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Case Studies - Cengage Learning EMEA

High-ranking, must-have texts available for business educators and learners

Background

All too often students find only part of their quest from a single source, a book. They then need to expand on this and find complementary materials in order to get the full result. This can prove frustrating to students and lecturers alike and whereas accepted in the physical world becomes frustrating in the online world.

In late 2006 Cengage Learning EMEA (formally Thomson Learning EMEA) understood the opportunity to create a single reference premium subscription service. In early 2007 they engaged VCIL (Value Chain International), to deliver a platform that would integrate with the existing online Biz/ed platform and create a premium service for all. 

Business Solution

Biz/ed is an online service for students, teachers and lecturers of business, economics, accounting, leisure and recreation and travel and tourism at all levels. Since its launch in January 1996, Biz/ed has established itself as the primary provider of Internet-based learning materials for the economics and business education community. The number of visitors to the site has been growing rapidly and it now regularly receives over 4.5 million page accesses per month.

The new electronic premier collection contains 25 leading textbooks and selected learning materials for instructors and students of Business and Economics. Biz/ed Premier is the first resource offering electronic access to core textbooks, adopted at hundreds of academic institutions world –wide, as a library or departmental subscription. 

Biz/ed premier maps core topics, selected from academic curricula, to relevant textbooks and chapters, simplifying overall research and learning for students and delivering value for money to academic libraries. Additional pedagogical resources are provided in Biz/ed premier’s “Critical Viewpoints”, where topics are selected from curricula and presented as view points supported by journal articles and other activities.

With Biz/ed premier, academic lecturers can now point their students to a single source for their Business & Economics learning needs. As students access texts online and texts are always up-to-date, lecturers will literally always be on the same page as students without worrying about different editions. Instructors and tutors will benefit from the time-saving element of the “Critical Viewpoints” materials, which can be incorporated into lesson plans. Libraries reap strong benefits from the implementation of Biz/ed premier, as well. With Biz/ed premier, texts are always up to date and there is no need to replenish the stock with newer editions. This in turn also alleviates the need for added shelf space.

“We're delighted to bring together some of our finest textbooks from a highly respected team of authors. For the first time and in one place students will be able to search across the full text of e-books by Greg Mankiw, Colin Drury and John Thompson, to name but a few. We know that students want easy online access to tried and tested, widely adopted learning material, and in mapping against the whole introductory curriculum, and providing direct access through search or deep-linking at chapter level, we are giving them what they need, when they need it. In future we plan to provide access to an ever deeper and wider range of materials, and we are working already to ensure the students can find them quickly as they search the web. ”. John Yates, Publishing Director for Cengage Learning EMEA

Approach

In January 2007 a Cengage team started to work closely with a dedicated team from VCIL to both convert content and configure VCIL’s platform to create Bized premier. The system went live for trial on Tuesday 22nd May. With Biz/ed premier, the user can browse through hundreds of curriculum mapped topics and identify relevant chapters from a selection of the most respected and widely adopted textbooks in Business and Economics today. They will also find a series of engaging activities, research articles and other materials aimed at developing critical appraisal skills.

Achievement

Because the product is an open web application, Cengage says that the site
can encourage students not conducting active library database searches to engage in using them. The benefit for budget-holding course tutors and librarians is that content is up to date and gets around the problem of restocking old learning material. One of the strong selling points for Biz/ed Premier is its Critical View points material. This complementary content is intended to add context to academic material and is sourced from a variety of related business journals and publications such as IWR sister title Accountancy Age. Each Critical Viewpoint is matched to relevant course material by the Biz/ed Premier editorial staff.

 “We are very excited about Biz/ed premier: it offers students and libraries tremendous breadth of information, plus a wealth of features to make online learning more productive and enjoyable.  24x7 convenience alleviates the burden of travelling to the library and searching for textbooks, leaving more time for productive learning” says Tom Davy, CEO for Thomson Learning EMEA.

About Cengage Learning

Cengage Learning EMEA (formally Thomson Learning EMEA) delivers highly customized learning solutions for colleges, universities, professors, students, reference centers, government agencies, corporations and professionals around the world. These solutions are delivered through specialized content, applications and services that foster academic excellence and professional development, as well as provide measurable learning outcomes to its customers. 

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