Recently, the results of a year long study of Algebra 1 students at the Amelia Earhart Middle School in Riverside, California were announced. The math scores of the students who were taught using Houghton Mifflin Harcourt’s
HMH Fuse: Algebra 1 curriculum on the iPad were
20% higher in the Spring 2011 California Standards Test than other students who were taught using traditional paper textbooks.
In addition teachers observed that students who used the iPad were “more motivated, attentive, and engaged than traditionally educated peers."
- Despite such evidence many argue that technology in the classroom is a distraction and should be used sparingly (if at all) for learning.
- Others argue that technology in the classroom is essential to helping children learn, especially given the shift in available jobs from manufacturing to technology-related professions.
Which is a predictor of the directions education will take? All you have to do is watch how elementary school children, and even preschoolers, gravitate to,and become expert in, using computers and electronic devices when they are available. Granted, a lot of the current use is games. But the educational publishers are working feverishly to develop more educational applications the can be used on the iPad and other electronic divices .
Not only is educational software cheaper to distribute and update than printed books, but there is the added benefit of video presentations, interactive tests, internet access for research and the ability for the student to create more detailed reports and presentations than is possible in the paper environment.
Why Is This Important to Photographers?
Anyone who hopes to make photography their career needs to anticipate where the market is headed and prepare for that eventuality. That may involve learning different skills.
It may also involve different licensing and pricing strategies. In the past the educational market has been responsible for 15% to 20% of total revenue generated from the licensing of stock images. As the industry switches from print to electronic, that revenue will be disbursed in different ways. It is time to develop new strategies for licensing work.
- A given image may be used in a variety of ways and pricing based on print run or individual access to the product may become unworkable.
- Images will be used in new ways.
- There may be more demand for video.
- Authors may become the major suppliers of imagery to illustrate their products.
The only sure thing is that we can’t depend on the market remaining the same as it has been in the past.