GLOBAL education technology company Cengage has launched a first-to-market subscription service for textbooks for South African higher education institutions.
The company says the subscription service, Cengage Unlimited for Institutions (CUI), allows students to access an unlimited number of courses from a library of 10,000 digital products including eTextbooks, online learning platforms and study tools covering 675 courses – all from one source at one affordable price irrespective of the number of materials used.
Cengage is already supporting more than three quarters of public and private South African universities with in-person, blended and online courses. Cengage digital resources are used to support student outcomes and improve student engagement, digital literacy, the learning experience and employability skills.
University of Pretoria, North West University, University of Cape Town and the University of Johannesburg are some of the institutions successfully using Cengage’s digital platforms to address their higher education needs.
The Department of Mathematics and Statistics at University of Cape Town is using Cengage’s WebAssign, one of the platforms included in Cengage Unlimited for Institutions, to provide content, online study functionality, and efficient homework assigning and grading to a large Calculus course of 800 students. The platform is specifically designed for STEM subjects and provides course content, homework, tests and practice problems with instant assessment and has been shown to improve student grades.
“Cengage Unlimited has been successfully piloted in EMEA over the last 12 months in Ireland, Switzerland and Saudi Arabia to ensure the diverse needs of our instructors and students in the EMEA regions are met through this new subscription platform.”
“The pandemic had major implications for students and institutions alike. During this time, Cengage worked closely with its customers to support the transition to remote learning. Throughout the process, Cengage developed a deeper insight into the ways eLearning can be supported,” said Andrew Robinson, Vice President, General Manager of International Higher Education at Cengage.
Dr Eoin Langan, Dean at the Faculty of Business, Technological University Dublin (TUD), said, “As a technological university we aim to deploy the latest technology solutions to advance and supplement our students learning. Cengage Unlimited provides instant access to quality course material across laptops, tablets and mobile phones, and students can access the material from anywhere.”
“Cengage Unlimited provides an affordable alternative to the cost of purchasing textbooks for students and our library. Lecturers can benefit from Cengage Unlimited for both formative and summative assessment purposes, including automatic grading, which helps monitor student progress and understanding.”
“Besides cost savings, TUD students have benefited from Cengage Unlimited in more ways,” Dr Langan added. “All our students travel to campus, and want access to their material on their journey. Students appreciate being able to access their learning materials from anywhere, integrated with our virtual learning environment which aids them in their studies.”
“They can also easily find content by using the search feature on Cengage and save important information with bookmarks and highlighting, and more importantly, they don’t have to carry physical textbooks to campus.”
“MindTap, WebAssign and Cengage EMEA’s extensive range of digital learning materials are now available through Cengage Unlimited. “Institutions now have the opportunity to support each of their students with the same access to more than 10,000 eTextbooks, but a vast range of other digital resources and study tools from day one of their courses, with no student left behind,” says Andrew Robinson.
