Persistent Obstacles and Fresh Opportunities

A White Paper by ArtsInteractive

Introduction

In recent years educational publishers have invested heavily in new technologies. In 2013, McGraw-Hill acquired the digital adaptive learning platform ALEKS for $200 million.^[1] Earlier this year, Pearson announced Pearson Ventures, with $50 million worth of funding to be invested in independent ed tech startups.^[2] The overall textbook industry is slowly shifting as publishers strive to reap rewards from their investments. In February, Cengage announced that over a period of seven months it had sold more than 1 million subscriptions to its online service Cengage Unlimited.^[3]

Because of their inherently multimedia nature—music, text, images, graphics, and video—college music courses lend themselves particularly well to digital treatment. This white paper explores the effectiveness of today’s course materials in light of these new opportunities. We find that while progress has been made, there remains enormous room for significant, even transformative improvements. After examining current models and goals of music higher ed, we identify seven areas where current texts fall short of meeting these goals, and conclude by proposing solutions.