TECHNOLOGY
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Pricing and distribution models are undergoing great change, driven by new entrants and new technology. Content–and what you can do with enhanced content–is changing. Content will drive value in direct relation to how it helps schools
address retention, remediation and demonstrable connec- tions to student success. With digital content, publishers can afford to sell for less because it will offer 100 percent sell through and pay per student.
Plymouth University in the U.K. experimented with
this model. Dr. Philip Gee at the University worked with Cengage on an initiative to supply all first year Psychology students at Plymouth with e-textbooks. Plymouth wanted each student to have entire access to all of their texts all of the time, and to be able to read them on mobile devices. Tis solution was set up as a trial, on the understanding that the university would pay the costs upfront. Plymouth’s plan was to recoup the cost of the e-textbook direct from the students’ fees. Dr. Gee realized that one of the reasons that books were as expensive as they were was because of the students who didn’t buy them, rather than those who did. He thought: “What if I could secure 100 percent sales?” Te difference would be that, instead of working with the student as consumer, the publisher and platform provider would now be working with the faculty as customer.
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New entrants are putting lots of invest- ment in digital. In 2011, 124 education companies were funded for over 800 million dollars by venture capital compa- nies. Tis is a very positive trend for the education space, which has seen a dearth of funding as other industries have moved ahead. However, even as digital consumption of content has risen, print is still alive and will continue to be so. Stu- dents, especially non-traditional students, want choice.
We do expect to see changes in print models, too, with a move to print-on-demand for physical textbooks. Print-on-demand–the ability to manufac- ture one book at a time cost-effectively and improve- ments in color printing technology and automation will make textbook printing via print-on-demand increasingly affordable.
Te greatest promise of print-on-demand is abil- ity for mass customization. Schools or professors can create unique versions of textbooks with different assessments at the end of chapters. Not to mention that this will help publishers with the used market problem.
One example of this customization is McGraw
“We expect to see more adaptive/directive learn- ing in e-textbooks to meet individualized preferences”
Hill Create–an innovative platform that gives instructors control over higher education classroom content. In three easy steps, instructors can create custom content, order print copies that will arrive in three to five days and they also get a Vital Source e-book version in minutes. At Ingram’s Lightning Source, we are printing hundreds of orders a day through this process, and we expect that number to grow as we add more color features.
WITH ALL OF THE CHANGES COMING, the word “textbook” may even one day be replaced by “educational content. Over
the next few years, there will be major disruption and reconstruction in the educational content distribution chain–from where the content is derived to how it’s delivered. Tere will be a decline in physical units as digital grows. All that said, the supply chain is and will remain complex with the integration of print and digital workflows.
More choices equal more complexity, but there is great value in consistency of experience for students. When we talk with students who are learning through a consistent digital curriculum experience, it’s overwhelmingly evident they see the benefits of e-textbooks.
JULY/AUG 2012 •
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