Teaching with Tech: Five Tips for Navigating K–12 Distance Instruction

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Teaching with Tech: Five Tips for Navigating K–12 Distance Instruction

It would be an understatement to say that these are challenging times for teachers. Plunged into lockdown with no time to prepare for it, educators are quickly adapting to the new realities of distance instruction while getting up to speed with technology platforms, unfamiliar teaching techniques, and changing district and institutional guidelines. Throw in pressures to ensure students don’t fall behind juxtaposed with advice to refrain from overwhelming students and their families, and the situation becomes even more delicate.

Technology has without doubt been the great enabler of education during the COVID-19 crisis.

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Education Publishers Rise to the Challenge of Lockdown Learning

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Education Publishers Rise to the Challenge of Lockdown Learning

In our recent “Publishing as an essential business” post we looked at how the industry has been responding to the COVID-19 pandemic, particularly focusing on how publishers are contributing to global efforts to confront the crisis and prove their value. There has undoubtedly been a concerted effort from every corner of the industry, whether that’s by making critical content accessible when it’s needed most or by making these distressing times more tolerable and entertaining for isolated readers.

Of all the industry sub-sectors, education publishing in particular has been in overdrive in recent weeks, as worldwide lockdowns have flung parents, students, teachers and educational institutions into the unfamiliar territory of home schooling and distant learning.

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Digital Equality for Distance Learning

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Digital Equality for Distance Learning

Accessible content ensures that students with disabilities don’t fall behind during the Great Shutdown

Here at KGL, we have long championed accessibility in publishing. Ensuring that your books, journals, digital products, websites and other content are either remediated or “born accessible” is essential to readers with disabilities. Many publishers by now appreciate that the same technologies and guidelines that improve access to materials for people with visual or hearing impairments, limited mobility, perceptual and cognitive differences can also open opportunities to better reach and serve all users. But if there has ever been a time to acknowledge the consequences of digital equality, it is the great experiment in distance learning of 2020.

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Publishing as an Essential Business

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Publishing as an Essential Business

A round-up of how the industry is responding to the COVID-19 pandemic

In these challenging times, there has been much discussion of what qualifies as an “essential business.” There is the debate around which establishments should be allowed to continue physical operations during a social distancing shutdown (are liquor stores, bike shops and video games as essential as grocery stores and the healthcare supply chain?). Some organizational habits like meeting culture, long commutes and digital red tape have already been exposed as decidedly nonessential for a post-crisis world. But while the majority of us adjust to working from home (a luxury obviously not afforded to many frontline professions), the coronavirus pandemic is unfolding as an occasion for the industry to prove its worth.

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A Look Ahead at Publishing in 2020: AI, AR, Plan S and More

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A Look Ahead at Publishing in 2020: AI, AR, Plan S and More

As 2020 begins, we look at what the year holds for publishers of all kinds, and how technology can help them improve their systems, increase revenue, reach new readers, and more.

#AI #technology #innovation #automation #workflow #AR #PlanS

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Accessibility as a Civil Right

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Accessibility as a Civil Right

In October, the United States Supreme Court handed down an order stating that it would not take up a plea from Domino’s pizza chain to reverse a decision in the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals stating that the company must make its website accessible to people with disabilities. This lawsuit is one of many that have been brought in the last two years against fashion designers, art galleries, gyms, grocery stores, among other companies in a variety of industries, which host websites featuring content which is inaccessible to the visually impaired.

Under Title I of the Americans with Disabilities Act, any business with at least 15 full-time employees which operates for 20 or more weeks every year must provide accommodations for those with disabilities. As the marketplace is going from a physical to a digital one and more content—from news to research—is being read more online than off, it has become vital for those hosting the content to adapt to accessible content.

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Unleashing the Untapped Potential of Digital Learning

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Unleashing the Untapped Potential of Digital Learning

A free report from KnowledgeWorks Global Ltd.

Across most levels of education, students now expect learning experiences to be broadly in-line with their fast moving, digitally native, on-the-go lifestyles. And the pressure to cater to this need and deliver learning in a dynamic way is something which educational institutions feel on a daily basis. Innovation in this area has unfortunately not always evolved quickly enough to match the expectations of this new generation of learners, who now require digital curriculums which embrace quick and easy access, cross device capabilities and multimedia elements.

Our recently published report Six Approaches to Effective Digital Learning highlights some of the most exciting trends, transformations and technological developments in this booming sector, and in this post we explore just a few of the report’s findings.

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Educating the Netflix Generation: Digital-First Strategies for Textbooks Take Hold

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Educating the Netflix Generation: Digital-First Strategies for Textbooks Take Hold

Publishing giant Pearson boldly announced recently that it was moving towards a digital-first strategy, thus rendering the century old traditional textbook model as good as dead. Meanwhile, higher education specialist Cengage has been steadily expanding its online textbook subscription offering globally, experimenting with new cost-effective digital distribution models to cater to the Netflix and Spotify generation.

There are a number of reasons why, in this day and age, digital-first strategies make more sense than ever for education publishers.

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Accessibility for Publishers: Practical Tips That Demonstrate it's Well Within Your Reach

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Accessibility for Publishers: Practical Tips That Demonstrate it's Well Within Your Reach

Accessibility is an approach to publishing and design that makes content available to all, including those with disabilities who use assistive technologies on the computer. Publishers also benefit from embracing this essential initiative. When accessibility is well executed, it can expand readership and provide a higher-quality user experience for everyone. In our latest industry report, KGL provides business cases for accessibility that can be brought to leadership and stakeholders in a publishing organization.

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W3C Publishing Summit 2017

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W3C Publishing Summit 2017

The first-ever W3C Publishing Summit took place in San Francisco, November 9 to 10, to discuss how web technologies are shaping publishing today, tomorrow, and beyond. Publishing and the web interact in innumerable ways. The Open Web Platform and its technologies have become essential to how content is created, developed, enhanced, discovered, disseminated, and consumed online and offline.

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Rights & Permissions Service for Publishers

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Rights & Permissions Service for Publishers

Copyright is far more than just a necessary evil to protect intellectual property from theft. Copyright furthers all creative interests by making the rich marketplace of ideas available to a wider audience. Resourceful rights and permissions management supports author content while maximizing the publisher’s budget.

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A Simple Lesson From Walt Disney

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A Simple Lesson From Walt Disney

Videos aid learning. Videos and animation are at the top of the elearning food chain. Whether it's within a traditional elearning course or as an independent asset, animated videos help learners visualize and understand complex concepts.

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Higher Education Textbooks: Student Watch Key Findings

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Higher Education Textbooks: Student Watch Key Findings

As colleges and universities welcome students back to campus, it's a good time to revisit some of the findings from the National Association of College Stores' (NACS) Spring Study. Higher Education publishers are deep in the trenches, dealing with disruptions from Amazon, proliferation of digital distribution channels, and pricing transparency issues

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