Category: News

Traditional book fairs — and the education that drives them — are changing, and Avallain is proud to be part of the process. Almost a dozen companies with solutions powered by Avallain will attend the 68th Frankfurt Book Fair (FBF) this year.

A 17th century tradition, updated.

As the digital world grows, so does the number of educational technology conferences: Edtech and e-learning fairs are sprouting up all around the world in places from Hong Kong to Brazil.¹ But the folks at these new tech fairs aren’t the only ones showcasing the latest in digital learning resources. Many traditional book fairs are getting in on the technological action, too.

The London Book Fair, for example, sponsors Tech Tuesdays throughout the year, and the Abu Dhabi International Book Fair offers an eZone for its participants. The Frankfurt Book Fair, one of the largest and oldest book fairs, and with a story more than 500 years old, now promises to grant access to “the full spectrum of digital trends and technological developments in the publishing industry.”² With technologically focused “Hot Spots” in a centuries-old book fair, it’s clear that the traditional book fair has evolved.

By combining our strengths, we are experts together.

At Avallain, we aim to help our customers evolve in much the same way that the book fairs have evolved — by utilizing experience and existing didactic materials as a foundation from which to expand into the digital world. Some of our customers, such as Oxford University Press (OUP) and Cambridge University Press (CUP), have hundreds of years of experience and published didactic material to build upon. We combine those strengths with our strengths in education technology and digital publishing to help them excel digitally and offer unified cross media content to their users.

Our collaboration with Westermann, for instance, resulted in Denken und Rechnen(“Thinking and Numeracy”), a primary maths learning environment that supports differentiated learning by allowing teachers to respond to the needs of individuals. This resource was created based on Westermann’s existing textbooks and also includes enhanced, interactive versions of the books. It was delivered by Avallain Author and developed on the Avallain Unity platform, integrating the best in both print and digital to support teachers and students alike.

Avallain Author and Avallain Unity add a dynamic digital dimension.

Westermann will be exhibiting at the Frankfurt Book Fair, as will many of our other customers, including OUP, Difusión, Macmillan Education, CUP, Pearson Education, Cornelsen Verlag, Deutscher Volkshochschul-Verband (VHS) and Jouve, all of whom benefit from enhancing their portfolios with either or both Avallain Author and Avallain Unity.

OUP uses Avallain Author and Avallain Unity to power Kerboodle, the largest teaching and learning service supported by Unity, and Oxford Owl, a 2016 Bett Award winning website for primary schools. Difusión adds a digital dimension to their print repertoire by offering Avallain-powered Spanish teaching resources to their users. And Macmillan Education has combined more than 5,000 of their high quality resources³ with Avallain technology in order to bring Macmillan English Campus to English learners around the world. We are delighted to be part of our customers’ wonderful products, and to have our technology be showcased through some of them at the fair.

We wish our clients and partners great success at the Frankfurt Book Fair, and we look forward to meeting some of you there. We are excited at the prospect of having discussions about edtech and the latest digital publishing trends in the halls of one of the world’s oldest book fairs.

¹ Edsurge. (2011-2016) Edtech Conferences You Need to Know. https://www.edsurge.com/news/2015-06-03-edtech-conferences-you-need-to-know Accessed 9 Oct. 2016.

² Frankfurter Buchmesse. The Frankfurt Book Fair goes digital! http://www.buchmesse.de/en/Focus_on/more_topics/digitisation Accessed 9 Oct. 2016.

³ Macmillan English Campus. (2016) Platform Features. http://www.macmillanenglishcampus.com/benefits/platform-features Accessed 10 Oct. 2016

Quality basic education: an essential human right that nearly 61 million primary school aged children are left without each year.¹ With current technological advances and such widespread internet access available around the world, why are so many learners being left behind?

At Avallain AG we asked ourselves that same question and after years of committing our time, resources and expertise to finding solutions, we are officially launching our contribution: Avallain Foundation.

Seeing people beyond profit margins

Avallain AG is a Swiss-based digital education company that has been solving digital education and publishing challenges worldwide since 2002. While serving millions of learners across five continents, we have regularly encountered places where quality education is unavailable and profitability too low to attract investment.

We recognised this deficiency early on and were determined to contribute to a solution. With the goal of unlocking education in mind, Avallain AG opened a daughter company in Nairobi, Kenya in 2009. Through this endeavour, we collaborated with target users and relevant local authorities over the course of seven years to develop locally-relevant educational products that can be accessed free of charge.

For example, iAFYA, a mobile app created in partnership with Google and Bupa, educates the public with easy-to-understand health tips regarding topics that range from healthy living to the early identification of symptoms of life-threatening diseases. iKilimo, also a mobile app, supports African smallholder farmers in their everyday tasks with tips on both land farming and livestock keeping. a-ACADEMY is an on and offline learning platform that takes primary school students and their teachers through a learning journey full of rich interactive activities aimed towards helping children succeed in their education. These products have been used by people who might not otherwise have had access to digital education. iAFYA alone has distributed more than 1.6 million health education tips across over 10 countries in Africa.

Ensuring the continuity of successful projects through Avallain Foundation

In the process of implementing different projects, we realised the successful ones had two important outcomes. First, they produced and delivered high-quality educational content via cutting-edge technology to people in great need of it, and second, they created job opportunities while also engaging teachers, governments and local authorities.These positive outcomes further fuelled Avallain AG’s determination and we decided to launch an independent organisation, Avallain Foundation, aimed at managing sustained and further educational outreach. Avallain AG donated the previously developed products to the Foundation to support it in its beginning stages, and together with our employees, founders and private donors, we contributed significant funds to enable the Foundation to continue to develop high-quality local content and support its distribution. To secure the Foundation’s continued stability and success, Avallain AG is committed to covering the administration costs, making sure that each donated dollar goes directly to those who need it most. Avallain Foundation is a fully established 501(c)(3) nonprofit organisation based in the United States with offices in New York and Nairobi, Kenya.

Unlocking education from the United States to Africa

Avallain Foundation works to improve learning and increase digital literacy hoping to bridge the digital divide and eradicate poverty. As Miriam Ruiz, Executive Director of the Foundation points out, “The existing new technologies should enable access to universal education, but that is not quite the reality today. Many stakeholders provide infrastructure and vast generic content collections, but there is a lack of locally-relevant content that is compatible with existing school systems and multiple environments. That gap must be filled with high-quality digital content.”To help fill that gap, the Foundation’s focus is on implementing projects in four main areas — child education, emergency education, literacy and education in the United States for those who have no easy access to the system such as ethnic minorities or immigrants. We want to reach and include those left behind and, as founder Ursula Suter says, “contribute with our best, to unlock education for those who need it most.”

If you want to learn more about Avallain Foundation and our projects, or if you’d like to get involved, please visit avallainfoundation.org.

¹ United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. Education: Number of out-of-school children of primary school age. UNESCO Institute for Statistics, http://data.uis.unesco.org/. Accessed 26 Sept. 2016.

The pace of change in our industry is breathtaking. New learning technologies abound, bringing with them exciting possibility and commercial opportunity. But they also raise questions: which of them will prove themselves? Which are worth the time and investment it takes to make them part of what you do, and which will fail to live up to the hype? And in the meantime, how should you keep your strategic focus, and control your costs?

Understanding the Hype Cycle

In a field of bright ideas and shifting technologies, it can be impossible to tell the ones that count, from the ones that can’t. Even when a technology is destined for great things, expectations become overinflated, and our understanding of how best to make use of it is lacking. Only with time do we come to understand its true value and rightful place. The clever folk at Gartner have modeled this principle, and they call it the Hype Cycle.

Some technologies will fail somewhere along this path, reaching that Peak of Inflated Expectations but never quite making it to the Plateau of Productivity. But Gartner suggests that all significant technology makes this journey. The precise shape of the cycle might vary a little for each technology, but the passage through these five phases will be the same.

A year ago, for instance, Gartner placed the Experience API on its way up the Peak of Inflated Expectations; learning analytics at the peak; gamification entering the Trough of Disillusionment; and e-textbooks climbing the slope to productivity. The University of Minnesota has done more work on this, and has plotted all new educational technology on what they call the Hype Cycle for Education.

Reading the Hype Cycle, and choosing the time to invest

The point of all this is simple: it takes all technology time to prove itself, and even more time to mature. In the meantime, solutions providers, publishers and institutions have to decide whether and when to invest. Adopt early, and they risk wasting time and money. Adopt too late, and they miss an opportunity to stand out from the pack.

But it doesn’t need to be that way.

In our 20 years in educational technology, we have seen cycle after cycle. We have witnessed the empty hype of passing fads, and the impact of true, seismic disruptions. Throughout, our aim has been to shield our clients from cost and risk, and the fact that so many have stayed with us for more than a decade shows that we have the formula right. So what is our secret?

An holistic view of technology: platforms that evolve

At Avallain, we always have an eye on emerging technology, using our didactical and technical experience to sift out those that are more hype than substance. When we think one looks interesting, we approach it holistically, as part of our suite of technologies that deliver learning. We build the new capability into our existing architecture: Avallain Author for content innovations, Avallain Unity for learning management. And because we build flexibly, with an entirely object-oriented approach, such integrations are efficient: on average our customers have a first response to the new technology within just three months.

Once adopted, the new technology benefits from the stability of our mature platforms, and from the genuine learning context that they provide. Meanwhile our clients are able to experiment with the new capability early, and at a fraction of the cost of implementing it alone. Because they can simply switch the capability on, they are free to introduce it to their products without any of the risk of rollout, or move more slowly without the risk of being left behind.

Managing disruptive change into productivity

As the technology journeys to maturity, we are watching. Our review processes enable us to explore how the innovation contributes to learning, and our clients quickly benefit from our refinements and emerging best practice. But this work is never a distraction. We continue to work holistically, with the complete suite of learning innovations that make up our platforms, using each technology for what it does best. We don’t over-invest in one innovation, or present it as a panacea, and so we avoid expensive reversals down the line.

And when the new technology is down that line, at the Plateau of Productivity, we are not content just to maintain it. Like the platform as a whole, it receives regular enhancement, so that it continues to be responsive to changing demands, and to earn its place in the Avallain ecosystem.

In this way, Avallain makes full use of each phase of the Hype Cycle. No emergent technology passes us by, and instead of the hype ruling commercial decisions, it is absorbed and controlled. Fashionable technology is given its place, and key new educational technologies are managed into productivity.

And our clients? They know that the best of new technology is always in the pipeline, and that the disruptions of the future will never break the bank.

Five years ago a revolution began in our industry. The SCORM standard became yesterday’s news, and something else stole the limelight: Experience API, otherwise known as TinCan API, or xAPI. It promised great things: a simple, flexible specification that connects the dots between a person’s or group’s learning experiences, wherever they happen, online or offline.

Avallain immediately saw the potential. We got involved early, and made it part of our own research and development. So what has been our experience of Experience API? Does it do what it says on the TinCan, or is it all technological hype?

What is Experience API?

Experience API is an open source specification established by Advanced Distributed Learning (ADL), the people who oversee SCORM. Effectively, it defines a common language between any environments in which a person or group might gather experience or learn. That includes less obvious ones like offline learning, social learning, virtual worlds and gaming. The specification is not bound by hardware, software or any kind of context. It takes up where SCORM left off, capturing our more modern experience of technology: one that is blended, mobile and complex.

Think, for example, of a teacher who wants to use a learning app to illustrate a point to their class. It is not part of the school LMS, but it is relevant and useful, and the learning outcomes provide a helpful measure of progress, too. With the Experience API at work, students should be able to use the app and have their achievements captured in the LMS. They could collaborate over it on a social platform, and have that interaction captured, too. Then, when the class next meets to discuss and interact about their experiences, the outcomes of that offline discussion can be added to the record. None of the learning is lost – not for the learner, nor for the teacher.

How does it work?

This is the elegant part. Experience API uses the same form of language that we have always used to describe and record our experiences:

actor + verb + object

Or to put it simply:

I        did        this

When you think about it, all of our actions and achievements can be distilled into a statement that takes this form:

actor      verb       object

she       visited          ?

he         scored          ?

Dave     viewed        ?

they      mastered    ?

This is the basis of Experience API: actions and achievements captured in very simple statements. When those statements need to be recorded, they are sent and held securely in a repository called a Learning Record Store (LRS). LRSs can be inside a Learning Management System or they can stand alone, but two things are common to them all: the language they use and the fact that they are able to communicate with other LRSs.

In these simple ways, Experience API promises to create a new, free and meaningful dialogue between the different places in which we learn. Nothing of our learning journey should be lost, and with modern analytics, there could be much to gain. This greater insight into the full spread of our learning experiences could tell us things like how and where we learn best, our weaknesses and how they are changing, our emerging interests, blind spots and aptitudes, as well as what content works best in which context.

So, what do we think of Experience API?

We have always seen the potential. We engaged early and developed our own LRS. We made sure that content generated in Avallain Author supports the standard. We know that Experience API is taking the industry in the right direction, towards the joined-up journey that learning should be.

But it is not a panacea. So far, we have a grammar for this new common language, but not the vocabulary. It will only work to full effect once we are all using standard actors, verbs and objects. Neither is compliance with the specification an end in itself, it is a beginning. Two systems may both be compliant, but that does not make their communication meaningful, or guarantee their combined performance. And if an LRS is always part of a larger, interconnected architecture, where should the overarching analysis of attainment and behaviours take place, and using what tools? In other words, most of the creative and technical challenges remain, even if the possibilities just got more interesting.

Diverse learning: the future beyond SCORM

Experience API offers us a way to leave behind some of the limitations of SCORM, and embrace a more diverse learning experience: one that is digital, mobile, recreational, social, offline, lifelong. That is as it should be, and we will do all we can to work with the specification, and to help it mature. But it must not become a distraction from the things that underpin a great digital learning experience: inspirational content, creative collaboration, robust pedagogy and exceptional design.

That is what Avallain is here for: to deliver for its clients these things that truly drive learning, and along the way, make best use of new technologies like Experience API.

Today is International Literacy Day, instituted by UNESCO to highlight the importance of literacy to individuals and communities. In the fifty years since the day it was first celebrated, UNESCO has reported real improvements in literacy, and last year estimated the global rate to be 86.3%. But this statistic belies the exclusion and inequality experienced in some parts of the world and some sections of society. In sub-Saharan Africa, UNESCO estimates the literacy rate to be only 64.0%, and everywhere, men are still far more likely to achieve literacy than women. For those of us working in education, the literacy challenge remains very real, and so today we thought we should look at the role of educational technology in this crucial field, through the prism of our own work.

In its recent report Harnessing the Potential of ICTs, UNESCO itself points to “valuable examples of how ICTs can be used creatively and innovatively”¹ in adult literacy. No fewer than four of the twenty-six projects in the report involve Avallain technology and we will focus upon these to show the challenge, our response, and the outcome. As you will see, each project involves content generated by the programme’s own staff in Avallain Author, which was then delivered to learners on the Avallain Unity platform.

KENYA: community empowerment, literacy and the environment

Challenges: only 75% of children in Kenya graduate from grade 4, of whom around 70% are able to read. Almost two-thirds (61%) of all illiterate adults are women. The society faces significant environmental threats, for which its communities are ill-prepared, partly due to the education gap. The country’s limited infrastructure and electricity supply act as a barrier to the delivery of ICT-based education.

Response: in 2009, Avallain partnered with CORDIO, an organization providing community training with a focus on literacy and the environment. Avallain Author enabled CORDIO’s field workers to create simulations based on real-life community issues and challenges. Working offline on “100 dollar” laptops, which have a long battery life, learners might be asked to fill in forms, complete activities and solve problems, all in support of a practical goal. True to community tradition, learners do not work alone but in groups, supported by facilitators who encourage group discussion and collaboration. All of these activities promote environmental awareness, while improving literacy, numeracy, language and ICT skills.

Outcomes: according to the UNESCO report, the programme has delivered marked benefits, particularly for women. Previously illiterate women are now able to read and write basic sentences and use ICT, and their numeracy and language skills have improved. In these ways the programme has also enhanced the employability of participants, while improving the community’s internal communications, and engagement with wider society.

GERMANY: “Ich Will Lernen” – personalized, lifelong learning for all

Challenges: Despite Germany’s impressive educational record, 9% of students are unable to complete their studies. Because of this, in 2004 an estimated 4 million young people and adults were functionally illiterate. Stigma and family commitments make re-entry into formal education extremely difficult.

Response: The German Adult Education Association (GAEA) launched the “Ich Will Lernen” (“I want to Learn”) programme, to deliver lifelong basic and secondary education via the Internet. The resulting free online portal offers youths and adults daily learning packages in the subjects of German, Math and English, selected from more than 31,000 activities authored in Avallain Author. The learning environment, built on Avallain Unity, delivers flexible, self-regulated courses at 16 learning levels. Students may choose from online-only learning with online facilitators, or courses based at one of around 1,000 adult education centres across Germany. The programme benefits from a rigorous process of continuous review, driven by facilitators and learners, which keeps it fresh and responsive in a rapidly changing digital and social landscape.

Outcomes: Encouraged by the portal’s anonymity and personalized learning experience, approximately 500,000 learners have used it to develop their skills since 2004. The programme continues to build for the future, and has trained hundreds of trainers and facilitators. In addition, more than 1,400 teachers across Germany continue to use it in their courses. It has won three prestigious awards for its work: the Comenius medal, the European e-Learning Award, and the national Digita.

IRELAND: fighting the stigma of adult learning, with WriteOn

Challenges: Despite a period of investment lasting almost 20 years, a recently released OECD survey of adult skills suggests that 4.3% of Irish adults are below level 1 proficiency in literacy, and 13.2% are only at level 1. The stigma of learning as an adult, and a lack of faith in formal education, both play a large part in excluding potential learners from the education system.

Response: In 2008, the National Adult Literacy Agency (NALA) launched an online distance learning initiative called WriteOn. NALA’s team of educators used Avallain Author to develop the content for the portal, which launched in just 5 months. The learning environment, delivered on Avallain Unity, first assesses the student’s level of ability, and then supports them with structured online activities, digital workbooks and online one-to-one tutoring to proficiency levels 2 and 3. The workbooks and courses employ practical, real-world scenarios to ensure that learners are able to apply their skills. They may also pursue topics of particular interest to drive their learning, rather than being confined to a single path. Students are encouraged to work online only, or to use WriteOn as a blended programme, supported by one of 180 learning centres across Ireland. Each year, the service benefits from three rounds of internal and external review, ensuring that it remains responsive and current.

Outcomes: since its inception, more than 32,000 students have enrolled, and 2,500 of those have gone on to obtain 14,500 certificates at literacy levels 2 and 3. UNESCO reports that WriteOn has achieved “nationwide recognition” and highlights its “highly personalized approach” allowing learners to learn in a way that suits their lifestyles. The report concludes that WriteOn has done much to overcome the “stigmatized image” of literacy learning and the “negative associations” of formal education.

TURKEY: offering a second chance at literacy and numeracy

Challenges: In Turkey the formal education system struggles with extremely high school absence rates, averaging at 73 days per student, per year. All too many students fail to complete their education, and in 2012, there were 3.8 million adults who had never completed primary education. 2.8 million of them could not read or write, and 80% of those were women.

Response: in 2011, the Mother Child Education Foundation approached Avallain to help them develop the “Web-based Literacy Programme” (WBLP), a free online portal aimed at boosting literacy and numeracy skills among adults. Its 5,500 activities, created in Avallain Author, deliver 360 hours of instruction: the entire content of the equivalent face-to-face adult literacy programme. WBLP prepares students for two levels of literacy exams, which act as a gateway back into formal education. The programme also responds to the 96% of students surveyed who expressed a desire to improve their ICT skills. The Avallain Unity platform provides a structured and easy-to-use learning experience, supported by intuitive navigation and tools such as text-to-speech. With the help of online tutors, 75% of students learn entirely online, overcoming factors such as family obligations or distance, which might otherwise exclude them from education. The programme also acts as a blended solution, working with face-to-face literacy programmes in adult education centres.

Outcomes: By November 2013, WBLP had 6,800 students, of whom 75% were women. 52% of all learners had never gone to school. A pilot study in 2012 showed that WBLP students were able to develop their ICT skills while achieving the same literacy and numeracy proficiencies as those in less accessible, more costly face-to-face classes. Many WBLP students have taken the second level literacy exam, re-opening their access to formal education.

Re-opening an avenue to education and self-improvement

It is heartening to reflect on these achievements in the field of adult literacy, but we know that there is much more to be done. These and other projects tell us that educational technology, when done well, provides unique opportunities to overcome the stigma and exclusion that so often surrounds adult learning. It offers the flexibility to fit with the busy, responsible lives of adults, wherever they are, and for many, it re-opens an avenue to education and self-improvement.

Our engagement in Adult Literacy began in 2004, and this year we are deepening our commitment by establishing the Avallain Foundation.

¹Ulrike Hanemann, Introduction, Harnessing the Potential of ICTs: Literacy and Numeracy Programmes Using Radio, TV, Mobile Phones, Tablets and Computers

Avallain has joined forces with Westermann, one of the leading publishers of educational media in Germany, to develop a primary math learning environment that supports truly differentiated learning, allowing teachers to respond to the needs of individuals.

Denken und Rechnen (“Thinking and Numeracy”) is a new-generation learning platform with the capacity to offer unique learning paths to individuals or groups in a class. Teachers are offered insights into learner progress, competence and skills, along with the tools to intervene where necessary to offer additional support or guidance. The environment enables them to organize and assign digital resources to respond to specific weaknesses – or to build on strengths – while managing the overall progress of the class. For students, Denken und Rechnen offers enhanced, interactive versions of the full content of the textbook, with tips, instant feedback and information about progress and developing skills. The experience is optimized for tablets as well as PCs, to facilitate learning at home as well as in class.

Developed on the Avallain Unity platform, with content delivered by Avallain Author,Denken und Rechnen was produced in less than a year, benefitting from the flexibility and integration of the two solutions. With highly granular content, authored digitally and delivered seamlessly to the learning environment, Denken und Rechnen offers tight integration between print and digital editions to support teachers, however they wish to teach.

Dr. Isabel Schneider, Group Leader Elementary School Foreign Languages, Digital Media at the Westermann Group, said:

Denken und Rechnen responds directly to the challenges and opportunities faced by today’s teachers. Through the flexibility of the environment, we hope to have created an experience that enriches and supports teaching, and that enhances learning through a more diverse and sophisticated classroom.

Ignatz Heinz, MD of Avallain AG, commented:

We are delighted to collaborate with Westermann to offer a meaningful, flexible response to the current reality in schools. We believe that Denken und Rechnen provides true support for differentiated learning, by giving teachers the insights and tools they need. As ever, we are very pleased to see Avallain Unity and Avallain Author responding effectively to specific market and user needs, and we look forward to working with Westermann in other content and subject areas.

Based in Braunschweig, the Westermann Group is one of the significant providers of educational media in Germany. Operating in its three core areas of publishing, printing and services, the group provides comprehensive media solutions in the fields of education and knowledge, and publishes educational materials for all school types and subjects across all federal states.

In a recent article for the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE), Dale Basye raised an important question: are the terms personalized learning, differentiated learning and individualized learning meaningfully different? Are they interchangeable, or are they distinctive terms, describing alternate approaches to education?

The answer, argues Basye, is that the terms are very different, and the difference is important. The unique interests and needs of students require diverse approaches to teaching and learning; and crucially, only by using a consistent vocabulary for these approaches can educators share best practice and deploy the right tools to create what Basye describes as “profoundly dynamic educational experiences”. So, what do these terms mean, and how do the three approaches differ?

Differentiated learning: who is the learner, and what do they need?

Even where there are overarching learning goals, teachers may still vary their instruction to meet the individual needs and preferences of students, or a group of similar students. This differentiation might involve varying the learning path, product, process, content or even subject matter in order to address the specific learning profile of students. This is not about writing a different lesson plan for each student, but it is about adapting the curriculum, varying the level of challenge, and altering the path to learning. This flexibility makes the learning experience more relevant, engaging and effective.

Individualized learning: at what pace does the learner learn?

As well as varying how a student learns, teachers may govern when they learn, by changing the pace of progress through the curriculum. The benefits of this individualized learning are many: students may spend more time on a challenging topic, move quickly past one they have mastered, or dive deeply into a topic they want to explore in more detail. All this helps the teachers to achieve the prescribed academic goals, without losing anything – or anyone – along the way.

Personalized learning: how might the learner learn for themselves?

Basye describes personalized learning as the “whole enchilada”: neither differentiated nor individualized, but both. It is instruction that is varied to meet the specific learning needs of students, and paced according to their readiness and interest. But it’s more than that. In true personalized learning, the student plays a part in their own instruction, choosing activities, resources or learning paths that best suit their interests and abilities. This is true learner-centred education, and so for teachers, it represents a stark departure from tradition, placing them in the role of guide or facilitator, rather than instructor. Given the unique demands of each student engaged in personalized learning, educational technology would appear to have a particularly important role to play. So that, in a nutshell, is the meaning of the terms, and the differences between them. In the conclusion of his article, Basye remarks that educational technology, when employed properly, has a role to play in all of these forms of instruction. We agree with him, so what exactly are we doing about it?

Measurement and response: the promise of technology

Essentially, each of these approaches involves managing individuality, which in technology terms, means managing vast amounts of constantly changing data. This is just what computers are made for. Digital learning resources, and the paths through them, can be altered by teachers to deliver the differentiated and individualized learning experiences we have discussed. There is much that can be measured and captured by computers in the learning process, such as scores, behaviours, interests, error types, speed and so on, and these advances have been exploited with some success by adaptive learning technologies to meet the demands of personalized learning. But does this really mean that out-of-the-box technology can address fully all of these learning approaches?

A collaboration between educators, students and technology

At Avallain, we recognize that the picture is more complex. Our technologies have all of the capabilities we have described, but we are aware that real digital learning requires a successful collaboration between educators, students and technology. A technology designed to deliver differentiated learning, but that places too much pressure upon teachers, or fails to address their specific concerns, will not work. Neither will a solution that promises true personalized learning, but that makes too many assumptions about the self-motivation or tech-savvy of the particular students, or that does not call enough upon the guidance of their teachers.

Solutions with uniqueness in mind

Avallain has always focused on devising very specific solutions for very specific audiences. Avallain Unity and Avallain Author are among the most flexible in the industry, because we build our platforms with the uniqueness of learning experiences in mind. Primary learners in Mexico, Academics in Oxford and German-learning immigrants learn with Avallain solutions, all using custom interfaces and guidance based on the same solid technology. Across the world, our technology is being used to deliver the full range of differentiated, individualized and personalized learning in a way that is meaningful and manageable for specific groups of teachers and students.

Basye finishes his piece with his comment that a common vocabulary will help educators to harness the tools they need to deliver “profoundly dynamic educational experiences”. We agree, and we believe that the best educational technology results from a creative dialogue between providers and educators, based on that common vocabulary, but also the specific need.

That is the Avallain approach, and that is how we build our technology.

Recent years have seen the invention of a plethora of new digital media, from self-marking activities to smart ebooks, from podcasts to animations and games. But even now, the print components of a course are often favoured by teachers and students as the crucial hub of a course, even when enhanced by these digital innovations.

Avallain has great respect for print, partly in recognition of educational tradition, and also acknowledging, as engineers, the technological superiority of print as an undemanding, always operational, visual and haptic carrier of information. Nevertheless we understand that for publishers, the duplication of effort between print and digital production creates a significant strain on time and budgets. It stands to reason that removing this duplication would enable the industry to give greater focus to creativity of commissioning, authorship and design, and to make full use of the strengths of each medium, separately, and in combination.

With these as our principles, we have long researched the ideal blend of print and digital workflows. This journey led us to our partner Seinet, a provider based in Madrid that has its origins in editorial content management systems for print magazines, but now provides smart content management to support the diverse needs of modern publishing. Their outstanding Xtent solution is centred upon an abstracted content database, and achieves flatpanel layouting, InDesign integration and many input and output transformations at scale and speed. Combining this power with Avallain Author, our authoring solution, provides something unique: transparent editing, output to print and digital, with the kind of version, state and permissions control you would expect from an advanced content management system.

Consider, then, a typical multi-component course involving textbooks and accompanying interactive content for apps and a learning platform. Discover a typo? One intervention fixes it for reprint, for download and immediate use online. Need to modify a heading in the app and carry that change through to the learning platform and the next print edition? One edit does it all. Keen to create new ancillary content for digital and then print a loose-leaf edition to go with it? We have you covered. And all this within a controlled, tracked workflow that retains the quality and editorial rigor expected in great publishing.

This integration of Avallain Author and Xtent is already being piloted at our major publishing clients, and we are excited by early results. If you would like to join the blended publishing revolution, please contact us to enter the program.

Ignacio Megasias, CEO of Seinet, says:

We are delighted to be working with Avallain to bring the best of content management to a new kind of educational publishing: one which frees authors and editors to focus on the quality and creativity of the content, while intelligent tools manage publication to a range of media and devices. In this way we hope to make educational publishing more efficient, more responsive, and at the same time, more innovative.”

Max Bondi, Product Manager of Avallain Author, says:

The pioneering blend of Avallain’s expertise in dynamic digital authoring, and Seinet’s pedigree in smart content management, promises a new era in educational publishing. Our integrated service provides publishers with new efficiencies, while extending their reach across print and digital. We are looking forward to involving other clients in our pilot project over the coming months.

Seinet is an independent, privately owned company based in Madrid, providing publishing platforms to the global education and media industries. Founded in 2001 with the mission to deliver a “create once, publish anywhere” content management solution, Seinet has moved from traditional print media to become the only content management system provider to integrate both publishing and e-learning functionality.

InDesign is a Trademark of Adobe.

A new exam-revision mobile application from Oxford University Press, developed in collaboration with Avallain, promises to transform the way children prepare for Kenya’s primary and secondary exams.

The ExamPoa app delivers on-demand bundles of quizzes, notes and model exams, which offer instant feedback, allowing students to test themselves, hone their studies and address areas of weakness. The app breaks new ground in distance learning for Kenyan schoolchildren, using mobile technology to reach learners throughout the vast country, and to offer them a more flexible and responsive form of study. The quizzes, notes and model exams may be downloaded and used offline, freeing learners to complete their revision anytime, anywhere. Prepared initially to support learners of English and Science at primary level, and English, Biology and History at secondary level, ExamPoa will expand over time to offer support in other subject areas.

James Ogolla, Marketing Manager at Oxford University Press East Africa said:

ExamPoa addresses an increasing demand from Kenya’s young students for digital resources that offer a level of feedback and support that is not always possible in class. Our engaging but rigorous resources, combined with Avallain’s reliable, intuitive technology, truly answer that call. We look forward to expanding the service to other areas of the curriculum.

We are delighted to have collaborated with Oxford University Press to develop such an innovative and valuable service for Kenya’s students,” commented Ursula Suter, Co-Founder of Avallain. “We have worked hard to ensure that our technology is appropriate to the needs of Kenya’s students, allowing them to study on a range of devices, with or without an Internet connection. But as ever, it is not the technology that we wish to be the focus, but the excitement and reward of a great learning experience. We know from early feedback from schoolchildren that ExamPoa is proving worthy of its Kiswahili name: Poa, meaning ‘good’ or ‘cool’!

Established in 1954, Oxford University Press East Africa is a leading educational publisher in the East and Central Africa region, specializing in school textbooks and reference works. It is a branch of the International Division of Oxford University Press.

Avallain is a world leader in the provision of educational technology. Co-founded by Ursula Suter in 2002, it has provided consultancy and online tools to governments, corporations, educational publishers and institutions around the globe. Avallain’s subsidiary in Nairobi, Kenya has produced a range of groundbreaking educational products for the local education system.

In collaboration with Avallain, University of Dayton Publishing (UDP) operates UDP Access, a state of the art learning management system that adapts to the real-life circumstances of students and teachers in Central and South America.

UDP Access overflows with the stimulating learning content that you would expect from a creative initiative involving an innovative publisher and Avallain: enhanced digital books, unique digital readers, online projects and, of course, hundreds of interactive activities enriched with diverse media and great design. But what makes this environment even more exceptional is its accessibility. While UDP Access is fully online, it is also available for download as a companion app for tablets and desktops, so that it may be enjoyed offline.

Lauren Robbins, Director of Publishing and Professional Services ELT at Grupo SM, notes:

Our relationship with Avallain has allowed our digital offer to evolve from simple interactive content, to our own ground breaking platform that supports users both online and – as is still typical in most classrooms – offline. We are delighted to have achieved a suite of digital services that fully supports teachers and learners, without technical distractions or obstacles.

Ursula Suter, Co-Founder of Avallain remarked:

Our engagement in Mexico started in 2013, led by our engaging and exciting work with UDP. Since then, our decision to invest in a local support presence has been vindicated again and again, by our great collaboration with UDP, by the general growth of the digital market in the region, and by the enthusiasm with which creative and targeted solutions are received.

University of Dayton Publishing is a publisher of print and digital ELT/ESL courses and support materials for preschool, primary and secondary schools in Mexico and Latin America. It is the result of the strategic alliance between the University of Dayton – a private university in Dayton, Ohio, USA – and the SM Group.