Calgary, AB (January 19, 2017) – Yesterday Bloomberg reported that Pearson Plc, an education publishing company, had a decrease of 30% in Q4 for their higher education material in the United States. This may indicate that students are recognizing alternatives to the traditional printed textbook. Over the past ten years, prices on textbooks have risen over three times the rate of inflation.
In contrast, Lyryx Learning, a Canadian-owned open educational resources company, saw an increase of 20% in Q4, 2016. Both companies provide course material for higher education. The difference is that Pearson publishes textbooks while Lyryx provides Open Texts and adaptable online educational resources.
“The education world is changing rapidly. Students can’t afford the hyper inflated costs of textbooks,” says Claude Laflamme, Founder and CEO of Lyryx Learning. “Traditional publishers aren’t reacting fast enough to a changing market where everything is online and accessible to all.”
Instructors are also adapting to the students need for change. Deborah Wilson, an instructor at Selkirk College says, “School fees keep mounting for students and we want to help out any way we can.”
Gone are the days of lugging around five expensive textbooks each semester that are never to be used again or sold at a fraction of the original value. Lyryx is innovating and considers students’ best interests when developing products.
These are some of the reasons open educational resources (OER) support students learning:
- Cost savings
- Convenience of learning anywhere
- Texts are open and adaptable
- Universal access
To find out more about Lyryx Learning, visit: http://lyryx.com
Bloomberg Article Referenced: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-01-18/pearson-withdraws-2018-profit-goal-will-exit-penguin-venture
