Cengage Learning

Vital Source Acquires eTextbook Provider CourseSmart
March 4, 2014

The e-textbook platform Vital Source on Monday acquired CourseSmart, the academic publishing industry's door to the e-textbook market. The deal could signal a change in the publishers' attitudes toward digital educational materials.

Founded in 2007, CourseSmart was a consortium of five major academic publishers -- Cengage Learning, John Wiley & Sons, Macmillan Higher Education, McGraw-Hill Education and Pearson -- forming a common front in the e-textbook market. The company now estimates it offers more than 90 percent of e-textbooks used in higher education

Learning to Adapt
October 1, 2013

In 2012, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (HMH) filed for bankruptcy protection. In July of this year, Cengage Learning did the same, hoping to eliminate $4 billion in debt. Earlier in the year, McGraw-Hill completed the sale of its entire education division. And though HMH has since emerged nearly debt free and is seeking an IPO, clearly these are signs that disruptive changes are underway in educational publishing.

Transition to Digital Printing Roils the Book Industry
August 7, 2013

The following are deals, court filings and closures in the printing, packaging, paper and related industries for the month of July: Transactions in the book printing industry took center stage in July; the headline act was the Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing of Cengage Learning. The company is now moving rapidly to a digital strategy, as it seeks to shed more than $4 billion in debt through the bankruptcy process. CEO Michael Hansen, as reported by Bloomberg, squarely placed the blame on the company itself for not adopting digital quickly enough.

Book Publishing in Boston
July 1, 2013

In many ways, Boston's publishing industry is a mirror on the iconic city. Though relatively small, the city and its publishing are known for history; for being a center for academics, thought and innovation; and for being a hub of independence and rebellion that triggers change. In these times of rapid transition in the industry, Boston just might be the place to see big changes happen in publishing.

Coursera Announces Pilot Program with Publishers to Supplement Online Courses with High Quality Content
May 8, 2013

Coursera, a leading massive open online course (MOOC) provider, today announced a pilot program with several of the top higher education publishers to expand the availability of their high-quality content and resources, to be facilitated byChegg, the student hub where students can access the tools and materials they need to succeed. 

Starting today, publishers Cengage Learning, Macmillan Higher Education, Norton, Oxford University Press, SAGE, and Wiley will experiment with offering to Coursera students, at no cost for the duration of the course, versions of their e-textbooks, delivered via Chegg’s DRM-protected e-Reader. Coursera is also actively discussing pilot agreements and related alliances with Springer and additional publishers. The importance of rigorously developed pedagogical resources to learning outcomes has been well documented, and today’s announcement will link Coursera’s content to this enhanced learning process. While professors teaching Coursera's broad course offerings have until now been able to assign high-quality content freely available on the Web, they will now be able to work with top publishers to provide an even wider variety of carefully curated teaching and learning materials at no cost to the student.

Gale Announces National Geographic Kids
April 25, 2013

Gale, part of Cengage Learning and a leading publisher of research and reference resources for libraries, schools and businesses, today announced the launch of National Geographic Kids, the fourth resource in the National Geographic Virtual Library product line.

Gale to Unify the Humanities Through Artemis
April 2, 2013

Farmington Hills, Mich., April 2, 2013 — Gale, part of Cengage Learning and a leading publisher of research and reference resources for libraries, schools and businesses, today announced plans to unify, over the coming years, its extensive digital humanities collections on one state-of-the-art platform, creating the world’s largest online curated primary source and literary collection. The new research experience, Artemis, named for the Greek goddess who symbolizes new ideas, discovery, power and “the hunt,” will enable researchers to make connections and realize relationships among content that has never before been possible.

Publishing in Chicago
March 1, 2013

Disparate. Collegial. Decentralized. Collaborative.

If Chicago publishing professionals agree on one thing about the city's publishing scene, it's that it is not easy to characterize. About to celebrate 175 years as a major publishing hub (Chicago's first publisher, Robert Fergus, set up shop in 1839), today the city is ranked second in the printing and publishing industry, behind New York.

Some of the area's earliest publishers still survive, among them Rand McNally (est. 1856). Many houses are long gone, for example Reilly and Britton, which published L. Frank Baum's beloved Oz books. Some, like Scott, Foresman & Co. have been absorbed by other publishers. In fact, if Chicago publishing professionals lament one change that has taken place over the past decade or so, it is consolidation, to which a number of local publishers have fallen victim.