A Pearson company is a partner in each endeavor. A Pearson company is a partner. Blackboard, one of the comers in the business of selling software platforms for online courses, forges a deal to pack its product with an array of interactive exercises and projects. A Pearson division is a partner. If it seems that Pearson is turning up beneath a wide variety of rocks on the education landscape these days, that's no accident.
Higher education is now a hot commodity in business circles.
With the Internet growing as a powerful new channel for distributing educational content, many observers have questioned whether traditional publishing can survive. The company's Internet strategy, which includes plans for a giant online venture that Pearson calls the Learning Network, is an example of that, he says. So too, but to a lesser degree, is Pearson's creation of FT Knowledge, a new London-based Pearson company that brings together various assets in distance education and corporate education owned by Pearson or companies that it has acquired in recent years. FT Knowledge will both create online content that it will sell itself, and work with colleges to help them convert, deliver, and market courses. Ultimately, though, he and others say, the more salient issue is how colleges respond.