Cengage, Unizin Partner to Offer More Affordable Digital Course Materials

More than 850,000 Students to Benefit with Up To 50% Cost Savings on Digital Courseware, 70% Cost Savings on eTexts and Seamless Access on First Day of Class

News provided by

Cengage

Jan 23, 2017, 09:16 ET

BOSTON and AUSTIN, Texas, Jan. 23, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Unizin, Ltd. and Cengage, an education and technology company, today announced a partnership to provide Unizin's member institutions with access to Cengage's full suite of digital course offerings, including MindTap, Aplia and e-texts. Under the Inclusive Access arrangement, Unizin's 22 consortium members can deliver student savings on courseware up to 50% based on discipline and volume, and up to 70% on eTexts. Students will also benefit from seamless access to their materials on the first day of class.

"We are excited to provide access to these preferred instructional materials from Cengage," said Robin Littleworth, Chief Operating Officer at Unizin. "Coupled with the interaction data from the materials, Unizin can provide members richer data for research and instructional improvement use."

The addition of Cengage's digital offerings enhances Unizin's ability to provide a wide selection of leading course materials. Students will have the option to print their materials through Print-On-Demand (POD) or via in-App functionality within the courseware. The partnership will also deliver data to institutions so they may continuously improve the learning experience.

"We are actively working with our customers to create innovative business models that reduce barriers to learning and improve the student experience," said Todd Markson, Senior Vice President, Strategy and Operations, Cengage. "Building on our leading Inclusive Access program, our work with Unizin will provide students with a more convenient way to secure their course materials at a lower price, which we believe will increase engagement and build confidence in the classroom."

"We at IU aim to leverage technology, combined with the scope and scale of our eight campuses to lower costs for students," said Stacy Morrone, Associate Vice President for Learning Technologies at Indiana University. "This agreement between Cengage and Unizin allows our professors to leverage the purchasing power of not only our campuses, but all Unizin institutions when choosing Cengage content for their courses. I am excited that students and faculty at IU will be able to take advantage of Cengage's digital offerings at a great price."

Delivery of the e-text content is achieved through the consortium's eReading platform, Unizin Engage, which also gives faculty access to learning analytics. Unizin faculty and administrators can access valuable learning data from course materials and derive powerful insights into student interactions that will help educators better assess performance and improve instruction. In addition, since its inception in 2009, Indiana University's eText Initiative has saved students more than $15 million by delivering course materials through Unizin Engage.

To learn more about how the Unizin consortium is working together to enhance learning experiences through technology, including more information about course material delivery strategy and solutions, visit Unizin.org.

To date, Cengage has partnered with more than 125 institutions to offer Inclusive Access models to deliver lower cost materials for students. For more information, please visit http://solutions.cengage.com/institutional/inclusiveaccess/.

About Unizin
Unizin, Ltd. is a 501©(3) nonprofit consortium of 22 leading universities dedicated to promoting affordability, access, and learner success in digital education. Unizin's interoperable technology ecosystem supports the diverse teaching and learning environments across its institutions. Unizin solutions promote technology standards, enable integrations, eliminate the learner analytics black box, ensure accessibility of content and data, preserve and promote faculty choice, and support institutional collaboration. Unizin is owned and operated by its member institutions through a Board of Directors. Unizin is headquartered in Austin, Texas. For more on Unizin, visit www.unizin.org.

About Cengage
Cengage is the education and technology company built for learners. The company serves the higher education, K-12, professional, library and workforce training markets worldwide. Cengage creates learning experiences that build confidence and momentum toward the future students want. The company is headquartered in Boston with an office hub in San Francisco. Employees reside in nearly 40 countries with sales in more than 125 countries around the world. Visit us at www.cengage.com or find us on Facebook or Twitter.

Media contacts:
Alex Page, [email protected], 512-640-6102
Lindsay Stanley, [email protected], 203-965-8634

SOURCE Cengage