As COVID-19 necessitates remote learning for millions of students, it also drives the need for more digital learning materials—including digital course platforms, online homework, ebooks, online study guides, test prep and more. Digital course materials play an important role in enabling online and hybrid learning. They provide engaging learning experiences for students through multimedia and interactive features, while helping instructors keep a pulse on student progress and identify where their class might be struggling.
Digital Materials and the Impact of COVID-19
The valuable role digital course materials play in making online programs successful was evident this spring when campuses abruptly closed and moved classes online. Schools that had “gone digital” with their required course materials prior to COVID-19, had a much easier time pivoting to online learning than schools that didn’t.
But enabling digital access to publisher materials across an entire university—which for some institutions could mean more than 1,000 publishers—is no easy task. Enter RedShelf.
RedShelf is one of the nation’s leading EdTech companies helping thousands of colleges transition swiftly and effortlessly from traditional print to more affordable, efficient and engaging digital course materials. RedShelf serves millions of students through its various purchasing models, including in-store point-of-sale, Inclusive Access and eCommerce. The RedShelf platform provides a seamless and affordable course materials solution for institutions, faculty and students. This offers a simplicity many in higher education can appreciate this year as they navigate a variety of challenges.
Improved Course Material Access and Pricing Transparency for Students
Cengage and RedShelf have been working together for years to deliver Cengage products through RedShelf’s Inclusive Access, eCommerce and point-of-sale solutions. Through this expanded partnership, Cengage will be working with RedShelf to provide students with streamlined access to all their required course materials (both courseware and ebooks), directly from their school’s Learning Management System. This will dramatically improve the student experience by eliminating the need for access codes.
In addition to the enhanced student experience, the expanded partnership will improve course material affordability by deeply integrating Cengage Unlimited and Cengage Unlimited eTextbooks (a new subscription offering) into the RedShelf purchasing experience. RedShelf’s technology will automatically evaluate all the materials a student is purchasing and suggest a Cengage Unlimited subscription when it represents the most savings compared to other choices. RedShelf will make the Cengage Unlimited savings fully transparent and make it easy for students to take advantage of that savings.
More than 3 million student subscribers have already saved over $270 million with Cengage Unlimited since its August 2018 launch and we’re excited to work with others in the education ecosystem, like RedShelf, to improve the student experience.
For more information about Cengage Unlimited: cengage.com/unlimited/