Macmillan Learning Launches a Search Engine Designed for Supplemental OER

New York, September 12, 2019 -- Macmillan Learning today announced the availability of Intellus Search, a new search engine designed to make it simpler for instructors to discover relevant and engaging supplemental materials that are free for students. While nearly three quarters of professors require print or digital textbooks for their courses, a recent study from the Babson Group found that many also require supplemental materials like articles/case studies (47%) and videos (28%). The OER (Open Educational Resources) found on Intellus Search offer hundreds of educator-selected items per course designed to help students learn.

Macmillan Learning has long been focused on student textbook affordability, with initiatives like Inclusive Access, textbook rentals, customized, and digital course materials. The company acquired Intellus Learning in 2017 as a complement to its affordability strategy in an effort to deliver quality OER learning assets aligned to common learning objectives. Since then Macmillan Learning has explored new solutions focused on making course materials more affordable for students, most recently with Intellus Search.

“Discovering open resources is easy, but finding truly useful resources can be a bit more challenging,” said Charles Linsmeier, SVP Content Strategy, Macmillan Learning. “With Intellus Search our goal is to make the process of curating the right open supplemental resources faster and easier for each instructor.”

Intellus Search offers free supplementary materials for core courses in the sciences, social sciences and business including: Introductory Astronomy, Introductory Psychology, Introduction to Business, Principles of Management, Organizational Behavior, Business Ethics, and Personal Finance. The Intellus engine uses algorithms specifically designed to help instructors find the most relevant content for these courses. While every resource is free for students, the catalog of resources has varying degrees of openness and variations in licensing; instructors can sort by license to find materials that best meet their needs. Additionally, all of the available content has been vetted by Macmillan Learning subject matter experts to ensure that it is accurate, relevant and would add value to a course.

Intellus Search was developed in accordance with Macmillan Learning’s commitment to the CARE framework, a set of shared values designed to help guide organizations that aim to be good stewards of the OER community. It is one of several initiatives from the company to contribute to open education. 

In addition to using the search engine directly, instructors can also find the course materials on the OpenStax website where Intellus Search is listed as a partner resource. This builds on partnerships with OpenStax that Macmillan Learning has built over the years through its Sapling Learning courseware.

“Macmillan Learning has been a valued partner for years, and we’re excited that Intellus Learning will be the latest addition to the partnership,” said David Harris, editor in chief for OpenStax. "This tool will allow instructors to easily find curated open content for their subject. Instructors using our books can already find the link to Intellus Learning through their book page on openstax.org, under Partner Resources."

About Macmillan Learning

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