Apparently, the British company, Nelson Thornes, have just sent out information to history departments that they are pulling out of selling history texts to concentrate on the e-learning sector.
http://www.nelsonthornes.com/
Is this happening in other subject areas? If so, I think they are making a terrible mistake. Schools do not have the hardware yet to make pure e-learning a reality. Even so, if they did, it would not be desirable. Some things are still better done via a textbook. That will always be the case.
In 1998 I was asked to give a talk to all the editors of Hodder Headline on the future of the textbook. I told them I thought educational publishers would go out of business if they did not adapt to the e-learning revolution. However, I pointed out that the way forward was not to concentrate all their efforts on producing online materials. That would be as disastrous as ignoring e-learning altogether. The future was textbooks that were supplemented by online resources. In this way you could do in-depth work, online simulations, question witnesses and experts via forums, etc. These integrated textbooks would have added value and would be more appealing to teachers than stand alone textbooks.
The Nelson Thornes approach is wrong for both educational and economic reasons. Like other publishers Nelson Thornes is doing well from e-learning credits. It is a serious mistake to develop a business plan based on government subsidies. E-learning credits will not last for ever. Once they come to an end, the e-learning school market will collapse.
Companies have lost fortunes investing in e-learning in the adult sector. The reason being is that too many educators are provide free materials. The same is true for students studying in the adult sector. That is a problem that commercial publishers cannot solve. Online educators will make sure of that.