will prove instrumental in devising competent marketing and content creation strategies that will help in staying relevant amidst growing competition.
Makerspaces – To encourage the process of discovery that leads to innovation, publications must create tools that aid self-paced learning in makerspaces. These technology-enabled, creative workspaces offer hands-on training across modules and promote learning through experimentation.
Flipped classroom – The concept, aimed at making classrooms more productive, hold the potential to radically transform the classroom dynamics. With course material made available before class, students and teachers get the opportunity to convert the classroom into a favorable ground for discussions and problem-solving. While flipped classrooms help students access to course material even outside the classroom, they empower teachers to utilize class time for individual interaction with the students.
Project-based Learning – Experiential learning is the foundation of learning and the concept of project-based learning opens up many possibilities for digital publishers to design tools that can prove useful to students. Tools that facilitate project-based learning are expected to gain immense popularity among teachers and students in the coming years.
Have you checked out our winning integration platforms MagicBoxTM and Magic Sync for K-12 and higher education digital publishing? They are being used by parents, teachers, and students globally. Talk to our experts for a free demo of our platforms and partner with us to create endearing learning experiences for everyone.
