Edtech Trend: Content Creation

The impact Khan Academy has made on the edtech market is widespread. One such result is in the growing market of content creators.

Though there has always educational videos online, the simple bite-sized format of Salman Khan’s videos attracted a wide audience on YouTube. Then donations from prominent investors like Bill Gates propelled his humble efforts into a full-fledged non-profit.

With this attention came criticism from educators. Some reacted to the grandiose statements made about him in the press. Others reacted to the pedagogical content of Khan’s videos. And others decided to create alternatives. At one point, I was able to count 60 sites similar to Khan Academy. There may be more now.

At the same time, a handful of entrepreneurial thinkers realized they could make it easy for anyone to create Khan Academy-style (i.e. digital whiteboard) videos. Instead of using someone else’s videos, you could create your own that are tailored for your students and curriculum.

This is just one example of the educational content creation trend. Right now, I see tools creating the following types of content:

  • Videos – Digital whiteboards, lectures recordings, screencasts, etc.
  • Audio – Podcasts, songs, etc.
  • Images – Lesson plan illustrations, diagrams, infographics, etc.
  • Animation – 2D cartoons, 3D cartoons, etc.
  • Presentations – Lecture slides, project presentations, etc.
  • Lesson Plans – Online multimedia lesson plans, offline lesson plans, etc.
  • Books – Textbooks, ebooks, storybooks, etc.
  • Interactives – Math manipulatives, simulations, maps, timelines, etc.
  • Websites – Class websites, blogs, wikis, etc.
  • Games – Mobile games, desktop games, web-based games, etc.
  • Quizzes – Exercises, worksheets, polls, etc.
  • Video Quizzes – Quiz questions mapped to certain points of a video
  • Online Courses – Instructional media followed by assessments
  • Digital Stories – Animated multimedia stories
  • Portfolios – Examples of student work
  • Electronics – Robots, mechanical devices, pre-made kits, etc.

One of the newest types of content to the market are online video quizzes. I am sure there will be many more to come.

This trend is part of the larger maker movement that many teachers and students are wholeheartedly embracing. It empowers teachers to craft materials suited for their classrooms and students to demonstrate their learnings and creativity in an engaging way.

Content creation going into the hands of teachers and students is a significant shift for education. Though the largest publishers may continue to dominate the market for some time, content created from the bottom-up (teachers and students) will increasingly augment content from the top-down (publishers). Bottom-up content won’t replace top-down content entirely, as there will always be a need for standardized materials, but the growing number of new publishers with high-quality, low-cost content will certainly be a threat the big publishers. And many of these new publishers are working with or are a part of the content creation trend.

There is already a wide diversity of offerings. This number will continue to increase, as well the variety of content types available. This will mean a wider range of quality in the content too. That’s where aggregation and curation will be necessary, so the most relevant and highest quality services and content can be surfaced.

What do you think?

Author: Mike Lee

An idealistic realist, humanistic technologist & constant student.