Giunti Labs - DECOM 2008 debates the approaching for educational publishing

According to Vijay Kumar, Senior Associate Dean and Director of the Office of Educational Innovation and Technology at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology – and an adviser to India’s National Knowledge Commission – the acceptable apprenticeship archetypal has been based on absence and affected bound educational resources.

Today, he said, the development and availability of accessible apprenticeship assets are arduous these assumptions and advance that that archetypal is changing. This movement is authoritative acquirements abstracts added broadly accessible – although there are issues accompanying to above and accessory use, to be addressed.

Kumar was acclamation over 100 top akin admiral - from the acquirements agreeable industry, all-embracing publishing firms, accumulated training providers and bookish stakeholders affianced in both publishing and accessible courseware initiatives in schools, universities and accumulated training, calm with Government action makers throughout Europe – who were debating the approaching of the acquirements agreeable industry and, in particular, its adeptness to acclimate to, and accomplishment fully, a new bearing of educational agreeable production, management, administration and administration models.

The agitation took abode in Sestri Levante, Italy, at the end of October – at The Digital Educational Content Marketplaces appointment (DECOM 2008). The accident was hosted by arch acquirements and adaptable agreeable administration band-aid provider, Giunti Labs, and the European Learning Industry Group (ELIG). The event’s sponsors were Cegos, Plateau, Cisco, IBM, AxMediaTech - AXMEDIS and SIF Association.

The after-effects of delegates’ deliberations will be summarised in ‘The Sestri DECOM Declaration’. Intended for the EU Commission, the Declaration will outline appropriate action accomplishments to abutment a alteration appear agenda agreeable marketplaces for educational publishing in Europe.

Other speakers included Judy Brown, Mobile Learning Researcher at the Institute for Simulation and Training, the University of Central Florida and the architect of the Academic ADL SCORM Co-Lab; Spyridon Pilos, of the European Commission; ELIG’s Sectrary General, Richard Straub, and Fabrizio Cardinali, CEO of Giunti Labs.

In addition, there were educational publishing case studies from Joel Greenberg, of the Open University (OU); Adam Black, of Pearson Education; Ulrich Schmid, of Scoyo GmbH; Bob Bolick, of McGraw-Hill; Tim Hawkins, of Elsevier, and Willem van Valkenburg, of the Delft University of Technology.

Cardinali set the accent for the appointment by emphasising that the apple abridgement is changing, with accretion challenges to competitiveness in apple markets advancing from Eastern economies. He said: “The key to aggressive globally is addition and accepting artistic in the appliance of that innovation.”

Greenberg declared that the OU is committed to accessible antecedent software, accessible apprenticeship resources, the personalisation of acquirements and the ‘social web’. He said: “Traditionally, acceptance acclimatized to the apprenticeship system.

“Today, the apprenticeship arrangement have to acclimate to the acceptance and their acquirements preferences. Interoperability standards and new publishing formats such as IMS Common Cartridge will advice facilitate this.”

In acknowledging the move appear adaptable learning, Pearson’s Black commented that, every second, three babies are complete about in the apple whereas, in the aforementioned time, 38 adaptable accessories are sold. He added: “So, behindhand of the challenges, we charge to crop adaptable acquirements actively as a new approach for carrying educational agreeable and services.”

David Worlock, Chief Research Fellow at Outsell, Inc., appear that Outsell sizes the anniversary common bazaar for advice at $390bn. Commenting on accepted educational publishing trends, Worlock said that, admitting publishers were acclimated to bearing pre-formatted advice such as textbooks, nowadays they are architecture solutions that archetypal the needs of the learners added closely.

“The key issues are self-assessment, connected appraisal and diagnostics,” he said. “Customer needs appraisal is active publishers to move appear top degrees of above affirmation and publishing agreeable in several places and formats and again absolution it to barter as adapted for them.

“In the accepted bread-and-butter climate, the educational publishing industry faces three above risks,” he added. “First, that all agreeable becomes, or can be made, free; second, the all-around recession could attenuate customers’ spending power, and, third, that opportunities for developing adaptable acquirements abstracts and technologies are abandoned or under-exploited.”

End

About Giunti Labs

Giunti Labs is a arch Online and Mobile Learning Content Management Solutions provider with all-around address in Italy and offices in London (UK), Frankfurt (Germany), Lund (Sweden), Boston (US), as able-bodied as Sydney and Perth (Australia).

Giunti Labs provides a advanced ambit of solutions, in acknowledgment to any content, acquirements and ability administration need, covering:
•24/7 multi accent acquirements agreeable production
•LCMS and Digital Repository Platforms
•Delivery solutions for adaptable & wireless
•Consulting and able casework

Giunti Labs is allotment of Giunti Group, a arch educational and cultural ancestry administrator with roots aback to 1841. Over the years Giunti has complete a archive of huge ambit (over 7.000 titles) and acquired new brands in Italy and worldwide.

In 2008, Giunti Labs acquired the HarvestRoad Hive agenda athenaeum system, which manages any anatomy of agreeable acclimated in online learning, accumulated training and ability administration initiatives. HarvestRoad Hive can interface with about any ERP, Learning or Course Management System and is already chip with several frequently acclimated advance administration systems, assembly and agreeable accumulation tools.

About ELIG

The European Learning Industry Group (ELIG) emerged from the eLearning Industry Group (eLIG) in 2007. The aboriginal organisation had been inaugurated, in 2002, by the European Union in adjustment to accommodate ascribe to the EU’s action on e-learning.

ELIG is now an accessible industry accumulation which explores, researches and determines ‘innovation in learning’ throughout the EU. It aims to action anticipation administration in this sector; a advice approach to the acquirements market, and a arrangement aural which associates coact rather than attempt – which it agreement ‘co-petition’.

ELIG’s associates encompasses those operating in the fields of technology infrastructure; media; acquirements content; publishing; acquirements platforms; software; casework providers; research; associations, and user organisations.

Giunti Labs
Abbazia dell'Annunziata,
Via Portobello - Baia del Silenzio,
16039 Sestri Levante (GE), Italy
Contact: Minna Leikas, Giunti Labs, +39 3474435167, m.leikas@giuntilabs.com

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