Integrated Solution to Positively Impact How Students Learn Economics and How Instructors Present Course Materials
MASON, OH, March 21, 2005—Thomson Higher Education, a market-leading provider of teaching and learning solutions and a part of The Thomson Corporation (TSX: TOC; NYSE: TOC), and Aplia Inc., a new-generation educational publisher specializing in technology solutions, today announced a strategic alliance that combines Thomson South-Western economics textbooks with Aplia's integrated online application for active learning.
A Winning Combination—Choice and Value
This alliance is designed to help students better prepare for economics lessons outside the classroom, so professors can work more effectively in the classroom. By correlating Thomson South-Western economic content with Aplia's auto-graded student assignments, online experiments, and course management tools, students can study key concepts on their own and professors can use class time to reinforce economic principles and advance a better understanding of more complex economic models.
"With this new offering, professors can select their own approach, combining the right content for their students with the right applications, for a fully integrated course," said Paul Romer, founder of Aplia and one of today's leading economists. "This combination offers professors more choice and flexibility in how they teach economics, plus an engaging and interactive set of tools to drive student behavior."
Thomson South-Western plans to initially integrate materials from its full line of Principles of economics textbooks, including its worldwide best selling book, Principles of Economics, 3e by Gregory Mankiw, with Aplia's suite of teaching tools. Other titles include Principles of Economics, 7e by William McEachern, Economics: Principles and Policy, 10e, by William Baumol and Alan Blinder and Economics Today, 4e by Irvin Tucker, to name of a few.
"This alliance continues to expand on one of our highest priorities--to offer professors and students a range of choices and to create true value that dramatically enhances the educational experience," said Ed Moura, president of Thomson Business & Economics. "Through Aplia's technology, students will be able to interact with relevant economic content in new ways that reinforce their understanding and move them along the learning curve. Importantly, professors and students will also be able to choose whether to use a traditional print textbook or an affordable online e-book in conjunction with the Aplia courseware."
Fully Integrated Solution for Active Learning
The Aplia Web-based courses will be closely correlated with the Thomson textbook chapters, and include online interactive problem sets that follow the order of topics within the textbook, as well as complete coverage of subtopics. Students gain access to auto-graded problem sets, experiments, news analyses, tutorials, and real-time interactive reports, while professors gain immediate access to an entire library of assignments, plus they can create announcements, manage grades, print performance reports, and more.
Available for Fall 2005
The full line of Thomson principles of economics textbooks integrated with Aplia's interactive solution will be available to professors and students for the fall semester of 2005. To give our customers a range of choices, a number of product delivery options and price points will be available, including an online digital edition of the textbook. For more information, visit the Aplia website at www.aplia.com/cengage.
About the Thomson Corporation and Thomson Higher Education
The Thomson Corporation (www.thomson.com), with 2004 revenues from continuing operations of $8.10 billion, is a global leader in providing integrated information solutions to business and professional customers. With operational headquarters in Stamford, Conn., Thomson (NYSE: TOC; TSX: TOC) has approximately 38,000 employees and provides services in approximately 130 countries. Its learning businesses and brands serve the needs of individuals, learning institutions, corporations and government agencies with products and services for both traditional and distributed learning. Thomson Higher Education is a leading provider of higher education textbooks, software, and Internet materials for the humanities, behavioral and social sciences, mathematics and the sciences, and business and economics. It publishes under the brands of Thomson Wadsworth, Thomson Brooks/Cole, Thomson South-Western, Thomson Heinle, and Thomson Schirmer.
About Aplia Inc.
Aplia Inc. is a new-generation, online learning company focused on providing learning tools that encourage more effort by students and save time for professors. Through its comprehensive offerings and innovative way of thinking about and applying technology to the challenges of teaching and learning, the company is poised to transform the classroom experience. Aplia's current products support the college-level courses Survey of Economics, Principles of Microeconomics, Intermediate Microeconomics, Advanced Intermediate Microeconomics, Principles of Macroeconomics and Money and Banking. The company, which was founded in 2000 by leading economist Paul Romer, already has more than 400 schools and 175,000 students using its products to date. For more information, please visit www.aplia.com.
CONTACTS:
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Adam Gaber Senior Director, Public Relations Thomson Learning 203-539-8663 adam.gaber@thomson.com |
Susan Prager Marketing Specialist 650-413-6678 sprager@aplia.com |