To engage today's students and get them to learn, information must be more than just words on a page, educators told publishers at a recent forum: Instead, students need relevant and interactive material, as well as resources and activities that can provide real-life experiences.

That was the key message at the event, which gave educators a chance to tell publishers what their needs and objectives are for 21st-century instruction. Organized by the Association of American Publishers (AAP) and held Oct. 2 at the Ritz-Carlton in Arlington, Va., the forum explored why the textbook publishing industry needs to change--and how publishers can adapt to serve the needs of a tech-savvy student population.

"Students aren't motivated because they're not interested in what they're learning in school--it seems irrelevant to them," said one audience member. "They need real-world experiences to make it worthwhile."

Joe Hairston, superintendent of the Baltimore County, Md., Public Schools, said a textbook cannot be the only curriculum resource, because most books are outdated by from two to five years by the time schools can replace them.

"Students need interactive materials and supplemental materials," he said. "[Baltimore County] is currently working with publishers, such as the National Science Foundation, to provide web simulations across many subjects."

Another suggestion to publishers was to provide resources that will connect to multiple technologies.

Curricular materials "need to connect to student information systems and data-mining systems, as well as cell phones," said Tom Greaves, president of The Greaves Group LLC.

Mary Ann Wolf, executive director of the State Educational Technology Directors Association, expressed the same concern. She said curriculum materials should come with a full technology toolkit for every classroom.

"[Teachers] need streamlined assessments and material that corresponds to those assessments," she said--and educators with interactive whiteboards need corresponding lessons and materials for these devices, too.

Deborah Baker, assistant superintendent for curriculum and instruction at Brighton Central School District in New York, described what she considers the ideal digital content delivery system.

"Resources need to be personal, portable, and practical," Baker explained. "Students need something to mark in, take notes in, and add to. It needs to be on-the-go for busy schedules, and it can't be on the computer all the time, [because] most districts can't afford one-to-one solutions."

Christopher Curran, managing director for Berkery, Noyes & Co., said publishers should "build, buy, and redeploy technology platforms to beat out the competition."

"They need to act immediately on future opportunities, license effectively and often, address current students' needs and weaknesses, and ... branch into alternative learning devices," said Curran.