Next session - Redesigning College Mathematics with Greg Tobin, president of Pearson Addison-Wesley/Prentice Hall Mathematics.

It looks like this session will also have some relation to the concept of natural learning processes. How do we deliver educational content in ways that are engaging? Apparently, based on moderator Thane Kerner's comments, Tobin has created something called MyMathLab which has proved to be a bit of a dream success within this discipline. The critical need to focus on service and support in the current environment is so different from the old world of publishing where we used to deliver a finished, static product. It was a bound issue of a journal or a book volume. Apparently Tobin has succeeded in living up to the expectation of service and support in his product.

He is talking a bit about the current state of higher education. There is a boomlet in enrollments due to peak in 2009. Career schools are booming; demographics of students are changing. The age spread ranges from 18 on up, well beyond the mid-thirties. Greater need for remediation as determined through placement exams which allow students to capture the learning that perhaps they didn't grasp in K-12 educational levels. The colleges are redesigning courses for greater effectiveness while still ensuring that students stay and graduate on time. Retention is a major concern as indicated by the Spellings report. (I'll link to coverage a little later). Institutions are also expected to cater to varied learning styles as well.

MyMathLab was launched in 2001 and was in use at 1607 colleges and universities. Today approximately 1.1 million students will be using it during the 07-08 academic year. It is an online homework and tutorial program that offers diagnostic assessment and personalized study plan. It's fully customizable by the instructor and it is available with or without a print component. Mathematics is apparently a key strength of Pearson's offerings.

He rates the value to students as being: instantaneous feedback (personalized), a non-judgmental, private learning environment, flexibility (anywhere/anytime access). Educators find value in the automation of time consuming tasks, customization, measuring learning outcomes and achieving them and ultimately higher retention rates (more effective learning in the classroom). Tobin is displaying a graphic that offers displaying the success rates at a number of institutions at various levels (4 year institution through a career commercial learning institution). High success rates at University of Alabama are what he is focusing on.

The online service is specifically tied to various textbooks; if I'm understanding him correctly, the online experience depends upon the specific title adopted by the instructor. That means it's not a stand-alone. He's got a number of screenshots that show the interface. The service includes a separate grade book functionality that he is saying is an improvement on the Blackboard service for the purposes of mathematical instruction. He's talking about higher level of engagement in student learning with the online instructional components. He's talking about bundling software in with the book (ostensibly as a supplement to the actual textbook but let's face it also as a way of combatting the used book market). They do allow students just to purchase access at $45.00 (again if I'm understanding him correctly) but will not allow blanket access to the online portion just on the basis of textbook adoption. The access codes that are part of the software sold with the book are only good for one semester/student or for however long the specific course itself lasts (two semesters). The service is not intended as a stand-alone self-directed learning product.

We're on to the interview segment now. He's talking about pouring content into the shell of a learning management system like Blackboard which saved them a huge amount of development time and costs.

They've invested alot into putting people into the field to offer support to instructors following an adoption. He considers that to be a critical aspect to the success of this product. The moderator is commenting about the precision metrics that can be offered to the instructor as a way of seeing whether the product is succeeding with students.

Apparently in the career school market, the business model is one more closely aligned with a software licensing business model. Pearson is trying to get away from selling a physical product and move in the direction of offering a service. Scaling their service support at the same rate as their adoption rate is going is challenging apparently.

Someone asks who is demanding greater levels of service support, students or instructors. He thinks that there is a steady volume of calls throughout the semester from instructors and a period of high volume of calls from students early on.