As part of the 2009 Summit, AEP held an international CEO Roundtable, allowing executives from around the world to discuss the impact of “free” content on educational publishing. Kim Kleeman, President of Shakespeare Squared, attended the event and told AEP the five most important lessons she learned from the presentations.
The International CEO roundtable proved to be the perfect springboard for a variety of discussions regarding content and how we choose to deliver it to the general public.
Our panel was a powerful group of people who understand the balance between capital enterprise and availability of free content. The moderator, Seth Russo for Edureach International Consulting, facilitated a conversation and the presentations of companies from different countries allowing for a variety of opinions and strategies. Jim McVety from Bill Smith Group started us off followed by Poland native Artur Dyro, Young Digital Planet; Sameer Shariff from Impelsys; and Lewis Bronze from Espresso Education located in the UK.
The topics covered ranged from how to create an infrastructure to distribute content, to the scope of the market regarding technology, to how this will affect the US on the state level.
I really enjoyed the session. There were many intelligent people talking about the future of content in real terms. My biggest take-aways were the following:
- One of the biggest concerns is how do we get people to pay for content when free content is out there? Structuring these costs need to be manageable, affordable and accessible. Artur Dyro of Young Digital Planet spoke about building the value perception of electronic content. He sees this working by creating micro transactions. His company sells his content in a subscription model and the school gets a “bank” of downloads and can allot a certain amount to each teacher. I envision an “iTunes” model which is kept in a library for re-use down the line.
- Jim McVety brought up many publications and surveys we should be paying attention to for market intelligence. Project Tomorrow’s Speak Up National Survey, T.H.E Journal, Lightspeed + Thinkronize survey and the New Media Consortium are all places to evaluate data from teachers, schools, districts and their organizations. Jim walked us through many statistics including how much time kids are spending online and how schools are utilizing technology for learning.
- Publishers’ content is not Google-proof. Much of the way we search for content is through Google. If your content is not searchable, how will people find it? Just think: If your content was available in micro transactions, and your content was searchable, how many more pieces of content could you sell? What if someone wanted to buy a piece of art and not the text, or they wanted the worksheet without the entire purchase of the book? This seems to be where the music world has moved — will content move this way too?
- Lewis Bronze asked a question we all need to be ready to answer: Who guides the digital natives in their technology exploration? Teachers? Aren’t they inherently behind in technology and doesn’t it seem harder to come by for them? Espresso aids teachers by keeping them informed in a “high touch” service-oriented business model. Teachers are aware of new content offerings each and every day. Impelsys seems able to help clients publish on a large or small scale as needed.
- Interactive White Boards. Boy, a ton of debate ensued throughout the entire summit about the use of white boards. Who should be creating content? How do we get teachers to utilize more than 10% of the capabilities? What if we create all these content offerings for the IWBs and they are in the wrong platform? These questions and more shaped many conversations regarding the future of the white board.
Last, on a personal note, one of the highlights of the presentation was the session worked in “real time.” Lewis Bronze added in slides as he was listening to the other presenters. In his presentation, he quoted Jim McVety (in writing on a slide) who had only spoken a few moments before. Really neat!
Finally, McVety’s presentation had a quote that has stuck with me regarding how children see the future of technology: “Email is for old people” – Pew Internet and American Life Project 2005. I guess we only have one more year until Facebook starts showing its wrinkles.
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Kim Kleeman is president of Shakespeare Squared, the innovative, full-service educational development company that provides editorial services to both textbook and trade book publishers. As “the educated choice,” Shakespeare Squared meets its clients’ individual needs. Kleeman graduated from Loyola University of Chicago with a bachelor’s degree in English and a 6-12 teaching certificate. Before co-founding Shakespeare Squared, she spent five years instructing elementary and secondary school students. Inc. magazine identified Shakespeare Squared as one of the fastest-growing private companies in the United States. Working Mother Media also recognized it as one of the 25 Best Small Companies for working parents. Kleeman continues to develop unique ways to support education. She recently founded UpGrade Education, a publisher of multimedia educational products, and the Shakespeare Squared Foundation, a not-for-profit that offers student teaching scholarships. For these reasons and more, Kleeman is an agent of change in education and in educational publishing.
Nice feedback Kim. While I am not the content expert, I am interested about the technology portion and how teachers are behind and how we get them to educate our students. It’s a challenge I face at tradeshows as well.
More often than not, I’d say that one of the biggest hang-ups that teachers have about technology is access to it, not so much the technology itself. I’ve taught in an on-line school and in a brick-and-mortar one. In the traditional, brick-and-mortar environment, my class had access to the computer lab for one hour per week. In the on-line school, the really good content involved licensing fees. The school couldn’t always afford to buy enough licenses so the content could be widely used. The “free” content wasn’t nearly as good as the material that required a fee. One of the great challenges of the publishing and technology industries is to narrow the gap between what’s possible and what’s actually able to be used in an educational setting. Teaching kids using a Kindle sounds fabulous, but who’s going to PAY for them so that it’s possible for that to become a reality?
Audree,
Thanks for commenting. I think this issue is a topic for every citizen in the world. How technology is utilized and how we sell it to the schools play a major role in our tax dollars as well as in our country’s progress. Technology plays a major role in tradeshows as well. The demonstrations publishers give create a visual imprint of the product as teachers go back to their schools and report what they have seen. I still remember cool products I implored my school district to purchase after attendig NCTE back in the day. Keep on creating memorable exhibits!
Andrea,
I agree access is key. Subscription- based models for school districts are increasing. It is usually a librarian’s or IT Director’s role to make sure teachers and students alike are aware of the resources availble. I agree that a major flaw are the tools we need our children to have in order to learn on them- laptops, Kindles, and other tools can be costly. I think phones, a tool children already have for the most part, can be utilized well for some curriculum. Thanks for your comments.
Since I joined the senior management team at SMART Technologies two years ago, I’ve often pondered point #5 with great interest. How does a market leader enable global publishers to embrace its software for digital content development and distribution? As the IWB evolves to allow all kinds of gestures and hardware/software integration points with interactive response systems, how do publishers take advantage of these without feeling ‘locked in’? As the iPhone and netbooks take center stage, how does a Kindle-like device fit?
Most important, how do educators and students benefit from the new ecosystem that will inevitably emerge during the 21st century? If these two stakeholders do not _clearly_ benefit, the new market structure will crumble under it’s own weight (witness auto and telecom industries).
In the spirit of ‘email is for old people’, you can find me here:
http://www.twitter.com/ebernabei
Emilio,
I am glad to hear the questions surrounding interactive white boards are happening in many arenas. I feel teachers are feeling overwhelmed with the number of systems they have to adapt to as technology progresses. It is my feeling, the educational publishing community should find ways to aid districts with these needs.
I agree that students and teachers alike must see the benefits in these technologies. Because in this day and age, how students perform on state assessment is the true test, not how they utilize technology. Unless we can drastically change this movement, teachers will continue to struggle with the importance of platforms and why they need them to teach.
Last, I will follow you – and here is my twitter account- s2ceokimkleeman – see you out there!