The world market of digital educational editions: Development prospects

Abstract

The article discusses the changes in the educational publications market under the influence of digital transformation. Expansion of the diversity of digital devices, changes in the needs of the target audience, and the development of new educational practices contribute to the emergence and growth of new niches in the global market of educational publications. The study of the market of digital educational products in different countries shows that many factors influence the level of its development. These factors are the government policy, the level of IT technology in the country, and the competitive environment in this niche in the market of a particular country. Moreover, the quality of the competitive environment and the interest of technology companies have a greater impact than the government policy. Two strategies for the production of electronic educational products in the modern world market stand out and are illustrated by examples: publishing isolationism and production tandems with technology companies. A classification of three models of electronic textbooks is proposed based on the analysis of educational publications in the natural sciences representing countries with emerging markets for electronic textbooks: the United States, Russia, and Finland. The first model is the presentation of electronic textbooks in PDF format. Textbooks in this version are the original mockup of a printed textbook. The second model is based on the printed form of the textbook, distributed in EPUB 3 format through the publisher’s own publishing software or affiliate applications. Multimedia and interactive materials in such textbooks are not mandatory, but complementary, and they are included in the textbook via pop-ups. The third model is a publication that was originally created only in electronic format. Often, such textbooks are components of a digital educational environment that provides electronic exchange of tasks, collective performance of laboratory works, interdisciplinary connection of educational material in various disciplines, etc. The study of the most relevant and innovative offers on the market of such countries as the USA, the UK, Spain, Denmark, Russia, and Finland shows four promising areas in the preparation of textbooks in the EdTech field. These are (1) artificial intelligence manuals, (2) tools of virtual, augmented, and mixed reality, (3) computer games with educational potential, and (4) programming platforms. Contribution of the authors: the authors contributed equally to this article. The authors declare no conflicts of interests.