Latest news with #textbooks
RNZ News
5 days ago
- Business
- RNZ News
Why are our university bookshops closing?
education books 27 minutes ago Last week it was announced the University of Auckland's campus bookshop, UBIQ, will close. In 2023 the Victoria University shop Vic Books also closed after nearly 50 years in business. Not only do these stores help stock students with textbooks, but they can also act as social hubs on campus. So, what are students missing out on without a bookshop on campus? And do we need to do more to support booksellers?
Jordan Times
18-05-2025
- Science
- Jordan Times
NCCD approves 65 new school textbooks as part of curriculum overhaul
The National Centre for Curriculum Development (NCCD) says on Sunday that it has approved 65 new school textbooks (Petra photo) AMMAN — The National Centre for Curriculum Development (NCCD) said on Sunday that it has approved 65 new school textbooks, including student books, workbooks, activity materials, and teacher guides, spanning various academic subjects from kindergarten through Year 12. In a statement, the Centre said the newly approved materials cover Arabic language, Islamic education, English language, science, mathematics, digital skills, and early childhood education. Among the most notable additions are the kindergarten resources, which include image cards, story collections, and practical guides for teachers to support early learning. The Islamic education curriculum has been expanded with new textbooks and teacher guides for Years 2, 5, and 8, as well as the Year 12 textbook for the academic stream's first semester, the statement said. The English language curriculum saw the release of student books, workbooks, and teacher guides for Years 2, 4, 10, and 12 (advanced level). Updated Arabic language teacher guides were also introduced for Years 4, 7, and 10. For Year 12 students, new science and mathematics materials were approved, including textbooks and experiment/activity books in chemistry, physics, biology, and earth and environmental sciences. Mathematics textbooks and workbooks for the first semester were also finalised, following earlier drafts published on the NCCD website, the statement said. The Centre said these curricular reforms were part of its ongoing efforts to modernise Jordan's national curriculum in line with international best practices and the evolving needs of the education sector, while adhering to the philosophical and legal foundations of Jordanian education. The reforms also aim to strengthen critical thinking, integrate linguistic and digital competencies, and uphold national and religious values. All new materials were developed in accordance with modern academic and pedagogical standards, drawing on input from specialised authoring and review committees. The NCCD also ensured that content accounts for students' diverse needs and individual learning differences.
Yahoo
17-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
'Engagement for e-learning will be huge for us'
Just over a week after launching edtech platform Perlego, co-founders Gauthier Van Malderen and Matt David faced their first major challenge when their website was hacked. 'Nothing worked to be honest,' says Van Malderen, CEO of the London-based subscription library branded the 'Netflix and Spotify for textbooks' by providing unlimited access to academic and professional titles. 'I often make the joke that if I had known how complicated it was, I would have never started this business.' This came against no publishing and tech experience which today underpins the growing business, as well as industry scepticism. 'Who is this guy?' was a common theme. But passion and persistence in Van Malderen's product has paid off as he aims to revolutionise the way educational resources are accessed. Read More: 'Why we set up a sustainable mobile operator to save people money' Perlego today offers learners more than 1 million educational ebooks in multiple languages and has raised £56m since launching in 2017. The idea for the company came as Belgium-born Van Malderen studied for a masters in entrepreneurship at Cambridge University. 'It came out of a personal pain point of mine, which was the expensive price of textbooks and where I'd buy a second-hand book,' he says. 'Print is an amazing product. We're just trying to be more convenient than print.' Launched eight years ago this month, it took six months for Perlego's fledgling site to build traction with paying consumers and some publishers, which now include Routledge, Cambridge University Press and Harvard University Press, sending their content to be aggregated on the edtech's platform. Perlego's platform, says Van Malderen, isn't simply a place to search for textbooks. 'I think engagement on the content is going to be a big thing for Perlego, but also for the future of the industry in the next three four years,' he adds. Subscribers can highlight, annotate and search within ebooks, while the tool can create references in a matter of clicks. Additional product layers include slide shows, a 'read aloud' tool and building workspaces to aggregate learning material. Read More: 'People hung up on us in our goal to become the Dyson of ice baths' 'It saves time for professors and also streamlines the lives of students because historically they have to go on lots of different other products,' he adds. Van Malderen and co-founder Davis' most recent raise came last year from lead investor Sir Terry Leahy, former Tesco CEO, who said that "Perlego is addressing one of the most pressing challenges in modern education – access to essential learning materials". The funding has helped develop Perlego's AI tool Dialogo, called Research Assistant, which enables students to ask questions and share relevant cited research in summary format. 'We have to be really careful how we navigate the AI space,' admits Van Malderen. 'What we want to make sure is we're helping publishers monetise their content, making sure that students continue to learn and for faculty and professors is how can they find their content as fast as possible.' The US is currently Perlego's biggest market, while the platform works with more than 350 universities. Last year it partnered with University of Leeds to provide its students access to an extensive digital library which cuts costs (a monthly subscription is £12) and time spent seeking print textbooks. With more than 250 million higher education students enrolled globally, Van Malderen sees opportunities to scale. 'Essentially, with one e-book, you can sell across the world and it's really exciting from that perspective,' he says. 'There's so much more we can do, and it's a big market that we can still grow into.' In 2023, Perlego research revealed that there were 300,000 searches to piracy textbook sites in that September alone, costing the publishing industry billions of pounds in lost revenue. 'I think the publishers were more open towards new models and they saw that the subscription models worked well in music and in the movie industry,' Van Malderen says of the industry. Read More: 'I've seen how weight loss can be life-changing for patients' 'I've been crafting up that message and working much closer with publishers, helping them on piracy and data, creating recurring revenue lines and mitigating the decrease in their print sales.' This includes Perlego delivering reports on how students interact with publishers' content. 'We provide this all for free back to the publishers on a daily or weekly basis, depending on how much they want it,' says Van Malderen. 'The biggest trend in education right now is lifelong learning. This is really valuable for editorial decisions and a lot of publishers are seeing that psychology is going through the roof.' A field hockey player turned cyclist in his spare time, the entrepreneurial bug has been a constant for the Belgian. At university he founded Iconic Matter, which sold advertising on notebooks and built up clients such as Uber and Red Bull. At Perlego, he also founded a small business called Social Lives, which was later sold to businessman Steven Bartlett. He currently has a print-on-demand side hustle. You can't say that Van Malderen is resting, especially after Perlego grew by 435% during COVID. 'I don't believe too much in the work-life balance when you're building a massive company and you're ambitious to build a global brand,' he says. 'I also don't believe fully in the work-life balance where you finish at four every day. I just don't think it's achievable, in my opinion, from what I've seen so far. 'I've always had a big vision and I've always been true to my vision about building a global company. And now the bigger vision is hopefully to continue to scale this and become a European edtech success story.' Read more: GoTo CEO's eight business rules to be a successful leader How my IBM boss taught me to navigate a complex organisation 'Want to grow an iconic brand? CEOs have to value CMOs as servant leaders'Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
