On Saturday, I visited the Educa fair, where a book called “Towards eSchool” was launched. It includes my article “What kind of digital education do teachers need?”
Among the twenty authors is Teuvo Sankila, publishing director for Otava Publishing. He spoke at the launch event about the role of digitalisation in the production of professional textbooks. According to him, several factors require the current style of publication: reliability, management of the big picture, and age-appropriate presentation.
Sankila argues that only older students benefit from open, online material. They have critical reading skills and they can perceive the outline from fragmented web information. Open web materials are also useful for differentiating and updating teaching.
The actual surprise was the research data he provided: 90% of learning materials in British schools are produced locally. There is no unified textbook culture like in Finland. The quality of the material thus varies greatly from school to school.
In Sankila’s view, Finnish practice brings equality to students. Everyone gets high-quality paper or electronic books in line with the new curriculum at the same time. However, it may be worth recalling that there are also alternative ways, and that Sankila represents the publisher’s view.