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OER becomes much more accessible, thanks to new tech and pricing

Cengage, an education and technology company, recently launched OpenNow, a suite of digital products for general education courses with open educational resources (OER) content. OpenNow from Cengage is designed to help higher education institutions and instructors easily access and use OER by delivering curriculum-aligned OER content on an intuitive, outcomes-based platform.

The product starts at $25 per student per course, offering students access to high quality materials at an affordable price point.

OpenNow delivers content through a flexible platform that aims to engage students and boost confidence with assessments and analytics. The content is curated with the licensing rights ensured and mapped to proven course objectives.

Instructors can use the content out of the box or enlist an instructional design team from Cengage to develop course mapping and personalization, or to develop required additional courses.

All narrative and assessment included in OpenNow is openly licensed (CC-BY), so instructors and institutions can adapt and reuse the material and customize it to fit their objectives. OpenNow includes content from OpenStax and other sources, including new content created by Cengage, as well as content previously under a Cengage copyright. All Cengage content in OpenNow will become open and can be reused, modified and used elsewhere.

“We are committed to providing students strong educational value with our products and services. This means offering product models that help students achieve their goals at a price that fits their budget,” said Michael Hansen, CEO of Cengage, in a statement. “Early activation and access to course materials leads to a higher level of engagement and improved outcomes. OpenNow is a direct response to students telling us what they want and need to be successful.”

The OpenNow platform and all content is ADA-compliant and universally designed. OpenNow is currently available for Introduction to Psychology, American Government and Introduction to Sociology, with additional courses coming this fall, including: College Algebra, General Chemistry, Macroeconomics, Microeconomics, Introduction to Biology, U.S. History, College Success, Composition and Developmental English. To learn more about Cengage’s OER solutions, visit www.cengage.com/opennow [1].

Material from a press release was used in this report.