Changes Ahead After Giant Publishing Merger

The merger of Random House and Penguin may be more about leverage than money, according to a report in The New York Times. The deal creates the largest consumer book publisher in the world, but more importantly, could provide Penguin Random House with the clout to compete with Google, Apple, and Amazon.

It also likely signals the beginning of more consolidation in the industry as publishing houses join forces to create companies that have the size to negotiate better terms.

“I wouldn’t be surprised if all the major trade publishers were having conversations like this,” said Ned May, an analyst at the research firm Outsell. “I would expect to see similar realignment.”

Rumors were spreading about a possible Penguin merger with HarperCollins before the deal with Random House was announced, which means parent company News Corp. will likely continue to look for a new suitor for HarperCollins, according to Jeremy Greenfield in his Forbes blog.

Greenfield says he believes the merger could mean Penguin Random House using the negotiating clout it would have with Internet giants in its dealings with retailing partners and authors. At the same time, cost-saving efficiencies in areas such as warehousing, distribution, and printing will be coming.

It just won’t happen quickly, says New York literary agent Richard Curtis in digitalbookworld.com. He sees plenty of infighting ahead as executives stake out their turf, but added that editors, imprints, lists, and even authors will eventually feel the pinch.

“Aside from the human toll, injury to literature itself will be inflicted as the Darwinian struggle rewards the most commercial authors and makes it even harder for newcomers to gain a toehold,” Curtis writes. “And that, in turn, will fuel the self-publication and alternate-publishing trend that is already under way. The e-book and print-on-demand businesses, already prospering from that trend, will continue to thrive.”

Young Americans Are Using Technology to Read

A recent study from the Pew Research Center found that Americans under the age of 30 are probably doing more of their reading on their smartphone or personal computer than on an e-book reader. The findings, part of the center’s Internet & American Life Project, showed that 41% of Americans under the age of 30 read e-books on a cellphone and 55% read on their computer, compared to 23% using e-readers such as a Kindle or Nook or 16% reading off a tablet.

The report found that 47% of young Americans read e-content from books, magazines, or newspapers. It also reported that 52% of survey respondents have not borrowed e-books at a library because they didn't know they could.

At the same time, the study showed young Americans still use the library for reading. Sixty percent of respondents aged 16-29 use their local library, with 75% reading a print book, 19% using an e-book, and 11% taking out an audiobook.

“Although their library usage patterns may often be influenced by the requirements of school assignments, their interest in the possibilities of mobile technology may also point the way toward opportunities of further engagement with libraries later in life,” the report concluded.

Mixed Signals from Online Education Studies

The Colorado Department of Higher Education released a study that found little statistical evidence that Colorado Community College System students taking online science courses earned grades significantly different from those of students taking traditional, in-class courses. The research also suggested students taking online science courses at the community college level performed as well in science classes at four-year institutions as students who took traditional science classes.

Students in the study were enrolled in first-year biology, chemistry, and physics courses, with 2,395 taking the course online and 2,190 taking it in a traditional classroom setting. The research looked at cumulative GPA, credit hours, and science-only GPA.

Researchers found that grades earned in traditional biology and chemistry classes were higher than for students taking the course online, but physics grades were similar for students in both classroom and online settings. Online students also had GPAs similar to or higher overall than their classroom counterparts.

While the Colorado study may show students are being adequately prepared by taking online courses, people still are not flocking to take them. In fact, an article in U.S. News & World Report suggests just the opposite, reporting a majority of prospective students in an Eduventures report preferred in-class instruction over online-only or majority-online courses. The study went on to note that 38% of the 1,500 adults 18-70 prefer online classes, which is only up 1% since 2006, but that online course enrollment is up to 10% over the same six-year period.

“The good news is that there is still a significant gap between preference and participation,” wrote the authors of the Eduventures report. “The bad news is that the gap is shrinking, and cautions that unless online delivery develops a broader value proposition, long-term growth may prove elusive.”

Next E-Text Pilot to Try CourseSmart License

For the spring 2013 phase of their ongoing pilot programs with digital course materials, Internet2 and Educause have partnered with CourseSmart to provide e-textbooks and online support through a flat-fee bulk license to participating colleges and universities. As with their other pilots, Internet2 and Educause didn’t carve out any role for campus bookstores in the newest program.

This new phase is designed to “explore innovative business models,” according to the pilot prospectus, while continuing the research into effective usage of online materials in higher education. CourseSmart is an online marketplace where some 40 textbook publishers are able to sell 30,000 digital titles directly to students.

Internet2 is in the process of finalizing pilot agreements with an estimated 20 institutions. The schools will buy CourseSmart’s new Subscription Pack, which allows students to place up to 12 e-textbooks on their digital bookshelf at any given time during the semester through their campus learning management system.

CourseSmart is charging a flat $27,500 for 100 students, $44,000 for 200, and $200 for every additional student. Internet2 is quick to point out in its FAQs that this pricing—and the fact that students will pay nothing—is only for the pilot and isn’t supposed to establish any particular price-point or model for the future.

The fall 2012 e-content pilot is currently in progress with about 25 schools, building off the spring 2012 pilot with just five institutions. As The CITE previously noted, the report from the spring 2012 pilot showed students still preferred to study from print textbooks but would switch to digital materials if the cost was low enough and they could avoid lugging heavy print books.

While the spring 2012 pilot didn’t formally embrace college stores, three of the participating schools (University of Wisconsin-Madison, Cornell University, and University of Minnesota) chose to involve their stores in key roles, such as channeling information to faculty and students, gathering data, and assisting students with online materials. Although the University of Virginia noted in its report that digital textbooks “have long been offered as an alternative to print textbooks (when available) by the University’s Bookstore,” it opted not to include the store in the spring pilot. The fifth school, Indiana University, contracts its store to a management company.

Cornell, Wisconsin, and Virginia are all taking part in the current fall pilot. The final report on that pilot is not expected until early 2013.

Flipped Classroom Passes First Test at San Jose State

Using a flipped classroom for one of the most hated classes at San Jose State University has produced some interesting results. Midterm exam results from the course, Engineering Electronics and Circuits, were higher for students in the class, according to a report in The Chronicle of Higher Education.

The university decided to give the flipped format a try because the class, required for electrical engineering majors, has never had a very high passing rate. In fact, 40% of the students taking it received a C or lower last semester.

Instructors turned to the massive online open course produced by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology offered by edX, asking students in one of the three sections of the class to watch lecture videos on their own and then use classroom time for discussion, rather than spending most the the class time on live lectures. The median midterm exam scores for students in the flipped class were 10 to 11 points higher despite more difficult questions on the test, according to Khosrow Ghadiri, an adjunct professor teaching the flipped version of the course.

The final test for the flipped class will come during finals week when professors plan to give all three sections of the course the same exam. Along with final test results, the university will survey students for their views on the flipped format.

“I think, in a way, that’s more important,” said Ping Hsu, interim dean of engineering. “If students feel this is a better way to learn, then that says a lot, perhaps more than exam scores.”

While midterm test scores were higher, students have complained about the pace of the flipped course. They’ve also asked Ghadiri for more frequent quizzes.

“The flipped classroom receives a lot of resistance upfront,” said David W. Parent, undergraduate coordinator in the electrical-engineering department. “What the students didn’t say, but were effectively saying, was that they had to learn at the rate which the classroom was going rather than letting it slide and cramming at the last moment.”

Penn State Honored for Hybrid Classes

Penn State University is blending online learning with a virtual classroom in its Penn State Video Learning Network. The courses allow students at 20 participating Penn State campuses to engage with professors and other members of the class through videoconferencing.

The program was awarded the 2012 Shirley Davis Award for Excellence in Synchronous Distance Learning from the National University Technology Network.

“It’s about accessibility. It’s about support. It’s about presenting [students] with all the opportunities of a great university like Penn State,” said learning network instructor Jeff Werner in a university promotional video about the program.

A classroom at each location is fitted with video equipment that allows participants to connect with the instructor and interact with students from other campuses. Courses are held at night or on weekends to accommodate adult learners.

The system also provides real-time discussion between students and instructor. There is assigned online coursework to complete, and students are able to contact faculty between each class by e-mail, cellphone, online video chats, and virtual office hours.

“Our mission is to serve Pennsylvania adult learners that need to earn credentials and degrees at their hometown Penn State campus,” said Rosemarie Piccioni, director of the program, in a press release about the award. “Every credit has to count, so our courses run for seven-and-a-half weeks, and credits earned often can be used for a certificate and also applied toward a degree program. We also offer general-education credit courses to help an adult student begin their journey.”

Smartphones Help Improve Math Test Scores

Banning cellphone use in the classroom is still common because of the disruptions the devices may cause. Now, the Wireless Reach Initiative has shown that when smartphones are given to low-income students, standardized test scores go up, according to a report from Mashable.

In fact, a program funded by Qualcomm Inc. showed an improvement of 30% on math test scores by freshmen who were issued smartphones at several schools in North Carolina taking part in the Project K-Nect initiative.

Project K-Nect was designed to increase math skills in at-risk secondary students through the use of smartphones. The program has been expanded to students in grades 8-12 in North Carolina, Virginia, and Ohio.

“Not everyone has a TV, a PC, or electricity, but we’re approaching the point where everyone can have [Internet] access,” said Peggy Johnson, executive vice president of Qualcomm, which provided funds for the project. “The umbrella coverage of these wireless networks has really reached the four corners of the world.”

Social Media’s Influence in the Classroom

Professors are becoming more comfortable using social media in the classroom. Although some may still view it as a time waster, others understand the tools available and are making the most of it in their teaching, according to the survey Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts and Facebook: How Today’s Higher Education Faculty Use Social Media from Babson Survey Research Group and Pearson.

The survey questioned nearly 4,000 teaching faculty from all disciplines in higher education. It’s no surprise younger professors are more apt to use social media, but is interesting that subject area is also a determining factor. Humanities and arts professors reported the highest use rates and those in natural sciences the lowest.

There are, of course, concerns about the integrity of student submissions, in addition to issues of integration with learning management systems, but those are much less worrisome today when compared to a similar survey from 2011.

Video continues to be rated highly by professors. Nearly 34% create their own videos for classroom use and about 40% use video created by their institution. Those numbers jump to 70% and 80%, respectively, when referring to videos provided by education companies and those found online.

Start Planning for Push to Mobile

So your organization has created, or plans to create soon, a stripped-down mini version of your web site to accommodate the tiny screens of mobile devices. That’s not enough, according to a new report from Forrester Research.

The report, Why eBusiness Pros Need a Five-Year Plan, says mobile-optimized web sites should be considered just “a pragmatic starting point.” Consumers will expect more—and soon. Organizations, whether commercial or institutional, should begin planning now to offer more mobile-enabled services and transactions by 2017-18.

As Mobile Marketer points out in its article about Forrester’s report, more people are latching onto smartphones and tablets to help manage many aspects of their personal and professional lives no matter where they are at any given moment. These mobile users want their devices to handle a wide variety of tasks, which means they need more than just simplified web sites.

The article says organizations will have to build their own mobile apps in order to provide the tailored services consumers will need, noting, “Strong mobile-first strategies are likely to involve native apps that can tap into a device’s technologies, as opposed to browser or hybrid apps, which are less able to support different capabilities of mobile phones.”

Network Infrastructure Still a Concern for Schools

A recent survey from Enterasys, a network security firm, found that administrators and instructors understand the value of having technology in the classroom. The question is whether the networks schools are using can deliver, according to an article in eSchool News.

The study reported 21% of schools that participated in the study use digital textbooks and 36.5% plan to begin using digital texts within the year. However, just 26% of the schools said they can move to digital with their current network infrastructure.

While 84% reported they could monitor a student’s online activities as mandated by the Federal Communications Commission, 27% said it was either impossible or difficult to customize access based on factors such as grade level. In addition, 46% plan to use online assessments as their only form of testing within five years, while 15% said it’s either impossible or difficult with their current infrastructure.

Another Vote for All-Digital Textbooks

Secretary of Education Arne Duncan created something of a stir in the academic world Oct. 2 when he advocated a rapid move to digital course materials and declared textbooks should go out of print “over the next few years.” It turns out Duncan may have a kindred spirit in Brian Kibby, president of McGraw-Hill Higher Education.

In an e-mail interview with Inside Higher Education, Kibby stressed that “the transition from print to digital can’t happen quickly enough” for educational publishing. He said McGraw-Hill has been digitizing all of its content for a number of years and also has built digital learning systems designed to support and enhance that content.

“The second reason, and the one I’d like to emphasize, is that the type of digital learning experiences we offer really have the potential to improve student performance in a way that print materials simply don’t,” he said.

When the interviewer mentioned his eighth-grade daughter prefers to read from printed pages, Kibby acknowledged that digital devices—while improving—still don’t provide an ideal reading environment. But, he asserted, print materials are intended for linear learning and that’s not how digital materials should or will be used. “We’re talking about totally new, nonlinear ways of learning,” he said.

McGraw-Hill’s goal “is to create digital learning experiences that are radically different from what we have now,” he added. “If we keep doing our job the way we know we can, the way we learn five years from now will look very little like the way we learned five years ago.”

Bull Market in Online Course Management Services

Helping colleges and universities across the country take their academic programs online has become a growth industry. Now, those start-ups are the target for larger companies to snatch up.

John Wiley & Sons started an October buying spree by paying $220 million for Deltak.edu LLC, which develops and supports online degree and certificate programs.

“The acquisition of Deltak will extend Wiley’s global education trajectory into a high-growth segment of the market and bring additional expertise to the organization in such areas as curriculum design, student recruitment services, and next-generation technology solutions,” said Joseph Heider, senior vice president of global education at Wiley, for an article in The Wall Street Journal.

Blackboard, known for its learning management systems for higher education, followed by announcing it would increase its investments into its own online course-development and management services. Blackboard plans to attract clients with an approach that offers more options from which to choose.

“It’s more of an a la carte approach, where [colleges] can pick and choose capabilities they want and not get into this big, comprehensive, long-term commitment where a lot of them are worried about losing institutional control,” said John Kannapell, vice president of the Blackboard online program management department, in an article in Inside Higher Education.

Pearson Higher Education then joined the fray with the purchase of EmbanetCompass for $650 million. EmbanetCompass, created by the 2010 merger of Embanet and Compass Knowledge Group, is the largest player in the online course-management field.

The purchase follows Pearson’s move to launch a free, cloud-based learning-management system called OpenClass in 2012, and after teaming with software firm Knewton to replace its software packages with new ones that adapt to learners.

“As more and more schools face budget cuts, they’re looking to online education as a way to increase access, achievement, and affordability,” Trace Don Kilburn, CEO of Pearson Learning Solutions, told The Chronicle of Higher Education. “We see this as a strong area of growth.”

Students on Digital: Keep It Coming

The 2012 Center for Applied Research Undergraduate Technology Survey, an annual study conducted by Educause, shows that the more technology is offered students, the more they want.

There has either been a changing of the guard in higher-ed classrooms or professors are finally warming up to infusing technology—open educational resources, learning management systems, games and simulations, and web-based videos—into their teaching methods.

In 2010, 47% of students reported most of their instructors used technology effectively. That number leaped to 68% this year. Regardless of the reasons, technology is being adopted and students are eating it up, at least for the most part.

Educators may be doing a better job of implementing technology, but they may have to work on teaching students how to us it. A large majority—two-thirds— of students felt they were inadequately prepared to use the technologies, according to the study.

The findings of the survey are based on a representative sample of 10,000 responses from U.S. undergraduates from all types of institutions.

AACC Store Tells Its Story with NSD Video

More than 1,500 college stores took part in the Oct. 4 celebration of National Student Day, which was created to honor students and celebrate the many ways they give back to their campus and community.

The AACC Bookstore, Anne Arundel Community College in Arnold, MD, used the day to recognize student involvement and volunteerism, but also to find out what students want and need from their campus store with a fun event that included free sushi, music, raffles, and giveaways.

This video is just one of the many examples of the NSD celebrations at are available for viewing at www.nationalstudentday.com.

Will MOOCS Create Academic Internet Factories?

Massive open online courses (MOOCs) are in the early stages and show plenty of potential. Tech firms such as Coursera are working closely with some of the largest and best-known colleges and universities in the nation, but what happens to the balance of those partnerships if the web courses start to bring in money?

That’s the question University of Virginia professor Mark Edmundson asked in his Inside Higher Education column.

“If the partnership with Coursera works out well, we may soon become dependent on their good will,” he wrote. “We may, in other words, need to take very seriously their thoughts about the kinds of courses we should teach and make available online. At Virginia, and at all the schools that begin teaching online, the distribution companies may come to have a consequential say in the way that professors teach and students learn.”

It could turn into a lot of money, considering the potential of MOOCs to reach hundreds of thousands of students for each class. If there’s money to be made, all the players involved, including colleges and universities that have seen their budgets trimmed drastically over the last 10 years, are going to want to make as much as possible. That could lead to a number of compromises in Edmondson’s estimation.

“There will, in other words, be a constant dialogue between professors and the corporation about what kind of content is going to be admissible,” he wrote. “There will be disagreements and there will be disputes. Some professors may walk away. But in the end, it is not hard to predict who will win the arguments, provided the online courses are capturing significant revenues.”

Edmondson points to big-time college sports, where schools have become “addicted” to the revenue generated by athletics. They could very well fall under the same spell when it comes to money earned through Internet education.

“In not too long we may be speaking of academic Internet factories,” he said. “This is especially distressing, now that some of our best universities have jumped aggressively into the distance learning game.”

Good Start to Fall Semester for edX

The fall semester is off to a rousing start for edX.

Harvard University, which teamed with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) to found the nonprofit online education start-up last spring, announced that about 100,000 students signed up for its first free online courses on computer science and an adaptation of the Harvard School of Public Health classes in epidemiology and biostatics.

Free online offerings at MIT and the University of California Berkeley, which joined the project over the summer, are attracting similar interest, according to edX President Anant Agarwal in an article in The Boston Globe. In fact, MIT attracted 155,000 students for a course in circuits and electronics last spring.

The platform uses discussion groups and forums to engage students, who can enroll in as many edX courses they like. Certificates of completion are available to those who show they have mastered the course.

“We view this as an incredible opportunity for us to ask deeper questions about how people learn and how we as a university help people to learn,” Harvard Provost Alan Garber said in The Globe article.

More good news for edX followed as Bloomberg reported that the University of Texas, Austin, plans to spend up to $5 million to join the venture.

“The UT System’s partnership with edX is great news for Texas and exactly the type of effort I hope more schools will consider as we aggressively pursue the goals of improving graduation rates and making a college education more accessible and affordable,” said Texas Gov. Rick Perry in the statement announcing the plan.

Should Printed Textbooks Be Obsolete? Maybe Not.

Education Secretary Arne Duncan recently told the National Press Club that “textbooks should be obsolete” and replaced with e-readers and multimedia web sites. While an appealing idea, digital materials are still unproven as an effective learning platform, according a New York Times opinion piece by Justin Hollander, assistant professor of urban and environmental policy and planning at Tufts University.

Hollander wonders if examples such as American cities bringing back streetcar lines after years of dismantling to make room for highways or the way consumers have started buying vinyl records again suggests that “We shouldn’t jump at a new technology simply because it has advantages.”

Hollander points to a study by Tufts colleague Maryanne Wolfe, an expert on the origins of reading and language learning, that looks at the effects of digital reading on learning. The results so far have been mixed. Her concern is that Internet reading could be the kind of distraction that cancels out other benefits from web-based e-learning.

Some of the other benefits of digital learning material can also be called into question. Hollander write that roller backpacks are a solution to the problem of students toting around heavy books. He adds that with all the talk of the cost savings of e-textbooks, very little is said about the price of the device, technical support, or software updates.

It took just two days for Dan Eldridge of TeleRead to respond to Hollander.

“It’s a bit of a stretch to suggest that digital books are ‘still unproven,’” Eldridge says. “But Hollander’s essay makes a good (if clichéd and overused) point: When advancements in new technologies lead us to discard the old ways of doing things, we often come to regret it. And while Hollander probably is guilty of making way too much out of a couple of sentences uttered at a press club, the point he makes may eventually lead to a conversation that’s very much worth having.”

QR Codes May Be Fun, But Also Risky

Quick response codes are becoming part of campus life as more students arrive with a mobile device in their pockets. QR codes are fun for students and easy to use for college stores trying to find ways to get information out on products or special events.

The problem is the codes can also be a glaring security weakness.

“A single poisoned link is all it takes to expose an entire organization to a full-scale attack,” said David Maman, chief technology officer and founder of GreenSQL, in an article in Campus Technology.

Users are unable to turn off the browser in a mobile device, making it exposed to malware even when it’s not in use, according to Maman. In addition, malware known as a rootkit circumvents the built-in defenses of the mobile operating system.

“[Responding to a QR code] is akin to responding to electronic solicitations and would have the same risks as responding to an unknown advertising source,” said Scott Gordon, vice president, worldwide marketing, for ForeScout Technologies. “There is a potential to go to a site or invoke a request for an application that appears to be reputable but is not.”

Gordon recommends educating users about the risks, particularly as they apply to mobile devices, and encouraging campus users to report possible threats. He also suggests requiring the use of antivirus software across the campus, instituting network controls to monitor all access, and installing management software to provide data-level protection for faculty devices, along with creating a policy of do’s and don’ts for students to follow with their personal devices.

Boundless Takes on Publishers, Gives Free Content at Try

It’s been a busy year for Boundless Learning. Since its launch in 2011, the ed-tech start-up from Boston dropped “Learning” from its moniker and redesigned its web site to more easily connect students with openly licensed, free educational content created by educators and institutions, according to its web site.

Students can now type in their assigned course textbook and the site will present alternative materials from open ed resources, U.S. government sites, and other independent sites, such as Wikipedia and Encyclopedia of Earth. Boundless is also working on social features for peer-to-peer learning.

“We don’t create content, we curate,” Boundless co-founder and CEO Ariel Diaz told Xconomy.

The other thing on the Boundless to-do list is defend itself from a federal lawsuit filed in March by Pearson Education, Cengage Learning, and Bedford Freeman & Worth Publishing, claiming it is guilty of copyright infringement. For its part, Boundless claims the suit is another instance of big business distracting and delaying innovation.

“They’re trying to protect the profit margin on this dying business,” Diaz said. “Textbook publishers are trying to build bigger levees instead of building a houseboat. They’re just setting themselves up for massive chaos.”

Boundless has raised less than $10 million in venture capital, yet wants to be the place students can find a wide range of content for free which begs the question of who will ultimately pay the bills.

Profs on Facebook? No Way, Say Students

College students practically live in social media. Accounts are free and new enhancements are added all the time. So doesn’t it make sense that professors should use social media to post course materials and communicate with their classes?

It’s a great idea except for one thing: the horrified reaction of students.

“We asked 236 students in two states if they believe there is a use for these sites in the learning process,” stated the research report by Diana L. Haytko, Florida Gulf Coast University, and R. Stephen Parker, Missouri State University, in the Journal of Instructional Pedagogies. “The answer was a definite NO. Students want to keep their social roles and their student roles separate.”

In response to Haytko’s and Parker’s online survey, 73.2% of students rejected the notion of faculty using Facebook to post course content and class messaging and 84.5% felt the same way about Twitter. Even those who were okay with professors employing social media tools thought it ought to be limited to merely communicating reminders and providing links to content elsewhere. Most students, however, expressed sentiments such as this:

“I don’t think it should be; I think that’s for the college student generation to stay connected, not the entire college faculty and staff. Facebook with the older generation has gotten out of hand in my opinion.”

The researchers also asked students whether it was appropriate for faculty to post course content specifically for access on an iPhone. There the students were divided almost 50-50, with most of the negative response stemming from concern that many students don’t own iPhones and wouldn’t want to be required to purchase one. But otherwise many respondents thought it would be convenient to tap into course materials and recorded lectures via phone while on the go.