A service launching this autumn for schools aims to reduce the amount of time involved in lesson preparation by delivering digital books needed for the classroom on a single online platform. Eela Devani explains.
At a time when government and educational publishers are focused on improving digital access in schools, the traditional processes of lesson preparation – often involving teachers in time-consuming photocopying of chapters and extracts from physical books – are becoming increasingly outdated.
Stretched resources don’t help to reduce the workload involved in lesson preparation. So the continuing shift to digital offers a better way to manage time and get the job done more effectively.
An online education platform for books is currently being tested by a number of schools before its launch in the autumn to all schools licensed by the Copyright Licensing Agency (CLA) across the UK. The platform allows teachers to access thousands of digital copies of the books that the school owns. 
Digital library offers flexibility
Digital access to books brings significant advantages. A digital library gives schools a complete view of the books they own and helps teachers make the most of them. The platform gives teachers the flexibility to access their school’s books remotely without needing physical copies. Teachers access their school’s books remotely on any device to make copies without needing the physical book to hand. They share them with students by sending a link in an email direct to their device, linking through the VLE or printing a hard copy for use in class.
The platform, which is available at no cost to CLA-licensed schools, allows teachers to make digital extracts of books that the school owns and share with colleagues and students. For students, whose personal lives are spent predominantly in a digital world, online access to learning content fits neatly into their comfort zone.
Schools can read more about the CLA Education Platform at a dedicated website educationplatform.co.uk. It provides a searchable database of books, with content summaries provided by educational publishers, and details of how the unlocking process works.
Eela Devani is Strategy and Digital Director of Copyright Licencing Agency. As a non-profit organisation, CLA ensures that schools can legally access, copy and share the published content they need, while ensuring copyright owners are paid fair royalties for the use of their work.
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