Cengage Expands Institutional Offerings to Support Colleges and Universities Moving to Online Learning

Cengage Unlimited for Institutions Includes Affordable Access to Course Materials, Faculty Training and Online Course Setup, and Administrator Support Services

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Cengage

May 28, 2020, 09:40 ET

BOSTON, May 28, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Cengage today announced the expansion of its popular Cengage Unlimited subscription service to support colleges and universities moving to online or hybrid instruction due to COVID-19. In addition to affordable student access to Cengage ebooks and digital learning platforms, Cengage Unlimited for Institutions offers scalable academic services to move courses online, as well as new professional development resources to help faculty teach online.

This spring most colleges and universities moved to emergency remote learning with faculty who had no experience teaching online, according to a survey led by Bay View Analytics and leading online learning organizations, and underwritten by Cengage.

More than 100 higher education institutions have partnered with Cengage to offer affordable access to textbooks and course materials at scale through Cengage Unlimited for Institutions. A subscription gives students access to more than 22,000 products, including eBooks, online homework access codes and study guides for one price, no matter how many materials they use. The subscription also includes free access to college success and career support activities as well as services from Dashlane, Evernote, Kaplan and Quizlet. Since launching in August 2018, more than 2.2 million subscribers have saved $200 million.

"The move to online learning driven by COVID-19 this spring, which did not compare to the near-seamless transition to remote work for corporate America, made it clear that colleges and universities need to be better prepared to manage the transition in the future," said Michael E. Hansen, CEO of Cengage. "The U.S. higher education system faces a significant challenge this fall and beyond, and the key to meeting the challenge is faculty training. In fact, a recent survey shows that this spring almost all schools had to call on faculty who had no online teaching experience. During this same time, thousands of instructors turned to Cengage to help them quickly set up online courses so they could finish the semester. And we provided free access to our materials and platforms for 300,000 students via Cengage Unlimited."

One institution that was able to easily make the transition online was Warren County Community College (WCCC) in New Jersey, which implemented Cengage Unlimited for Institutions two years ago. When COVID-19 hit his state, WCCC President Dr. Will Austin made the decision early to close campus and move instruction online.

"Within the first week of our campus closing in March, over 85 percent of students were able to easily continue their courses and comfortably learn digitally because they were already familiar with the online environment thanks to our work with Cengage," said Dr. Austin.

But, for most schools, this was not the experience that played out.

"Most schools relied on Zoom and their Learning Management System in order to deliver instruction," continued Hansen. "Colleges and universities need to build a better experience for the Fall, and they rank more training for faculty and greater access to digital materials as their top needs right now. Using Cengage Unlimited for Institutions, schools can access these needed services."

"Whether an institution is planning to go online or hold face-to-face courses this fall, Cengage has deep experience deploying our learning platforms and services institution-wide through Cengage Unlimited for Institutions," said Fernando Bleichmar, EVP and General Manager of Higher Education and Skills, Cengage. "In the last two years alone, we have helped more than 100 institutions move to digital learning. In many cases, we have provided the entire content and online learning experience of an institution's infrastructure."

In addition to affordable access to materials, Cengage Unlimited for Institutions offers academic services like institution-wide course customization, curriculum and data services, and newly expanded professional development for faculty and administrators. Colleges and universities have a dedicated account manager to oversee services including:

Affordable access to digital materials so students have all their learning materials in a consistent format and platform. Schools can opt for an all-campus license, group access or pay-as-you-go access.
Faculty and Administrator professional development and support with faculty training that can be self-paced or individualized to the school for online, hybrid, "hyflex" or face-to-face teaching. Administrators can access best practice consulting for program management, tech readiness and organizational change and communications planning.
Quality learning, student engagement and retention to ensure effective course design against a quality rubric, with direct access to instructional designers who help:

Map out course syllabi and seamlessly embed a Cengage digital solution into the course, including mapping digital assets at the learning objective level.
Customize individual courses and tailor course materials and assignments, including creating exams and developing new assessments.
Migrate content to a Learning Management System and provide faculty partner mentorship to help with best practices throughout the transition.

Remediation for at-risk students that includes scalable delivery of remediation courses via Cengage partners.
Course administration to help institutions schools offer 1:1 online tutoring and secure online testing via Cengage partners.
Accessible and inclusive learning experiences through established quality, standards and accountability protocols. Schools can work with Cengage to perform compliance and governance reviews to ensure conformity with ADA and WCAG 2.0 standards.
Analytics that measure learning to give instructors and administrators insight into student engagement and enable support and intervention to prevent drops, fails and withdrawals at the individual student level.

For more information about Cengage Unlimited for Institutions, visit: https://www.cengage.com/institutional/.

About Cengage
Cengage is the education and technology company built for learners. As the largest US-based provider of teaching and learning materials for higher education, we offer valuable options at affordable price points. Our industry-leading initiatives include Cengage Unlimited, the first-of-its-kind all-access digital subscription service. We embrace innovation to create learning experiences that build confidence and momentum toward the future students want. Headquartered in Boston, Cengage also serves K-12, library and workforce training markets around the world. Visit us at www.cengage.com or find us on Facebook or Twitter.

Media Contact:
Kristina Massari, Cengage
203-965-8694, [email protected]

SOURCE Cengage