By Ed Nawotka In today’s editorial, Ron Mobed of Cengage Learning argues that digital tools and content turbocharge traditional education. Within the piece, he cites a 2009 UCLA study that “found that students learn better when they become engaged in a trial-and-error method to find information, rather than simply use Google or Wikipedia to reveal answers.” Translation: when students have …
How Digital Technology Turbocharges Traditional Education
Editorial by Ron Mobed, Cengage Learning We can all agree that technology is sweeping across the educational frontier like a wildfire. Many say digital innovations transform the relationships between instructors and students, students and learning material, and students and their peers. More important, the correct use of technology, together with high-quality content, pedagogy and instruction, offers a dramatic improvement in …
Alice Born Digital: How Transmedia Storytelling Becomes a Billion Dollar Business
Ian Harper explains the Inanimate Alice project and what makes this transmedia experience a success in this emerging field of storytelling.
The Kids Are Alright! Why Digitization and E-books are Good for Literacy
By Kristen McLean, executive director of the Association of Booksellers for Children (ABC) After several hundred years with a stable model, some of our most basic ideas about books and reading are now under the microscope. The most pessimistic opinions tell us that the book as we know it is dead, but I don’t believe it. It is important to …
Brazilian Publishers Still Growing Despite Global Recession
By Edward Nawotka Despite the general global economic downturn, Brazilian publishing has proven surprisingly resilient. For much of the past decade, the business has been growing at a steady clip, reaching $3.3 billion reals ($1.93 billion) in 2008—a rise of 9.71% over 2007. It is the eighth biggest book market in the world and the largest in South America, accounting …
Cengage CEO Ron Dunn on Re-imagining Information Portals and TXTBKS
By Edward Nawotka Last year, when Thomson sold off its education division, a new brand was born—Cengage Learning. Cengage still retains many of the core characteristics that made Thomson Learning such a juggernaut—focusing on providing textbooks and education materials to schools, universities, and professional organizations—but the company has also been forced to re-imagine itself for the future. It is, by itself, …
German Buch News: HMH Expanding to Germany; New Beijing Outpost for German Pubs
By Siobhan O’Leary Houghton Mifflin Harcourt is planning to expand overseas, and in particular into Germany, which it has dubbed “the most important market”, according to Buchreport. Once the company explores the German market further, including the specifics of the German schoolbook market and public school system, it will be seeking publishing and distribution partners. The publisher will focus on …
Analysing the Global Ranking of Publishers
By Rüdiger Wischenbart Editor’s Note: For the past three years publishing consultant Rüdiger Wischenbart has released a “Global Ranking of the Publishing Industry,” which looks at companies with revenues over $US250 million. Here is his analysis of the latest ranking, focusing on how the changing dynamics between the professional/science, education and trade sectors have have affected this year’s ranking. It …
Eco-challenge: Produce the Greenest Book Possible
NEW YORK, USA & KARLSRUHE, GERMANY: Chul Kim’s brief was to produce “the greenest book possible,” one to serve as the catalog to accompany a new exhibit at the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum in New York City entitled “Design for a Living World.” As director of publications for the museum, it would fall on him to find the right suppliers …