How digital publishing is changing higher education


Digital publishing should be part of a mobile marketing plan that leverages best practices and help inform business decisions.

digital-publishing-educationWalk around any college campus today and, more than likely, you’ll see students heads down in their studies.

What’s different about today’s campuses compared to those just a few years ago is the number of students engaged with a mobile device.

Today’s college freshmen class, in particular, has been using smartphones or tablet devices for more than six years, according to a recent IDC study commissioned by Adobe.

So it’s natural that they would expect their college to provide an infrastructure that supports mobile.

Students have a high expectation for anywhere, anytime access to rich content. IDC’s research points out that smartphones and tablets are quickly replacing PCs as the primary devices for search and information access.

Students use tablets, for example, to take notes in class, conduct research, study for tests and read digital textbooks. While many schools are still experimenting with digital publishing and mobile content delivery, some have made serious commitments to the technology. More on that later.

A natural evolution

How universities respond to the growing demand and need for mobile content delivery varies. Some support their students and other stakeholders with static PDF versions of their publications.

But these are simply digital replicas of print documents – not immersive, born-digital content. Others may turn to a responsive web approach, but apps are proving much stickier than websites.

The content in an app is downloaded once and lives on the users devices, even when they are not connected to the internet. An app is also easy to update and will let a user know that new content is available, which websites clearly can’t do.

That’s said, more progressive campuses have adopted digital publishing solutions to create apps or digital publications featuring compelling and interactive content, including commenting, social sharing, feedback forms, video, audio and multimedia, and in some cases, even take alumni donations or sell logoed merchandise.

Admittedly, there is some ambiguity surrounding digital publishing – it’s still a relatively new concept within education. Some are concerned that digital publishing will mean abandoning print, and that will jeopardize the more tactile connection schools have with their constituencies.

There is also a perception that digital publishing is outside the bounds of budget, skills and resources. While developing a powerful and effective mobile app isn’t trivial, there are digital publishing tools, such as Adobe Digital Publishing Suite (DPS), that make the entire workflow for mobile content – from design and development to deployment – much simpler than expected.

From a skills perspective, adopting digital publishing is a natural evolution. Because solutions, such as Adobe DPS, use workflows already used to create print publications, schools can leverage the existing skills of their staff.

Proven Success

The results of a digital publishing strategy – greater engagement with stakeholders, expanded reach and reduced costs – are compelling.

For example, digital publishing plays a large role in Ball State University’s immersive learning efforts. The school believes that engaging students in unique, high-impact learning experiences gives them the skills to deliver real-world solutions before and after graduation.

The university’s new Digital Publishing Studio – built on Adobe DPS – supports immersive learning by enabling students to design, develop and publish digital content and tablet applications. Undergraduates gain practical experience developing digital apps under the guidance of faculty and industry professionals.

Digital publishing has benefits beyond the classroom as well. Building stakeholder engagement by reaching students, alumni, staff, team fans and potential applicants via digital publications is one of the top business drivers, according to the IDC study.

The University of Dayton’s viewbook app, for example, provides potential undergraduate students with an inside look at the university.

Applicants can download the free app to access information about Dayton’s philosophy, academic programs, student life, service opportunities, and outcomes – as well as a series of interactive extras that provide unique access to every aspect of the school’s experience. And through built-in analytics, the University of Dayton learned that potential students from 20 different countries viewed the app within just three weeks of its launch.

Schools are also realizing substantial cost savings by utilizing digital publishing as part of their mobile marketing strategies. Large universities, for example, often are medium-sized publishing houses.

They produce alumni magazines, viewbooks, visitor guides, fundraising materials, annual reports, sports media guides, president’s reports, and research magazines. IDC learned that big universities can easily spend $10 million a year on printing and shipping of these publications. With many schools facing budget constraints, a digital publishing strategy can help cover the gaps budget cuts create.

The UCLA Anderson School of Management, for example, reduced costs by 30 percent moving its alumni magazine from print to digital. The school has been fostering business leadership and entrepreneurship for more than 75 years and wanted the digital edition of its alumni magazine, Assets, to reflect their focus on innovation.

With DPS, the business school created Assets Digital, an interactive set of experiences filled with rich media and real-time features, available as an app for the iPad. The digital edition offered the potential to expand readership from approximately 35,000 registered alumni to millions of tablet owners interested in the latest developments in business, news and the UCLA Anderson culture.

The digital edition saves on paper, printing and mailing, and supports the university’s overall sustainability efforts.


The University of North Carolina’s Kenan-Flagler Business School recently deployed three new DPS apps: UNC Business, it’s alumni magazine, ROI, it’s faculty research journal, and a very innovative MBA recruiting app called, appropriately, The MBA App.

These digital publishing projects are part of a broader digital initiative focused on delivering “a connected customer journey” across all channels. Through these highly interactive apps, UNC Kenan-Flagler is creating an engaging, rich media experience, and measuring that engagement on the back end to track a host of metrics such as program inquiries, downloads and launches.

Thinking Ahead

What should universities considering a digital publishing strategy do? The short answer is to look at what others are doing in mobile content development and implementation to learn from their experiences. Newspaper and magazine publishers have been embracing digital publications for a few years and enterprises are leveraging digital publishing as well.

Notably, businesses in financial services, life sciences, retail, and manufacturing are using digital content to build strong connections with their key constituencies.

I’d also encourage institutions to consider what other colleges and universities – like those mentioned above – are doing to maximize their mobile marketing strategies, and determine the best practices that could be reasonably adopted.

Bottom line, digital publishing ought to be part of a well-thought-out mobile marketing plan—one that leverages existing workflows, best practices and resources, benefits the school by expanding their reach and stakeholder’s engagement and delivers analytics that will help inform business decisions.

While a move to digital publishing can be done incrementally, the college or university that doesn’t start now will likely be playing catch up – a dicey proposition in today’s fast-paced, mobile world.

Karen McCavitt is the Worldwide Marketing Group Manager for Higher Education, Adobe Systems.

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