Two words that didn’t always go together, especially when discussing higher education. Two words that still don’t in many countries around the world. I am grateful that this job I chose almost 5 years ago lets me support women and their education every day. So on this International Women’s Day, I say, let’s get a little louder and continue this important conversation.

The importance of supporting the education of women and girls
Education is essential for personal growth, economic development, and social progress. However, in many parts of the world, girls and women face significant barriers to accessing education.

Students continue to struggle to afford the materials that are so critical to their success. The data from recent studies is confirming that there is a clear connection between access to course materials and student success.

On this month’s live webinar, Every Textbook on Day One: An Untapped Student Success Tool, a panel packed with industry experts discussed the transformative power of cost-saving textbooks and course material delivery programs, including Inclusive and Equitable Access. 

Student Success and Student Retention - These are buzz words used on just about every campus and by every vendor in higher education - and they should be.  Student success is one of the most important metrics a college or university should track and measure.  However, it is often the result of many other factors, initiatives, and programs on campus. A few key factors contributing to student success are preparation and engagement in their classes. They need books to study from, and students who engage with material, early and often, continue their academic career at a much higher rate.

One thing we can all agree on is that we want students to have every opportunity possible to get what they need to succeed in college. This past year has seen an even greater number of students struggle without many ideas out there on how to help. Students who relied on things such as campus housing, meal plans, technology access, and the library were suddenly without. There is no one solution fits all approach, but we know that the campus store is a vital link to many student needs. We’ve put together a list of 5 innovative ways to help students through the campus store.

It seems like yesterday that Clayton Christensen, with colleagues Michael Horn and Curtis Johnson, published Disrupting Class, in which bold predictions of college closures equivalent to the dust bowls would occur by 2020 and mass customization would drive greater personalization and affordability in higher education. Many of these provocative claims have failed to fully be realized. And yet, if you were to ask most education technology thought leaders, the promise of digital courseware with machine learning powered by AI alongside big data analytic capabilities that help drive targeted engaging content is a promising solution to improve student outcomes in higher education. So why is higher education slower to adopt these promising solutions, especially with so many examples of technological transformation and disruption all around us?  

Over the past 5+ years, there has been a steady trend towards not just replicating the traditional textbook in electronic form, but creating interactive and adaptive learning products that are used in lieu of a textbook (e.g. MyLabs, ALEKS, Connect). We broadly group these products under the umbrella of ‘interactive courseware.’ The underlying technology for these advancements has been around for 20+ years and casual industry observers may look at this evolution and ask “why has it been so slow to take off?”