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Seven Trends to Watch in Digital Learning

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Read the 29 October 2008 meeting notes from the Digital Learning Content Where Do We Go From Here? discussion session Held at EDUCAUSE 2008 Orlando

The IMS Global Learning Consortium recently held a series of discussions with industry leaders and administrators about current and future trends in digital learning. A number of issues were discussed, but out of those conversations, a few common themes emerged. Listed below are seven of those trends. We invite you to join in the conversation and share with us your thoughts on these and other elements worthy of consideration.

1. The age of digital learning is here. While many are still waiting for digital textbooks, Web-based learning, and the like to “catch on,” many of those already laboring on the front lines of digital learning say that future has already arrived. In an industry where trade books sell more than $25 billion annually, e-book sales in 2006 represented only about $20 million. That figure, however, represented almost double the amount of sales from the previous year. Mark Nelson, digital strategist for the National Association of College Stores, says their surveys reflect an increasing rate of adoption among college students. And they foresee a significant pickup in the adoption rate during the next five years as students entering college will be substantially different, even more accepting of digital learning, than their present counterparts. Do you think there is evidence that the long-awaited level of expectation for digital textbooks is finally catching up with reality?
2. The future of digital learning revolves more around context than content. Joel Thierstein, executive director of Connexions, an open source content management system developedby Rice University, says that while traditional books are a good medium for reading the written word, computers offer users multi-media functionality and interactivity. “Multi-media and online activities are the learning tools of tomorrow because you can tell so much more of a story with it than you can with the simple written word. Reading about science can be tedious and boring, but to actually watch and experience it can be amazing.” What are some emerging examples of online technologies or interactive content  being used to enhance the learning experience?
3. The use of technology to support learning is not only enhancing the student experience, but offering faculty and administrators greater opportunities for assessment and accountability. Through the use of smart boards, classroom capture systems, and other digital tools, students are able to retain more content while teachers can more precisely document the learning taking place. Says Sebastian Vos, Elsevier’s vice president for e-Education Health Science, “By tying everything to learning objectives, instructors will be able to organize learning activities and digital content based on their syllabus, track student activity, provide formative assessment, and offer appropriate remediation for those students who need it.” Do you agree that digital learning  is helping to meet the need for assessment and accountability?
4. Coming up with a better business model and pricing structure will enhance the acceptance of digital learning. “We sell some of our product by the chapter and most of the sales from our sites are for digital products or web services,” says Ed Moura, vice president of Cengage’s Digital Solutions Group. “Some might view this trend as a flight of those buyers away from college bookstores.  From our perspective we need to be where our end-users, students, increasingly purchase products and access services: increasingly that is online. Who is wed to the printed book? We are only wedded to it to the extent that our customers prefer print to digital. . Bookstores would seem to have the greater vested interest in printed book sales and  possibly some college administrations  whose budgets may be overly dependent on returns derived from campus bookstore  sales.” Cengage has an online bookstore called iChapters where users can buy content by the chapter and buy direct access to web services. Follett is buying Café Scribe, and MBS is opening online resellers. Will an iTunes-like model of digital learning content dominate the future of educational publishing and digital content consumption?
5. In many instances, digital learning is growing at even a faster acceptance rate outside the U.S. The acceptance of e-books outside the U.S., such as Japan and Korea, is substantially higher. The Korean government also is pursuing the Digital Textbook pilot project based on IMS Global standards with a goal of its generalization by 2013. Are there government policies or investment programs you are aware of that will help create a movement toward digital learning?
6. The emergence of standards through initiatives such as  the IMS Global Learning Consortium Common Cartridge will further help contain costs and provide greater interoperability among platforms. Everyone benefits from accepted standards that provide a platform for innovation and remove friction in the marketplace.There is a growing willingness among institutions and vendors to support common standards. Is there evidence that the emergence of standards will result in an accelerated acceptance of digital learning?
7. The increase in broad-based initiatives is fueling the growth of digital learning. The Ohio eText Project, for example, has as one of its goals to deliver student materials to the state’s colleges and universities at less than half the cost of traditional printed text, and in the process improve learning outcomes. And then there are the open courseware projects, such as MIT’s OpenCourseware Initiative, and open content providers such as Merlot, Connexions, Open University OpenLearn, and Curriki  that are making shared content available for reuse. Do you see evidence that the trend toward open source content is serving as a major catalyst toward the acceptance of digital learning?

 IMS Global Learning Consortium would like to thank all of the individuals and organizations who shared their time and opinions in the creation of this paper. More thoughts on this subject will be forthcoming in future articles.