Material changes in Education

As Amazon Arrives, the Campus Bookstore Is a Books Store No More



Arielle Dollinger
09/16/2016

New York Times

Higher Ed, Corporate, Free Market, Bookstore, Blended school environment.

As more and more students are relying on Amazon and our online retailers to support their higher
education materials and book selection, Bookstores are changing what they are selling and partnering
with corporate giants.  

Pearson's Bizarre take on "Efficacy in Education"

Efficacy: The True Measure of Success in Education

EdSurge, Sabrina Manville (Director of Efficacy in the Office of the Chief Education Advisor at Pearson Education) March 24,2015

https://www.edsurge.com/n/2015-03-24-efficacy-the-true-measure-of-success-in-education

Key Points:

• What is most striking is the surprising definitions for “efficacy,” “measure,” “success,” and “Education”

• Given the title, I anticipated:
• An article that would discuss a “soft focus” on how Pearson believes it is important to focus on student’s retention, application and implementation of what they learn in school. [which just so happens to be made possible by Pearson Products ;)  ]
• BUT the article instead defines efficacy as a measure of Pearson's market penetration. Success as revenue growth, Measure as profitability, and Education as a market.  The author initially refutes these foci, but ironically focuses on them for the duration of the article. The strategy rang particularly loud in my ears having spent the last few years as a sales rep for an auto parts company with a “solution” for every aspect of auto repair.  

• A telling quotation “Tests and textbooks are just a small slice of the money spent on education globally; money spent on teaching, learning, and related services are a much larger and growing share.”

Intended Audience:

• The Author is addressing people working in the “Business of Education,” this should be differentiated from people who educate.  The source, Edsurge, portrays itself as an independent source for Ed-Tech news and is intended for educators.

Relevance:

• To be blunt, I have read similar trade articles announcing new automobile brake pads, ---“eco-friendly composition,” ---“protect your family,”---- this is a piece on value-added sales.  It is not evidence that all corporate interests are evil, just that their interest in schooling is much different than committed educators.  
• Given the bizarrely mismatched definitions of “Efficacy, Success, and Education,” it should be a red flag on the appropriateness of Corporate expansion into their target market of “teaching, learning, and related services…”