The New Normal
It was a matter of time before the digital trends that enriched our personal lives would eventually influence our professional ones as well.
It’s an exciting time to be in education—whether you’re an institutional leader setting strategies for growth, an IT professional making innovative technology decisions or an educator building dynamic courses. All of us are connected by the movement towards a more digital campus.
If there were any doubts about the digital shift, consider this:
• E-book versions of the top six books outsell print versions1
• YouTube exceeds 2B views per day2
• Smart device growth expected to increase by 36% through 20153
Today’s generation has integrated web-based technology into their daily lives. Expectations of a “new normal” are forming: dynamic content—anytime, anywhere and on any device. And those expectations aren’t just for recreational consumption—they’re extending into the educational space as well.
But in a realm where budgets are shrinking as digital demand is increasing, how can an institution make an impact in a cost-effective, scalable way?
The Paradigm Shift
Expanding our digital footprint isn’t just a luxury—it’s a necessity. And institutional leaders and IT professionals aren’t the only ones feeling the pressure to innovate—educators are as well. We need to align the way teaching is delivered with the way information is now consumed.
More and more studies report a paradigm shift from teaching to learning—moving away from facilitating lectures of facts towards promoting skills of self-study, analysis and individual learning paths; from courses built using a single textbook to a “best of” approach of available publisher materials and faculty-created content; and from static content to dynamic digital assets that engage the learners, providing real-time feedback.
Students aren’t the only ones benefitting from this shift. Educators can now easily customize and build dynamic online courses while increasing student outcomes. And for the IT professionals that help make this possible, Blackboard and McGraw-Hill now have an integrated solution that’s as powerful as it is easy to install.
The Best of Both Worlds
Blackboard and McGraw-Hill have joined forces to bring you the best of both worlds: customizable, dynamic educational content and tools now available directly within the latest version of the Blackboard Learn™ platform.
Now educators can pull content, assignments and assessments from McGraw-Hill’s proven learning object repositories directly into their courses from within the Blackboard Learn platform. And students can stay more actively engaged with the media-rich, high quality content found in this seamlessly integrated, total course solution which includes:
• McGraw-Hill Connect® : A leading online assignment tool and assessment engine offering innovative, digital features including: LearnSmart, a powerful adaptive learning system; Tegrity, a lecture-capture tool; and a library of media-rich eBooks.
• McGraw-Hill Create™: A custom textbook tool that allows instructors to quickly and easily build affordable course materials by drawing upon McGraw-Hill’s comprehensive, cross-disciplinary content, as well as other third party resources.
One-stop teaching and learning has arrived. Learn more at www.blackboard.com/mcgraw-hill.
1USA TODAY 1.5.11, Bob Minzesheimer and Carol Memmott
2YouTube Monitoring blog – fact and figures http://www.website-monitoring.com/blog/2010/05/17/youtube-facts-and-figures-history-statistics
3(BUSINESS WIRE) 1.21.11-- Research and Market http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/e26f6b/tablets_and_smart