ELT Publishing: Current and Future Trends by YUDU Media

The folks over at YUDU Media have been busy. Having consulted, sounded out and interviewed a plethora of educational publishers they have written and released a spectacular white paper on the emerging trends in the digital publishing market. Based around a series of reflective and thought-provoking questions the white paper sets out an insightful and balanced appraisal of the edu-pub business and the future that it is walking itself into. For example, the paper calls out the disconnect between publishers’ efforts to deliver digital content and the realities of the learning environments in which they envisage them being used. There is also the interesting observation that teachers are responding to the perceived need to move into a more digital-orientated approach to handling content whilst not being aware of (and therefore demanding) the best of what publishers are capable of creating. Publishers needing to learn from teachers needing to learn from publishers…

To introduce the research paper we would like to hand you over to  Laura Austin, YUDU Media’s Marketing Manager. Laura, over to you …

Newbies in the field of ELT have quickly been transformed into experts. Within the last few years, publishers have experimented with creating content for a myriad of devices, platforms and types of apps. In a relatively short time a lot of lessons have been learned, and amidst a sea of epic failures and huge successes – there are now a number of extremely savvy players in the field, with a wisdom gained from the mistakes and wins of recent years.

It doesn’t seem too long ago that publishers were talking about training teachers to use their whiteboards; in what was seen to be an overhaul of classroom dynamics. This seems to have taken a backseat to students on tablets, the prominent issue in publishing houses globally today. The focus for publishers is changing faster than 3 year publishing plans can adapt to, which is slightly ironic due to the relative slow movement of education in general, compared to other industries.

At YUDU, we are lucky enough to be working with and talking to a number of switched-on ELT publishers. Our aim is to develop alongside our clients, as they transition from their traditional business models; to the models being rapidly adopted for the digital age. It is ‘crunch time’, yes; though we think that there are ways to compete with hungry and agile start-ups. Publishers are still closer to the action, and can build the right teams to deliver success. Our newest white paper, Current and Future Trends in Education Publishing explores the findings of some research we have undertaken with a range of education publishers. We asked about the lessons learned, visions for the future and advice they’d give to others. It’s an interesting review of the current landscape with a healthy dose of reflection on what has been learned.

With the right blend of fresh data, innovative thinking and a deep understanding of the market place, we are hopeful that from this transition, a number of successes will emerge. You’ll find the YUDU white paper ‘Current and future trends in education publishing’ by following this link.

Laura Austin heads up the Marketing team at YUDU Media, a digital services provider helping publishers globally to streamline the process of creating and distributing digital textbooks. Prior to working at YUDU, Laura worked at Oxford University Press, Cengage Learning and Pearson Education.