Digital Magazine and Newspaper Editions: Best Practice Cases
Results
� Teachers use the content frequently despite technology limitations. Some
teachers have to make transparencies of newspaper content, while others use
more modern projection equipment.
� Digital subscriptions are now used by 2,500 teachers and make up 7% of the
total educational subscriptions. That number is growing rapidly despite issues
with slow data connections and firewall issues. The digital deliveries to schools
saved the Denver News Agency $466,000 in 2006, and savings in 2007 were
expected to surpass $750,000.
� Teachers can create a customized “My Paper” to cover the topics that they
consider to have the greatest educational value.
� Teachers like the search and save capability and the ease of creating proper
citations.
� Because some teachers have limited technology skills, the agency has set up a
separate support desk for the education program.
� Ms. Plewka is hoping to implement these enhancements over the next few years:
o Developing additional rich media to capture student interest.
o Adding more authoritative links to help students safely explore topics found
in the digital edition.
o Allowing students to create their own custom versions.
o Generating provocative emails and RSS feeds to educators to suggest ways to
use the digital edition every day.
� “The Green Movement” is gaining support and is a reason for schools to move
from paper to digital editions.
� The Denver News Agency now has over 16,000 digital subscribers.
Lessons Learned
� The range of technical skills and acumen among educators is very broad. It is
challenging to provide content and features that are both stimulating and very
easy to use.
� Students actually expect more technical sophistication than some teachers.
� One drawback of a digital edition is lack of a physical presence in the classroom.
This issue can be overcome by generating email pedagogical suggestions and
targeted RSS feeds.
� The savings in paper, ink, and delivery are significant.
� Research shows that students who read newspapers do better on standardized
achievement tests.
Gilbane Group Conclusions:
� Attracting young readers is critical to the future health of the newspaper
industry, and digital editions in the classroom are a good first step.
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©2008 Gilbane Group, Inc. http://gilbane.com