While the author does acknowledge that educational publishers can move slowly, he says, “You cannot outflank them.”

Read “Why Education Publishing Is Big Business” from WIRED.

• Development Costs: While Peter Kafka, who live blogged the announcement, appreciated the elegance of the sample textbooks presented and the possibilities for creating a new kind of e-book, he also issued cautions about the development price tag: “…someone needs to figure out how to pay for a system where you can build all this new cool digital stuff, while you continue to publish your old paper-and-ink products. After some initial experiments, most magazine guys have retreated to more or less republishing the existing product, with a few bells and whistles.” (“Apple Unveils iPad Textbook Plan,” All Things Considered)

• Time to Market: NPR pondered how Apple plans to get schools to use their new e-books in the short term since many states and districts have long periods for approving and purchasing classroom materials. In addition, the article talks about the high price point for the iPad and questions the overall size of the market. (“Apple Pushes Interactive Textbooks On iPads,” NPR)

• Peer Review: In an interview with eSchool News, Bill Rankin, director of educational innovation at Abilene Christian University (ACU) in Texas, observed that the free authoring tool will change the concept of peer review for textbooks. He says that teachers’ ability to create their own books and easily share them will lead to “crowdsourcing” for feedback, a change from the “elitism” in the current process. (“Apple unveils interactive textbooks, revamped iTunes U,” eSchool News)

• Implementation Strategy: CNET is focused on what Apple did not share at the conference: a detailed strategy to tackle potential roadblocks. While the article asks about the development cost factor, it also has questions about copyright enforcement, content curation, and overall pricing. (“6 things we don’t know about Apple’s e-textbooks strategy,” CNET)

• Author Rights: InformationWeek covered one of the most controversial pieces of the new authoring software, the End User License Agreement, which “stipulates that works created with the software can be sold only through Apple–free titles are exempted–unless Apple provides written consent.” The agreement has ignited heated discussions–mostly because Apple was not openly forthcoming with the terms of use. (“Apple’s iBooks Author Software: Just Say No,” InformationWeek)

All of these questions, though, don’t lessen what most see as a big step forward for innovation in the education industry. Several publishers, including Pearson, McGraw-Hill, and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, have already started working with Apple to create textbooks via the new iBooks Author tool.

Read about the features of iBooks 2.

Which one is an innovation in educational resources?

a.     A teacher guide that presents strategies on using Response to Intervention as a framework for supporting English language learners

b.    A pen that simultaneously records everything a person hears and writes, making it possible for students and teachers to easily revisit classroom instruction and meetings

c.    A panoramic camera that captures classroom lessons and publishes videos to an online management systems for users to collaboratively view, share, and comment on

d.    A curriculum program, aimed at special needs and at-risk youth, that develops everyday vocabulary students will need to know to be successful in the real world

Answer: All of the Above

Education is often viewed as an industry that moves slowly towards innovation. But while the majority of other industries may define innovation as new applications of cutting- or bleeding-edge technology, that is not true for the learning resource industry.  There are certainly education developers who take advantage of the latest technology, but for our market an innovation could also be a change in pedagogy or classroom practice, or just a combination of existing tools. The medium does not matter as much as how the content is made accessible to the intended audience, whether or not it is engaging enough to today’s teachers and learners, and the impact it makes on student learning.

So, what is innovation in education? According to Eric Hamilton, Assistant Director at the American Museum of Natural History and AEP Awards Committee Chair, it is looking at the current needs of the audience (students, parents, educators); looking at the existing products that are addressing the issue; and finding a solution to affect and engage as many of today’s discerning students and teachers as possible now.

“We don’t have access to the same robust funding and resources as other markets, and we also don’t always have a lot of time to develop ‘the next wave’ of products,” said Hamilton. “Often, publishers don’t consider themselves innovative, even though they have successfully tackled an issue with a method no one has applied to the problem before. Some of the most effective learning solutions come from someone mashing two ideas together, such as RtI and ELL, in a truly inventive way that can be applied now to the target audience.”

The above examples in the quiz, from finalists and winners of the 2011 Innovation Awards, showcase companies that found a new way to impact teaching and learning. The revamped Innovation Awards, part of the 2012 AEP Awards program, recognize products that are pioneering changes in the education landscape. Categories include Pedagogy/Methodology, Mobile/Wireless Learning Tools, Digital Games/Game Creation Tools, and Student Response/Assessment/Data Management.

Find out more about the Innovation Awards and enter online.

The LRMI technical working group has been tasked with drafting this framework, and this is the last step in the development process. Details on upcoming LRMI implementation programs will be published shortly.

While we have our own ideas, we want to hear from you. Think about the game changers in the industry–people who have really affected the direction of educational publishing and who deeply understand the needs of educators and students. If you could create a dream team board of directors for the educational resource industry, who would be on it?  Who would you pick to be our leaders?

Submit your choices in the comments section below or email them to Charlene Gaynor, CEO of AEP.

Innovation, technology, and entrepreneurship

“In order for these three elements — innovation, technology and entrepreneurship — to produce the synergies necessary to substantially transform education, we will need to build a collaborative architecture that allows for the fruitful integration of careful study, design and invention, and action at scale. Such collaboration of industry, academy and the public schools is exceptional, not the conventional way of business for universities, governments or businesses.”

“Educational Innovation, Technology and Entrepreneurship”
HBR Blog Network
Harvard Business Review

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Globalization and the social contract

“A lot of people talk about globalization as an economic process and about global competency as making sure that we can prepare our students to reap the economic benefits of globalization. But I think it’s good to remember that any economic system is really built on a social contract. Globalization exists because we had a social contract that makes this global order possible. We will need to perfect that contract, and the business of shaping that contract and sustaining it is the business of citizenship.”

“World Course Workshop Highlights with Fernando Reimers”
Uploaded by AVENUESdotORG
Accessed via YouTube

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The role of partnerships in educational innovation

“What I have learned…is how much potential and how many opportunities there are to have impact at scale in generating educational innovation…by building partnerships across a wide range of institutions that include K through 12 educational systems [and] that include coalitions of ordinary citizens that include universities, businesses, and so on.”

“Fernando Reimers: Think Tank Reflection”
Harvard ALI
Accessed via YouTube

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CIC 2012, organized by AEP and AAP School Division, will take place June 3-6 at the Capital Hilton in Washington, DC. For more information on the CIC and to register online go to www.contentincontext.org.

1. Adoption of the flipped classroom, where the traditional lecture is accessed at home through videos or podcasts, and the students spend their class time working with teachers and peers on projects, discussions, and collaborative learning. Teachers become guides and facilitators rather than lecturers.
2. Increased frequency of project-based and enquiry-based lessons due to the flipped classroom.
3. Amplified recognition of the power of play in learning–not just in educational gaming but in the rise of the Maker Movement, which encourages hands-on learning (building, creating, experimenting), especially in STEM.
4. Refocused teacher and student relationship where they become collaborators working on individual learning goals, discussing the progress, and thinking through solutions together.
5. Proliferation of individualized assessment and learning for students where assessments are more about skills learned rather than facts memorized. Personalized learning focuses on helping students discover their interests and developing strategies suited to their future plans.
6. Movement towards blended learning that allows for targeted Response to Intervention for all students.
7. Greater number of teachers engaging students through social media and encouraging its use to help them stay connected with their peers for project-based and collaborative learning.
8. Accelerated implementation of Common Core Standards.
9. Renewed emphasis on critical thinking skills using research on how the brain works, how to train it, and how to integrate new learning strategies into the classroom.
10. Rise of personalized and customized professional development for teachers to help them meet the needs of the new school environment.

All members of the education community are working together to make sure that every student receives a first-class education and is prepared for life beyond high school. The Innovation Awards, part of the AEP Awards program, recognize products that are pioneering changes in the education landscape. Categories include Pedagogy/Methodology and Student Response/Assessment/Data Management.

Find out more about the Innovation Awards and enter online.

More information

“Experts share their ed-tech predictions for the new year”
eSchool News

“2011-2012 Looking back. Looking forward”
Great Math Teaching Ideas

“The Pedagogy of Play and the Role of Technology in Learning” by Aran Levasseur
MEDIASHIFT

“12 Education Tech Trends to Watch in 2012”
MindShift
KQED

“18 Predications for Educational Trends in 2012”
Rethinking Learning by Barbara Bray

“Top 7 Ed Tech Trends to Watch in 2012”
Visibility Matters
C. Blohm & Associates

“Three Trends That Will Shape the Future of Curriculum”
MindShift
KQED

“5 Big Trends for Education in 2012-13”
Forbes

1. Increased proliferation of tablet and smartphones in the market, forcing schools to relent and allow devices into schools. (In 2011 40% of teens had a smartphone.)
2. Improved broadband access to account for increased mobile tech use.
3. A surge in “bring your own device” (and the need to accommodate for it) in schools as students use their own mobile tech for school and home learning.
4. Expanded use of ebooks and online instructional materials as the main learning resource rather than as supplementary pieces.
5. Rise of digital content curation services to help users make sense of all available resources.
6. Growth in creation of and use of open source materials that allow for greater collaboration and cross-device use.
7. Further integration of social networking integrated into learning to increase student collaboration and connections with teachers.
8. Move to cloud computing and online classroom management systems that gather student achievement data and allow for more personalized instruction.
9. Adoption of the flipped classroom, where the traditional lecture is accessed at home through videos or podcasts, and the students spend their class time working with teachers and peers on projects, discussions, and collaborative learning.
10. Explosion of “truly educational gaming.”

Developing new content and capabilities to deliver on these trends in a meaningful way is a challenge for the ed. resource industry in 2012. The Innovation Awards, part of the AEP Awards program, recognize products that are pioneering changes in the education landscape. Categories include Mobile/Wireless Learning Tools, Digital Games/Game Creation Tools, and Student Response/Assessment/Data Management.

Find out more about the Innovation Awards and enter online.

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More information

“12 Education Tech Trends to Watch in 2012”
MindShift
KQED

“Top 10 eLearning Trends in K-12 Education”
TeachHUB.com

“The Five Biggest Ed-Tech Themes in 2011”
Digital Education, an Education Week blog

“EdWorld’s Top 6 Tech Trends of 2011”
EducationWorld

“Top 10 Stories in Education in 2011”
LearnBoost

“10 Major Mobile Learning Trends to Watch For”
OnlineCollege.org

“5 E-Learning Forecasts for 2012”
E-Learning 24/7 Blog

“Enterprise mLearning Predictions for 2012”
mLearning Trends

“Learning Technology Trends To Watch In 2012”
the eLearning coach

“Experts share their ed-tech predictions for the new year”
eSchool News

1. The decision to incorporate the term “use rights” in the LRMI framework to describe the licensing/copyright associated with content
2. The decision to present the total LRMI package to Schema.org with the understanding that Schema.org may accept, delete, or alter any terms or vocabulary and that the search engines individually may also consider the package independently of Schema.org. 

Including a tag in the schema to indicate licensing or copyright associated with a work would potentially allow a search engine user to narrow their search by the type of rights available. At the September meeting it was suggested that not all members of Schema.org (Bing, Google, and Yahoo!) would adopt or utilize such a tag due to legal implications. The LRMI Technical Working Group decided to include a property called “use rights.” This tag will tell a participating search engine to use the URL where the owner specifies permissions for using the resource. For more background on this issue read meeting notes from the 9/29 Advisory Group meeting.

In subsequent discussions, Schema.org has strongly encouraged the LRMI to create and submit a “whole package,” allowing the search engines to pick and choose what they want to adopt under Schema.org based on what they perceive as useful from a user experience. Since the three search engines comprising Schema.org operate independently of one another, each will probably then consider the LRMI framework individually for their own engines. The Technical Working Group has just closed the second public comment period for the latest draft of the LRMI specifications. The next step in the development of the framework is to finalize a 1.0 version of the vocabulary and submit it to Schema.org. Finally, the Advisory Group is investigating organizations that will take over the long-term governance of the framework once it is published. Read detailed notes from the Nov. 17 meeting.

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The Learning Resource Metadata Initiative (LRMI) is a project co-led by the Association of Educational Publishers and Creative Commons to create a common metadata vocabulary for describing educational resources.

The AEP Awards honor resources that educate or support education and the most creative and effective marketing in the industry. Since the first Golden Lamp was awarded in 1967, the Educational Press Association—now AEP—has been the champion for quality educational materials in all media, promoting exemplars of excellence and innovation to the education community and the general public.

This year, the AEP Awards Committee determined that major updates were needed to ensure that the Awards continue to be meaningful and relevant, recognizing the challenges, needs, and innovations of education in the 21st Century—without sacrificing standards of quality and excellence.

Key Changes for 2012

• Content—not format—is king. The mark of an outstanding instructional resource is its ability to be effective regardless of the medium or platform in which it is delivered. The AEP Awards categories are no longer media-specific; instead, judges will evaluate the quality of the content first, and then take the delivery method into consideration.

“While products need to take advantage of and successfully use the tools of the medium, we want publishers and educators to know that that is only one aspect of the awards,” said Eric Hamilton, Assistant Director, NCSLET Administration at the American Museum of Natural History and AEP Awards Committee Chair. “The execution of the product’s mission and its potential impact on students are key in our judging process. We applaud the integration of technology into learning resources, but we are really looking at what the product is teaching, its pedagogical strength, and how it supports students and educators.”

“Furthermore, many resources encompass multiple media, so we don’t want to judge a product based on just one format. We want to evaluate the product as a whole,” he added.

• Age-appropriateness is implicit. “It is important to evaluate a product based on how well it delivers to a specific audience—does it satisfy the need of the educator or learner, does it accomplish the stated learning goals, and so on,” commented Hamilton. “But we are addressing that in the evaluation process. In the first round of judging, the National Educator Review Panel will examine all submissions, assigned by subject area and age/grade level expertise, and determine which products move on to the second round. Whether or not the products meet the needs of the stated audience will be only one of the criteria and not a subcategory of awards.”

• Innovation + Quality = Excellence. The new Innovation Awards will highlight advancements in the educational field by recognizing achievement in emerging areas and the products that are blazing new paths and making education better for everyone. AEP did a test pilot of the program in 2011 and received enthusiastic support from publishers eager to show how they were trying to solve problems in education.

“Many people–educators, parents, legislators–think of educational resources as the traditional textbook. The need for innovation as a part of education reform, and the hunger students have for more compelling and effective instructional materials is often left out of the conversation,” said David Grandison, Executive Producer at BrainPOP and a member of the Awards Committee. “The innovation awards show that our industry is trying to find new ways to teach children. By teaching students in ways they are most comfortable learning we can keep more students in school. By combining sound pedagogy with the appropriate technology and effective design, we can help them succeed. But it’s not just about technology–it’s about how we use new tools to enhance the learning experience.

“I’m very psyched AEP is creating new platforms to highlight the ‘best of the best’ so that we are raising the bar in educational innovation while celebrating the unsung heroes in ed tech.”

• Focus on the fundamentals. But while it’s important that the Awards reflect the changes in the industry and the classroom, AEP is not forgetting the foundation of the classroom. For example, while educators are increasingly relying on supplemental products to enhance lessons and delve more deeply into specific topics, they still use comprehensive basal curricula to guide instruction in a particular subject. This year, whole curriculum and supplemental resources have been split into two categories to recognize their different objectives in student learning.

Furthermore, AEP has refocused the periodicals on fewer but more relevant categories that reflect their role in the 21st Century. “The Periodicals Division is at the root of AEP’s history. The organization was founded in 1895 by a group of classroom magazine publishers, and periodicals were the first focus of our awards,” said Ira Wolfman, SVP Editorial, Weekly Reader, AEP board member and Awards committee member. “But magazine publishing is going through revolutionary change, incorporating digital content in innovative ways. As a result, we re-imagined the periodicals’ categories to acknowledge changes in delivery methods and how students consume media. We condensed the list of categories and now evaluate print and digital periodicals as an integrated product.

“By tightening the focus on fewer but key areas, we hope to illuminate periodicals’ increasing impact and ongoing power to engage, empower, and inform students and educators.”

Teachers searching for instructional materials need ways to distinguish the quality between the different resources. Being an AEP Awards Finalist or Winner can be a key, determining factor.

“Educators are constantly looking for the best, up-to-date materials to assist them and their students,” said Hamilton. “Products that win an AEP Award rise to the top because they have been judged on their quality, impact on learning, and their relevance in 21^st Century instruction. The Awards seal says to educators that their peers and industry professionals have evaluated materials based on criteria that sets the highest standard for classroom resources, and that this product will help them meet their goals and engage learners of all ages.”

For more information and to enter, go to www.AEPweb.org/awards.