The future of education publishing has been the topic of popular discussion of late. As classrooms, schools and districts move steadily towards the paperless, personalized classrooms of the future, the textbook is attempting to claim its place within the 21st century learning sphere. As previously argued in The Fate of the Textbook in the Paperless Classroom, even as the delivery mechanism of the content evolves to meet the expectations of the digital age, the textbook remains an invaluable component of the learning environment. Learning platforms like Fishtree are reinforcing the necessity for the textbook as a key driver of effective learning. Combining the most innovative technology with the world’s leading publishers, Fishtree is personalizing the textbook, providing the ultimate resources, not only for the classroom, but for the individual.
The 21st Century Textbook
With publisher content now taking a digital approach with adaptive platforms, it’s not simply a change of scenery for the textbook. Rather, the textbook is being revolutionized to provide multimodal content from one location, automatically aligned to standards such as the Common Core, reading level, and learning objective. By making the process as simple as possible, educators are ensured the most relevant content for their students, further guaranteeing that essential link between user and content. With its mobile capabilities, this content is then accessible on any device, transporting the textbook to every location. This democratization of content is breaking down the traditional walls between publishers and users, building a two-way bridge whereby publishers can view users turning the pages, and users can interact with content that speaks their language.
The Personalized Textbook
But the transformation of the textbook doesn’t end there. Through the most intelligent adaptive learning technology, Fishtree incorporates publisher content in the personalization process, continuously providing resources tailored to the individual. Assessing a student’s Learning DNA, Fishtree analyzes each learner’s individual needs, abilities and interests, providing personalized resources in tune with his/her learning criteria. As the adaptive learning process continues, educators receive real-time views of student activity, progress and effort, with instant reassessment and feedback options at hand. Deconstructing the message, Fishtree essentially allows users to pick apart the textbook, consuming individual pieces of content in the preferred sequence, with recommended pages of the book, so to speak, to offer a more rounded experience. The textbook is personalized, offering every learner a one-to-one learning experience, and every educator a personalized playlist of resources.
As the learning environment continues to evolve and adapt to our digital world, so too will the textbook. Through adaptive learning platforms like Fishtree, publishers are reinventing the textbook, building a one-to-one learning environment with the best possible resources in one domain. Breaking down traditional barriers, publishers can gain an insight into user activity and preference, building that essential bond, and furthering their audience with a direct link to educator, student, parent and administrator. Through a platform that’s not only mobile, but sits within other learning management systems, Fishtree is making every learning environment adaptive, revolutionizing the instructional content delivery to play a key role in the personalized classrooms of the 21st century.
Are you a publisher looking to extend your reach and play your role in the personalized classrooms of the future? Contact us at fishtree.com and take the next step.
About the author:
Lorna Keane is a teacher of French, English and ESL. She specializes in language teaching and has taught in second and third-level institutions in several countries. She holds a B.A in languages and cultural studies and an M.A in French literature, theory and visual culture. Follow her on Twitter or connect on LinkedIn.
Image credits: Kate Ter Haar / CC BY 2.0
