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Why more Book Publishers are looking for world-class Content Developers

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Content developers are basically involved in creating, developing and editing the content of various activities that is related to online marketing and also web-development.  A web content developer creates the original content for websites, newsletters, press releases, blogs, articles and importantly, the advertising and marketing materials based on the requirements of the client.  They often use their skills and knowledge in software and programming as well as web-based technology for creating and updating content for websites.

However, based on the requirement of the client – which might be an individual or an organization – the content developer, aside from creating new content, also might have to rewrite the existing content or edit and proofread the content. The developer might be responsible for managing the content of social media as well, and also be able to develop unique ideas for web content. The content should ideally be simple, easy to understand and user friendly; the content develop has to understand the objectives of the client and employ good search engine optimization techniques to achieve this. Experienced team of content writers and developers is an asset to the client with their handling of educational, medical, product-related, and art-related and various other subjects.

When thinking of the publishing industry, the first thing in mind may not always be business development. However, in the present scenario of digitalization and start-ups, business development is a crucial part of the publishing arena. What is ‘business development’ anyway? It is nothing but creation and maintaining relationships with vendors and potential partners, as well as finding new streams of revenue. Pitching the business to new clients and maintaining the sale and marketing channels are come under the purview of business development. As with any other business, publishers too need to think outside the traditional business models and in order to create a new spark of idea that will keep them competitive and on the edge. Reliable content developers are crucial to that role.  They can develop the spark of idea and turn it into a sales and marketing tool to carry the publishing business forward. It is not that the traditional publishing methods are incapable of doing that, but in the age of digital publishing, e-books and such, the goal has changed and sales are less about units and more about creating an efficient workflow, testing new concepts and formats and locking in promotions.  More and more publishers are turning into e-publishing now; even 10 years ago it was futuristic but now at least 20/30% of the publishing revenue comes that way.  In order to tap the fast growing e-market of publishing, content developers are absolutely a must for the publishers of the recent age.

Why world class content for textbooks is a rare thing

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Only when a textbook is designed by educators according to the curriculum – people who know what goes on in the classroom and what is comparable between curriculums as far as level of achievement is concerned, only then can a textbook can help students learn well. However, even if there is research in the field of textbook and which curriculum is the best, publishers are not interested in that because their customers are not interest in that. The publishers’ customers are the teachers, who usually are very resistance to change. Therefore, curriculum matters that would have had the maximum impact on current students – in fact, on the whole education system – are more often than not ignored by them. If they do not believe in change, then the publisher certainly will not, as that will make the venture of textbook publication significantly less profitable. The majority of teachers rule out any ‘extremes’. If they find that research-based programs are too unfamiliar – and hence too difficult – to teach, they will veto against it. The result will be continuation of the old and worn-out curriculum on old and worn out textbooks, depriving the pupils of a world-class textbook experience.

Sometimes, primary school teachers prefer textbooks that the students will find to be more fun, thus reducing their creative requirement to engage the attention of a class full of energetic children. The result might be a textbook with lots of colorful pictures, but little content. Sometimes, cost of the textbook becomes a factor as well. The school authorities might prefer a textbook that has the lowest price especially in third world countries where primary education sometimes is free, but even then burdened with substantial other expenses. Therefore, the publication that offers the most free materials get to supply the books, even if it compromises the standard of education in the long-term.

textbook_note_takingEven if there is an institution which appoints an expert committee on textbooks, this committee typically focuses on the accuracy of the content material rather than whether the said textbook will further the long-term education goal of the students. Therefore, even if the book contains facts, it becomes boring for the students, and as a result, education suffers.

The UNESCO has a standardization of textbooks and how they should be applied in classrooms, but it is rarely followed by any of the educational institutions. Their Education 2030 emphasizes on the design of inclusive learning and the contents of the textbook, it looks like we are a long way to go before we adopt that model.

Why our universities in India need better evaluation systems for academic performance

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In the education system followed by most of us (teachers and students alike) in India, the only purpose of the student is to score marks in exams; at the best they will try to succeed in competitive exams such as the AIEEE, AIPMT, IIT-JEE, CLAT, CAT and others. The education system that India is still following was established by the English Colonials whose aim was to create clerks and civil servants; the patterns has no deviated much since then. Maybe the present generation of the youths have added the grand ambition of becoming an engineer, doctor or lawyer to that, but the basic idea is the same.

Indian_UniversityMillions of students are subject to mindless rat race every year, which is pointless and mindless.  The mind numbing competitive preparations crushes the creativity of originality of who knows how many talented individuals; it even drives brilliant minds to self-harm and suicide. Since education is sees as a means to climb the social and economic ladder, extreme stress is given to examination evaluations, which follow a standardized pattern; the criteria for performance at some elite colleges in the country borders on the absurd. One college demanded 105% as criteria for admission!

Our education system is primed for teaching and testing knowledge at every level, which is as opposed to teaching the students necessary skills of life and employment. This results in mechanical mugging; the knowledge – if gained at all – is quickly forgotten as soon as the semester exams are over. There is the next goal of achieving maximum grades for the next semester. If students are taught skills, then that stay for them for their lifetime. Instead, the individual who can cram the most is rewarded the most. There is no acquiring of knowledge, only mugging up of information, which is the basis of the performance evaluation of a student.  There is no scope of any deviance from the system and risk taking is in fact mocked by the teachers. Memorizing is not learning, but the teachers take the easy way out and simply match the answer papers with the texts at hand, thereby negating any creativity that the student might have shown. The result is that the mediocre gets the highest evaluation and the creative gets a low score. This kills the scope of research and innovation, which is most necessary for taking the country forward. We forget that retention power is not actual knowledge and when the youths are tested for knowledge in real life, they fail, resulting in mediocre performance.

Assembly line education will only produce assembly line youth brigade, when the economic requirement of the country is innovation, research and unique ways of problem solving. Yet, the systems demands that what is good for one is good for all; instead of offering customized methods and tools of learning, the education system insists on a standardized method of teaching and evaluation. But one size may not fit all.  If the government would not exert iron control over the syllabi and what should be taught and how, and relax the evaluation process so that the students could be assessed on their personal strengths and not weaknesses, then we would be able to garner a stronger youth force ready to serve the country well in the future times. JIPL IntelloData is continuously working with various Government bodies entrusted for evaluation & recruitment, Universities, Colleges and other educational institutions of repute, to develop and enrich the evaluation processes followed at all levels.