January 13, 2022 • 15 mins
A conversation with Rebecca Durose-Croft, Content and Services Director for Westchester Education UK, about how Westchester partners with education publishers, ed-tech providers, and other education entities to create superior curriculum materials for students and teachers.
Find all of our episodes on your favorite podcast platform or at our website.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Nicole Tomassi (00:06):
Welcome to Westchester words, education ed
tech and publishing I'm NicoleTamasi.
In this episode, I'll bespeaking with Rebecca
Durose-Croft, Content andServices director for
Westchester Education, UK andinternational.
Rebecca brings in an impressiveamount of experience to her
role, having worked forentities, including Oxford
University, press Pearsoneducation, Cambridge University,
(00:29):
press, and Marshall Cavendish.
Prior to joining Westchester in2020.
Rebecca was a guest a couple ofmonths ago in Westchester Words,
along with Marquita Celestineand Kaye Jones to discuss
culturally responsive education.
Rebecca, it's a pleasure towelcome you back again.
Rebecca Durose-Croft (00:46):
Oh, it's lovely to be here, Nicole.
Thank you,
Nicole Tomassi (00:48):
Rebecca, I really enjoyed the episode that
you did with Marquita and Kaye acouple of months back, and I'm
looking forward to learning abit more about you today.
As I had shared with thelisteners a moment ago, before
joining Westchester, you hadheld editorial and production
roles at both university pressesand education publishers.
I was wondering if you couldshare with our listeners a
little bit more about yourprofessional background.
Rebecca Durose-Crof (01:09):
Absolutely.
Um, well I've always worked ineducation and I've worked in
educational publishing for about15 years now.
Um, when I left university,after my bachelor's degree, I
worked at the university of Yorkin their higher education
academy, and my role there wasto support students on their
learning journey, especiallythose with special educational
needs.
Um, this, so this waspredominantly thinking about
(01:31):
ways to break down theirbarriers to learning.
So along with my team, Iproduced various prints and
digital materials to supportthem.
So this was my first step ineducational publishing in a, in
a roundabout way, at least.
Um, and it was the first time Isaw firsthand how strong
learning materials that wereshaped for specific learner
needs could have a huge impacton the way students learnt and
(01:53):
moved forward in theireducation.
So I moved to Oxford and Istudied for a master's degree in
publishing so that I couldreally understand the industry
and its entirety.
Um, and while I was studying, um, knowing that educational
publishing was the area I wantedto go in, I took up a part-time
position at Oxford universitypress in their dictionaries
department, which I just loved.
(02:14):
And, um, when I graduated, Imoved into a full-time position,
um, in the education department,specifically the international
education team and this waswhere I really cut my teeth and
where I gained knowledge ininternational markets and
curriculum.
So for the UK, for the IB IGCSE,but then also specific markets
such as the Caribbean.
(02:36):
Um, I then progressed into theEnglish language teaching
department, where I had acentral role in the media team
as the ELT script editor.
Um, I'd majored in film for mybachelor's.
So it felt like this was quite anatural fit for me, uh, but to
better understand the needs ofthe student and what we were
producing, I really felt Ineeded a better understanding of
ELT, so I gained a qualificationfrom Cambridge university to
(02:58):
teach English to adults, and Itaught English, um, to, to
adults in English languageschools in Oxford alongside my
full-time role.
Um, I then progressed a bitfurther at OUP and became a
development editor in theprimary literacy team.
And this was where I focused inon the UK curricula and with my
team produced print and productsfor phonics reading schemes,
(03:20):
working with the department foreducation's lesson and sounds
framework and creating pathwaysto reading through policy
documents and training videos.
I left OUP about eight years agoand became a freelancer working
for a variety of educationalpublishers nationally and
internationally.
And that was across both printand digital in editorial
management and consultancyroles.
(03:42):
And I joined Westchester, uh, asa full-time member of staff in
January this year,
Nicole Tomassi (03:47):
Indeed.
And, and what an impressivehistory.
I didn't realize just howextensive the variety of work
that you've done is in ELT inprimary education, in higher
education in international.
So you bring a lot of differentperspectives into the work that
you're doing and how do you findthat that informs, you know, the
work you're doing here, havingbeen on the publisher side of
(04:10):
the desk?
Rebecca Durose-Croft (04:10):
I think it massively informs the way my
team and I work with our clients.
When we're first connected to anew or potential client, we
always try and make it veryclear from the go that we're an
extension of their team.
We're here to add support,experience and knowledge, and we
can work as collaboratively asdesired.
It's true that some projectshave very strict briefs and we
(04:31):
can of course work to those.
Uh, but we're increasinglyfinding that the relationships
we're building with our clientsmean we can work with them on
projects way before the briefitself is pulled together.
Um, so we are working with themto shape those briefs and shape
what that project is lookinglike from a consultancy point of
view because of our collectiveexperiences in education, coming
(04:52):
at it from an in-house angle, Ialways want our clients to feel
confident about two things,firstly, that we work with the
best freelance resources, um,all of which are highly
experienced in their subjectfield and curricular.
And secondly that we are here totake the load off them, to give
them a full service from end toend and not add to their to-do
(05:13):
list.
Uh, these are things that werealways really important and most
concerned me when outsourcing.
Um, so to let clients know thatwe get it, I think is really
important from the very firstconversation.
Nicole Tomassi (05:25):
For those, uh, of the audience who are
listening from the states.
I just wanna clarify when yousay a brief, would that be the
request for proposal or the RFPas we call it in America?
Rebecca Durose-Croft (05:36):
Yes.
Yeah, exactly.
Yeah, yeah, exactly.
That.
So, you know, even before, youknow, almost like we're getting
involved from concept stage.
Nicole Tomassi (05:44):
Okay.
So pretty far upstream.
Rebecca Durose-Croft (05:46):
M m-hmm< affirmative>.
Nicole Tomassi (05:46):
And, and that probably makes the project even
more collaborative and.
Rebecca Durose-Croft (05:50):
oh, absolutely.
Nicole Tomassi (05:50):
And the end results even stronger.
Rebecca Durose-Croft (05:52):
Yeah, absolutely.
Nicole Tomassi (05:54):
Rebecca, the last 18 months have presented a
variety of challenges foreducation publishers and ed tech
companies, as a result of boththe pandemic and then towards
the end of 2020 in the UKBrexit.
Can you talk about some of theways that Westchester works with
publishers and ed tech companiesto help them address some of the
issues that kind of resultedfrom these events?
Rebecca Durose-Croft (06:17):
Well, Yeah, I mean, what in 18 months
it's been for everybody, u m,I've already mentioned m y
background in teaching, but it'simportant to say that most of us
that hold editorial positions atWestchester have been teachers
in, in some capacity.
U m, so that in itself gives usan extra v iew p oint in terms
of the struggles educators havefaced in the past 1 2 in the l
ast 12 to 18 months.
(06:38):
U m, and the struggles theycontinue to face, c uz we're not
quite through it all yet.
U m, in terms of working withour clients though, it's no
surprise that there's been aneed for content to be
reversioned for a digitalclassroom and for individual
home learning.
U m, so we've been working withour e d t ech and publisher
clients to do just, u h, tocreate a nd adapt content for a
(07:00):
variety of subjects a nd curricular working directly into
their online platforms.
But the way I see it anyway isthat we also have a, a bit of a
duty to stay abreast with thesedevelopments, u m, in global c
urricular and assessment changesso that we can have deeper
conversations w ith our clientsto help them produce the best
content w ith a n appropriateobjective when the time comes,
which links back again, to mypoint o f about having a
(07:22):
consultative approach with ourclients.
Nicole Tomassi (07:24):
I'm gonna throw in a question that maybe you're
not expecting here.
So have, have you seen that, youknow, as changes have progressed
over the last 18 months thatcompanies are reaching out to
you more for those consultative,u m, kind of discussions as in
terms of, you know, how best torepurpose content or how best to
(07:47):
meet the needs of students whomay still be learning from home?
Rebecca Durose-Crof (07:50):
Absolutely.
I mean, from an ed tech point ofview and a digital point of view
, um, a lot of the work we'vebeen doing has been very much
focused on the shift we've we'vethrough in the past 18 months
with digital learning and with,with home learning.
So absolutely our clients havebeen coming to us to do this
reversioning work, but to yourpoint about the consultative
role, um, I think once clientsrealize that the background we
(08:14):
all have in education and thatadded value we can bring to
their projects, um, wedefinitely still are having
those conversations and we startshaping those briefs to be
something which is more focusedon the objectives that we are
now looking at in education,whether this be assessment or
curricular based changes.
Nicole Tomassi (08:32):
Schools, as well as many parents like yourself
and me, we all wanna see ahealthy return to the classroom
because the bottom line is, isthat most students tend to have
better academic outcomes whenthey're in the same room as
their peers and with theirinstructors.
Looking ahead towards the daywhen that happens, you know,
(08:55):
whether it's partially or fully,what would you share with
companies who are producingeducational materials to be
focused on so that they cansupport the continuing needs of
students and teachers as we workour way through this pandemic
and come out on the other sideof it?
Rebecca Durose-Croft (09:14):
That's a really good question.
Um, I can only really speak tomy experience and my view of
education, but the first thingI'd say is that I do think we
need to look at education from aholistic viewpoint.
Um, so we need to really takeinto account into account
students, mental health, um,social needs and their home life
as these really do just underpineverything a child goes on to
(09:35):
learn and do in a classroom andlet's face it.
They've been through a lot andsome more than others.
So I think there's definitely agap for materials that focus in
on looking at the learner beyondthe curriculum that they're
learning.
Um, you touched on there aboutteachers.
I think teacher support materialis going to play a huge role,
um, going forward, um, in thenext few years, um, whether
(09:58):
that's around assessment changesor around just how to support
those children who are findingit trickier to get back into
education in the classroom.
Um, I also think though let'sstrike while the iron is hot in
terms of digital publishing andreally keep driving that
forward, cuz there's been somefun, drastically innovative
things produced over the past 18months.
(10:20):
So I think we need to keeppushing those boundaries and see
what we can do there.
Um, but with an understandingthat digital publishing doesn't
mean, um, and digital learningdoesn't mean learning on your
own, um, you know, digitallearning can be brought into the
classroom in some really ininnovative and great ways to get
children learning together.
Nicole Tomassi (10:39):
So it's a matter of finding a, a healthy balance
between an in-personinstructional environment.
Um, and if a student is, youknow, interested in doing
something asynchronously in, inthe home environment and has the
ability to do so to kind ofencourage that as well, is that
what I'm hearing?
Rebecca Durose-Croft (10:59):
Yeah.
I mean And, and encourage that,um, that digital growth as well.
So where children, you know, allchildren learn differently.
Some, some children will open atextbook, read it and it goes
in, some children have to do tolearn they're called kinesthetic
learners and some, you know,have to have to be told it, you
know, so they all learn verydifferently.
And what digital publishing doesand digital learning does is
(11:21):
it's able to kind of encapsulateall those different things of
doing, seeing, hearing.
Um, so if we can bring that intothe classroom in a collaborative
way so they can work sociallyand collaboratively together
could be a really good wayforward to move from this kind
of at home individual learning,um, to being back in the
classroom, but not losing thatdigital side of things cuz you
(11:43):
know, children love that andthey engage with that.
Nicole Tomassi (11:46):
They sure do.
I've I've I've seen it.
I've seen it in my own house.
Yeah.
I, but interestingly, they alsolike to disconnect and read a
print book.
So.
Rebecca Durose-Crof (11:54):
Absolutely, It has to be a mix.
It has to
Nicole Tomassi (11:56):
Yeah.
They seem to be finding thatbalance, uh, of their own
accord.
So it's, it's encouraging to saythe least um, to switch
gears a little bit, Rebecca,some companies are hesitant
about engaging with a contentdevelopment vendor and there's a
variety of reasons for that.
Um, including possibly thebelief that it might be more
(12:18):
costly to do that.
How would you and the team atWestchester work with a
prospective client in order toaddress those types of concerns?
Rebecca Durose-Croft (12:28):
We pride ourselves on having very
transparent and upfrontconversations with our clients.
So it's say that from, from thevery beginning.
Um, but this, this goes back tomy previous point really about
ensuring clients understand thatwith Westchester they'll receive
high quality work that won'timpact on their workload.
I mean there's a cost associatedwith everything whether
it's our time or their timesomebody's paying for it.
(12:50):
So an understanding of that isvery crucial and that links into
that, you know, as I just saidaround those transparent
conversations with them, um, butas I also mentioned, it's for
us, it's not just about churningout content.
Uh, we offer so much more addedvalue from our collective
experiences and education toshape and inform projects from
the very beginning, I personallydon't think you can put a price
(13:12):
on and we hope that our clientlearn that too.
Nicole Tomassi (13:15):
So really it should be seen as making an
investment in creating thehighest quality materials
possible.
Rebecca Durose-Croft (13:21):
1 00%.
Yeah.
A hundred percent that
Nicole Tomassi (13:24):
Before we wrap up our conversation today,
Rebecca, is there anything elsethat you would like, uh, for our
listeners to consider in therealm of all the work that
you're doing for clients?
Rebecca Durose-Croft (13:35):
So really just linking back to my previous
point about looking at educationfrom a holistic viewpoint, um,
thinking about social andemotional learning, um, this
links to the work we've beendoing for our clients in terms
of CRE reviews.
So looking at their content andensuring it's appropriate for
all learners, uh, whatever theirbackground and ability,
Nicole Tomassi (13:53):
Just a reminder to listeners, if you had not
caught the previous episode that, uh, I had mentioned at the top
where Rebecca and Kaye Jones andMarquita Celestine talked about
culturally responsive education,catch that either on our website
or on your favorite podcastingplatform.
Rebecca, I really wanna thankyou for joining me today.
I enjoyed our conversation and Ilearned so much.
(14:14):
Thank you very much for takingthe time to speak with me.
Rebecca Durose-Croft (14:17):
You're very welcome.
Thanks Nicole.
Nicole Tomassi (14:24):
Thank you for listening to this episode of
Westchester words, follow us onyour favorite streaming platform
to be notified about newepisodes as they become
available or to listen toprevious episodes, you can find
all of the episodes plusadditional content that's been
shared by some of our guests atthe podcast pages of our
websites, Westchester publishingservices.com and Westchester
(14:44):
education services.com.
You can also get in touch withus either by completing the
contact us form that's availableon the homepage of each website
or by sending us an email atWestchester words, Westchester
ed svcs.com to share yourthoughts or comments about
today's discussion and let usknow what content you'd like to
(15:05):
hear Westchester cover andfuture episodes.
I hope you'll be able to join usfor the next episode of
Westchester words when we'll betalking about another topic of
interest for the education edtech and publishing communities
until then stay safe, be welland stay tuned.
Welcome to Westchester words, education ed
tech and publishing I'm NicoleTamasi.
In this episode, I'll bespeaking with Rebecca
Durose-Croft, Content andServices director for
Westchester Education, UK andinternational.
Rebecca brings in an impressiveamount of experience to her
role, having worked forentities, including Oxford
University, press Pearsoneducation, Cambridge University,
(00:29):
press, and Marshall Cavendish.
Prior to joining Westchester in2020.
Rebecca was a guest a couple ofmonths ago in Westchester Words,
along with Marquita Celestineand Kaye Jones to discuss
culturally responsive education.
Rebecca, it's a pleasure towelcome you back again.
Rebecca Durose-Croft (00:46):
Oh, it's lovely to be here, Nicole.
Thank you,
Nicole Tomassi (00:48):
Rebecca, I really enjoyed the episode that
you did with Marquita and Kaye acouple of months back, and I'm
looking forward to learning abit more about you today.
As I had shared with thelisteners a moment ago, before
joining Westchester, you hadheld editorial and production
roles at both university pressesand education publishers.
I was wondering if you couldshare with our listeners a
little bit more about yourprofessional background.
Rebecca Durose-Crof (01:09):
Absolutely.
Um, well I've always worked ineducation and I've worked in
educational publishing for about15 years now.
Um, when I left university,after my bachelor's degree, I
worked at the university of Yorkin their higher education
academy, and my role there wasto support students on their
learning journey, especiallythose with special educational
needs.
Um, this, so this waspredominantly thinking about
(01:31):
ways to break down theirbarriers to learning.
So along with my team, Iproduced various prints and
digital materials to supportthem.
So this was my first step ineducational publishing in a, in
a roundabout way, at least.
Um, and it was the first time Isaw firsthand how strong
learning materials that wereshaped for specific learner
needs could have a huge impacton the way students learnt and
(01:53):
moved forward in theireducation.
So I moved to Oxford and Istudied for a master's degree in
publishing so that I couldreally understand the industry
and its entirety.
Um, and while I was studying, um, knowing that educational
publishing was the area I wantedto go in, I took up a part-time
position at Oxford universitypress in their dictionaries
department, which I just loved.
(02:14):
And, um, when I graduated, Imoved into a full-time position,
um, in the education department,specifically the international
education team and this waswhere I really cut my teeth and
where I gained knowledge ininternational markets and
curriculum.
So for the UK, for the IB IGCSE,but then also specific markets
such as the Caribbean.
(02:36):
Um, I then progressed into theEnglish language teaching
department, where I had acentral role in the media team
as the ELT script editor.
Um, I'd majored in film for mybachelor's.
So it felt like this was quite anatural fit for me, uh, but to
better understand the needs ofthe student and what we were
producing, I really felt Ineeded a better understanding of
ELT, so I gained a qualificationfrom Cambridge university to
(02:58):
teach English to adults, and Itaught English, um, to, to
adults in English languageschools in Oxford alongside my
full-time role.
Um, I then progressed a bitfurther at OUP and became a
development editor in theprimary literacy team.
And this was where I focused inon the UK curricula and with my
team produced print and productsfor phonics reading schemes,
(03:20):
working with the department foreducation's lesson and sounds
framework and creating pathwaysto reading through policy
documents and training videos.
I left OUP about eight years agoand became a freelancer working
for a variety of educationalpublishers nationally and
internationally.
And that was across both printand digital in editorial
management and consultancyroles.
(03:42):
And I joined Westchester, uh, asa full-time member of staff in
January this year,
Nicole Tomassi (03:47):
Indeed.
And, and what an impressivehistory.
I didn't realize just howextensive the variety of work
that you've done is in ELT inprimary education, in higher
education in international.
So you bring a lot of differentperspectives into the work that
you're doing and how do you findthat that informs, you know, the
work you're doing here, havingbeen on the publisher side of
(04:10):
the desk?
Rebecca Durose-Croft (04:10):
I think it massively informs the way my
team and I work with our clients.
When we're first connected to anew or potential client, we
always try and make it veryclear from the go that we're an
extension of their team.
We're here to add support,experience and knowledge, and we
can work as collaboratively asdesired.
It's true that some projectshave very strict briefs and we
(04:31):
can of course work to those.
Uh, but we're increasinglyfinding that the relationships
we're building with our clientsmean we can work with them on
projects way before the briefitself is pulled together.
Um, so we are working with themto shape those briefs and shape
what that project is lookinglike from a consultancy point of
view because of our collectiveexperiences in education, coming
(04:52):
at it from an in-house angle, Ialways want our clients to feel
confident about two things,firstly, that we work with the
best freelance resources, um,all of which are highly
experienced in their subjectfield and curricular.
And secondly that we are here totake the load off them, to give
them a full service from end toend and not add to their to-do
(05:13):
list.
Uh, these are things that werealways really important and most
concerned me when outsourcing.
Um, so to let clients know thatwe get it, I think is really
important from the very firstconversation.
Nicole Tomassi (05:25):
For those, uh, of the audience who are
listening from the states.
I just wanna clarify when yousay a brief, would that be the
request for proposal or the RFPas we call it in America?
Rebecca Durose-Croft (05:36):
Yes.
Yeah, exactly.
Yeah, yeah, exactly.
That.
So, you know, even before, youknow, almost like we're getting
involved from concept stage.
Nicole Tomassi (05:44):
Okay.
So pretty far upstream.
Rebecca Durose-Croft (05:46):
M m-hmm< affirmative>.
Nicole Tomassi (05:46):
And, and that probably makes the project even
more collaborative and.
Rebecca Durose-Croft (05:50):
oh, absolutely.
Nicole Tomassi (05:50):
And the end results even stronger.
Rebecca Durose-Croft (05:52):
Yeah, absolutely.
Nicole Tomassi (05:54):
Rebecca, the last 18 months have presented a
variety of challenges foreducation publishers and ed tech
companies, as a result of boththe pandemic and then towards
the end of 2020 in the UKBrexit.
Can you talk about some of theways that Westchester works with
publishers and ed tech companiesto help them address some of the
issues that kind of resultedfrom these events?
Rebecca Durose-Croft (06:17):
Well, Yeah, I mean, what in 18 months
it's been for everybody, u m,I've already mentioned m y
background in teaching, but it'simportant to say that most of us
that hold editorial positions atWestchester have been teachers
in, in some capacity.
U m, so that in itself gives usan extra v iew p oint in terms
of the struggles educators havefaced in the past 1 2 in the l
ast 12 to 18 months.
(06:38):
U m, and the struggles theycontinue to face, c uz we're not
quite through it all yet.
U m, in terms of working withour clients though, it's no
surprise that there's been aneed for content to be
reversioned for a digitalclassroom and for individual
home learning.
U m, so we've been working withour e d t ech and publisher
clients to do just, u h, tocreate a nd adapt content for a
(07:00):
variety of subjects a nd curricular working directly into
their online platforms.
But the way I see it anyway isthat we also have a, a bit of a
duty to stay abreast with thesedevelopments, u m, in global c
urricular and assessment changesso that we can have deeper
conversations w ith our clientsto help them produce the best
content w ith a n appropriateobjective when the time comes,
which links back again, to mypoint o f about having a
(07:22):
consultative approach with ourclients.
Nicole Tomassi (07:24):
I'm gonna throw in a question that maybe you're
not expecting here.
So have, have you seen that, youknow, as changes have progressed
over the last 18 months thatcompanies are reaching out to
you more for those consultative,u m, kind of discussions as in
terms of, you know, how best torepurpose content or how best to
(07:47):
meet the needs of students whomay still be learning from home?
Rebecca Durose-Crof (07:50):
Absolutely.
I mean, from an ed tech point ofview and a digital point of view
, um, a lot of the work we'vebeen doing has been very much
focused on the shift we've we'vethrough in the past 18 months
with digital learning and with,with home learning.
So absolutely our clients havebeen coming to us to do this
reversioning work, but to yourpoint about the consultative
role, um, I think once clientsrealize that the background we
(08:14):
all have in education and thatadded value we can bring to
their projects, um, wedefinitely still are having
those conversations and we startshaping those briefs to be
something which is more focusedon the objectives that we are
now looking at in education,whether this be assessment or
curricular based changes.
Nicole Tomassi (08:32):
Schools, as well as many parents like yourself
and me, we all wanna see ahealthy return to the classroom
because the bottom line is, isthat most students tend to have
better academic outcomes whenthey're in the same room as
their peers and with theirinstructors.
Looking ahead towards the daywhen that happens, you know,
(08:55):
whether it's partially or fully,what would you share with
companies who are producingeducational materials to be
focused on so that they cansupport the continuing needs of
students and teachers as we workour way through this pandemic
and come out on the other sideof it?
Rebecca Durose-Croft (09:14):
That's a really good question.
Um, I can only really speak tomy experience and my view of
education, but the first thingI'd say is that I do think we
need to look at education from aholistic viewpoint.
Um, so we need to really takeinto account into account
students, mental health, um,social needs and their home life
as these really do just underpineverything a child goes on to
(09:35):
learn and do in a classroom andlet's face it.
They've been through a lot andsome more than others.
So I think there's definitely agap for materials that focus in
on looking at the learner beyondthe curriculum that they're
learning.
Um, you touched on there aboutteachers.
I think teacher support materialis going to play a huge role,
um, going forward, um, in thenext few years, um, whether
(09:58):
that's around assessment changesor around just how to support
those children who are findingit trickier to get back into
education in the classroom.
Um, I also think though let'sstrike while the iron is hot in
terms of digital publishing andreally keep driving that
forward, cuz there's been somefun, drastically innovative
things produced over the past 18months.
(10:20):
So I think we need to keeppushing those boundaries and see
what we can do there.
Um, but with an understandingthat digital publishing doesn't
mean, um, and digital learningdoesn't mean learning on your
own, um, you know, digitallearning can be brought into the
classroom in some really ininnovative and great ways to get
children learning together.
Nicole Tomassi (10:39):
So it's a matter of finding a, a healthy balance
between an in-personinstructional environment.
Um, and if a student is, youknow, interested in doing
something asynchronously in, inthe home environment and has the
ability to do so to kind ofencourage that as well, is that
what I'm hearing?
Rebecca Durose-Croft (10:59):
Yeah.
I mean And, and encourage that,um, that digital growth as well.
So where children, you know, allchildren learn differently.
Some, some children will open atextbook, read it and it goes
in, some children have to do tolearn they're called kinesthetic
learners and some, you know,have to have to be told it, you
know, so they all learn verydifferently.
And what digital publishing doesand digital learning does is
(11:21):
it's able to kind of encapsulateall those different things of
doing, seeing, hearing.
Um, so if we can bring that intothe classroom in a collaborative
way so they can work sociallyand collaboratively together
could be a really good wayforward to move from this kind
of at home individual learning,um, to being back in the
classroom, but not losing thatdigital side of things cuz you
(11:43):
know, children love that andthey engage with that.
Nicole Tomassi (11:46):
They sure do.
I've I've I've seen it.
I've seen it in my own house.
Yeah.
I, but interestingly, they alsolike to disconnect and read a
print book.
So.
Rebecca Durose-Crof (11:54):
Absolutely, It has to be a mix.
It has to
Nicole Tomassi (11:56):
Yeah.
They seem to be finding thatbalance, uh, of their own
accord.
So it's, it's encouraging to saythe least
gears a little bit, Rebecca,some companies are hesitant
about engaging with a contentdevelopment vendor and there's a
variety of reasons for that.
Um, including possibly thebelief that it might be more
(12:18):
costly to do that.
How would you and the team atWestchester work with a
prospective client in order toaddress those types of concerns?
Rebecca Durose-Croft (12:28):
We pride ourselves on having very
transparent and upfrontconversations with our clients.
So it's say that from, from thevery beginning.
Um, but this, this goes back tomy previous point really about
ensuring clients understand thatwith Westchester they'll receive
high quality work that won'timpact on their workload.
I mean there's a cost associatedwith everything
it's our time or their timesomebody's paying for it.
(12:50):
So an understanding of that isvery crucial and that links into
that, you know, as I just saidaround those transparent
conversations with them, um, butas I also mentioned, it's for
us, it's not just about churningout content.
Uh, we offer so much more addedvalue from our collective
experiences and education toshape and inform projects from
the very beginning, I personallydon't think you can put a price
(13:12):
on and we hope that our clientlearn that too.
Nicole Tomassi (13:15):
So really it should be seen as making an
investment in creating thehighest quality materials
possible.
Rebecca Durose-Croft (13:21):
1 00%.
Yeah.
A hundred percent that
Nicole Tomassi (13:24):
Before we wrap up our conversation today,
Rebecca, is there anything elsethat you would like, uh, for our
listeners to consider in therealm of all the work that
you're doing for clients?
Rebecca Durose-Croft (13:35):
So really just linking back to my previous
point about looking at educationfrom a holistic viewpoint, um,
thinking about social andemotional learning, um, this
links to the work we've beendoing for our clients in terms
of CRE reviews.
So looking at their content andensuring it's appropriate for
all learners, uh, whatever theirbackground and ability,
Nicole Tomassi (13:53):
Just a reminder to listeners, if you had not
caught the previous episode that, uh, I had mentioned at the top
where Rebecca and Kaye Jones andMarquita Celestine talked about
culturally responsive education,catch that either on our website
or on your favorite podcastingplatform.
Rebecca, I really wanna thankyou for joining me today.
I enjoyed our conversation and Ilearned so much.
(14:14):
Thank you very much for takingthe time to speak with me.
Rebecca Durose-Croft (14:17):
You're very welcome.
Thanks Nicole.
Nicole Tomassi (14:24):
Thank you for listening to this episode of
Westchester words, follow us onyour favorite streaming platform
to be notified about newepisodes as they become
available or to listen toprevious episodes, you can find
all of the episodes plusadditional content that's been
shared by some of our guests atthe podcast pages of our
websites, Westchester publishingservices.com and Westchester
(14:44):
education services.com.
You can also get in touch withus either by completing the
contact us form that's availableon the homepage of each website
or by sending us an email atWestchester words, Westchester
ed svcs.com to share yourthoughts or comments about
today's discussion and let usknow what content you'd like to
(15:05):
hear Westchester cover andfuture episodes.
I hope you'll be able to join usfor the next episode of
Westchester words when we'll betalking about another topic of
interest for the education edtech and publishing communities
until then stay safe, be welland stay tuned.
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
Las Culturistas with Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang
Ding dong! Join your culture consultants, Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang, on an unforgettable journey into the beating heart of CULTURE. Alongside sizzling special guests, they GET INTO the hottest pop-culture moments of the day and the formative cultural experiences that turned them into Culturistas. Produced by the Big Money Players Network and iHeartRadio.