Since Coursera launched, we’ve been determined to bring students affordable and accessible course materials.
Today, we’re excited to announce that we’re taking the next big step toward that mission by working with many of the top higher education publishers. This collaboration will expand the availability of the publishers’ high-quality content and resources, facilitated by Chegg, a hub where students can access tools and materials.
Starting today, publishers Cengage Learning, Macmillan Higher Education,Oxford University Press SAGE, and Wiley will experiment with offering versions of their e-textbooks, delivered via Chegg’s DRM-protected e-Reader, to Coursera students. We are also actively discussing pilot agreements and related alliances with Springer and other publishers.
“We recognize the importance of forging partnerships with other stakeholders in the education space in order to help students overcome barriers and evolve the way they access education,” says Daphne Koller, co-founder of Coursera. “By collaborating with publishers, we are able to provide access to some of the world’s best resources to Coursera students, supporting our goal of learning without limits.”
While professors teaching courses on our platform have always been able to assign high-quality content freely available on the Web, they will now also be able to work with these publishers to provide an even wider variety of teaching and learning materials.
How it works
For participating courses, students will be able to access either chapters or the entire book, for free for the duration of the course through the Chegg e-Reader. They can use this reading to deepen their knowledge. Students will also be able to purchase full versions of e-textbooks provided by publishers for continued personal learning.
When will these book be available?
What will be the first courses offering e-textbooks through these collaborations?
After May 20th students in participating courses will be able to access the textbook from within the course. The first courses that will use the integrated Chegg e-Reader are:
• Writing II: Rhetorical Composing, Susan Delagrange, Scott Lloyd DeWitt, Kay Halasek, Ben McCorkle and Cynthia Selfe, The Ohio State University
• Introductory to Physics I with Laboratory, Michael Schatz, GaTech
Do we need to download the e-Reader software?
No, Chegg’s e-Reader with the assigned e-textbook will be available through your browser.
Will professors continue to use other materials or are course materials exclusively being provided by these publishers now?
Professors will continue to be able to use course materials other than the content provided by these publishers.
How long will the content be available?
The publisher content will be free and available for enrolled students for the duration of the class. If you wish to use the e-textbook before or after the course, they will be available for purchase.
Coursera is committed to making a great education accessible to anyone. We are proud to be taking this important step in that direction.