Education Publishers Awaiting Shakeout Among Software Suppliers

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Education Publishers Awaiting Shakeout Among Software Suppliers James Lichtenberg -- 12/13/99 Colin Powell's keynote address set the tone for the 1999 Educause conference, held late last month in Long Beach, Calif. "The Internet is reshaping the world," said Powell, "moving information, data and capital around the globe at the speed of light." But while conference exhibitors offered a dizzying array of digital "course tools" and technology is clearly the big man on campus, neither academic institutions nor publishers are always necessarily moving to embrace digital learning at quite the speed of light. Approximately 6000 academics, technologists, software start-up entrepreneurs, marketers, hardware vendors, researchers, journalists and publishers gathered at Educause, a conference devoted to technology in academia. Educause was formed after the 1998 merger of CAUSE, the academic technology association, and EduCom, the educational conference. However, from the perspective of publishers, among them Harcourt General, Houghton Mifflin, McGraw-Hill, Pearson, and John Wiley, the marketplace is still evolving. "The campus market for technology-mediated courseware is still very immature," noted Nicolle Shieffer, coordinator for new media marketing, McGraw-Hill Higher Education. The real buzz at the conference was on the exhibit floor. Deal-exploring conversations with software startups such as Eduprise.com, eCollege, Blackboard and WebCT filled the air. These companies serve as digital intermediaries and provide the software to create digital course environments, or so-called "course tools," that make virtual learning possible. The virtual classrooms created by these new software providers allow publishers to "pour" their content (formerly textbooks) into digital platforms. Nevertheless, almost all major textbook providers are being cautious with these new companies. Of course, in their view, it's the publishers who are asleep at the switch. "The problem is a familiar one," asserted Bill Graves, a former academic at UNC and now president of North Carolina-based Eduprise.com. "Publishers are still just protecting their textbooks. There has been no real progress." The campuses are not doing much better, Graves quipped, making only "random acts of progress." Taking a longer view, David Serbun, v-p and director of technology for Houghton Mifflin's College Division, told PW that HM's approach offers "comprehensive solutions that integrate technology and learning, both online and face to face, depending on the needs of each institution." This institution-centered approach is common to a number of publishers, including Pearson and McGraw-Hill. By contrast, different course tool start-ups may target a range of clients, including the state system, an academic department or even the individual professor. Thus, the questions of which approach publishers should take and with whom they should deal remain. "There are too many new academic software companies all offering basically the same thing," observed Rob McCarry, assistant v-p, director of sales and marketing for Pearson Distributed Learning. "Most of them won't even be around in a couple of years." Academic institutions face the same problem--a proliferation of digital middlemen with an array of solutions--and are looking to homegrown digital efforts until the field shakes out. The University of Southeast Alaska has set up an interim online learning program, and at DePauw University, a group of professors spontaneously created a digital learning swat team to help rethink new digital options for teaching and learning. The University of Central Florida has decided to partner with WebCT, and there are now 25,000 user accounts for 400 courses. But even college administrators are sometimes skeptical of these efforts; in the view of Steve Sorg, v-p of distance learning at UCF, such professor-generated online programs is "uneven." Educause is an ideal forum for these questions. However, high-tech companies attending the conference are frantically trying to sell into the $100-billion academic market. So, even at Educause, the hype about technology more often overshadows the discussion of pedagogy.

News

Education Publishers Awaiting Shakeout Among Software Suppliers
James Lichtenberg -- 12/13/99

Colin Powell's keynote address set the tone for the 1999 Educause conference, held late last month in Long Beach, Calif. "The Internet is reshaping the world," said Powell, "moving information, data and capital around the globe at the speed of light." But while conference exhibitors offered a dizzying array of digital "course tools" and technology is clearly the big man on campus, neither academic institutions nor publishers are always necessarily moving to embrace digital learning at quite the speed of light.

Approximately 6000 academics, technologists, software start-up entrepreneurs, marketers, hardware vendors, researchers, journalists and publishers gathered at Educause, a conference devoted to technology in academia. Educause was formed after the 1998 merger of CAUSE, the academic technology association, and EduCom, the educational conference. However, from the perspective of publishers, among them Harcourt General, Houghton Mifflin, McGraw-Hill, Pearson, and John Wiley, the marketplace is still evolving. "The campus market for technology-mediated courseware is still very immature," noted Nicolle Shieffer, coordinator for new media marketing, McGraw-Hill Higher Education.

The real buzz at the conference was on the exhibit floor. Deal-exploring conversations with software startups such as Eduprise.com, eCollege, Blackboard and WebCT filled the air. These companies serve as digital intermediaries and provide the software to create digital course environments, or so-called "course tools," that make virtual learning possible. The virtual classrooms created by these new software providers allow publishers to "pour" their content (formerly textbooks) into digital platforms.

Nevertheless, almost all major textbook providers are being cautious with these new companies. Of course, in their view, it's the publishers who are asleep at the switch. "The problem is a familiar one," asserted Bill Graves, a former academic at UNC and now president of North Carolina-based Eduprise.com. "Publishers are still just protecting their textbooks. There has been no real progress." The campuses are not doing much better, Graves quipped, making only "random acts of progress."

Taking a longer view, David Serbun, v-p and director of technology for Houghton Mifflin's College Division, told PW that HM's approach offers "comprehensive solutions that integrate technology and learning, both online and face to face, depending on the needs of each institution." This institution-centered approach is common to a number of publishers, including Pearson and McGraw-Hill. By contrast, different course tool start-ups may target a range of clients, including the state system, an academic department or even the individual professor.

Thus, the questions of which approach publishers should take and with whom they should deal remain. "There are too many new academic software companies all offering basically the same thing," observed Rob McCarry, assistant v-p, director of sales and marketing for Pearson Distributed Learning. "Most of them won't even be around in a couple of years."

Academic institutions face the same problem--a proliferation of digital middlemen with an array of solutions--and are looking to homegrown digital efforts until the field shakes out. The University of Southeast Alaska has set up an interim online learning program, and at DePauw University, a group of professors spontaneously created a digital learning swat team to help rethink new digital options for teaching and learning. The University of Central Florida has decided to partner with WebCT, and there are now 25,000 user accounts for 400 courses. But even college administrators are sometimes skeptical of these efforts; in the view of Steve Sorg, v-p of distance learning at UCF, such professor-generated online programs is "uneven."

Educause is an ideal forum for these questions. However, high-tech companies attending the conference are frantically trying to sell into the $100-billion academic market. So, even at Educause, the hype about technology more often overshadows the discussion of pedagogy.