McGraw-Hill Education Introduces Next-Generation Custom Publishing Platform: Create

NEW YORK, Oct. 8 /PRNewswire/ -- McGraw-Hill Education has brought custom publishing into the 21st century with McGraw-Hill Create (www.mcgrawhillcreate.com), an innovative platform that gives instructors unprecedented control over and customization of higher education classroom content. Gone are the days when professors had no choice in how to assemble content for classroom instruction, or had to wait weeks to receive a customized text. With Create, instructors can produce their own e-books or printed texts by selecting content from a vast library of resources – and receive a digital proof in under an hour.

"McGraw-Hill's Create custom publishing tool gives me the power to provide only the content that is relevant to how I teach," said Cliff Thompson, director of Theatre at Freed-Hardeman University. "I can pick and choose what makes the most sense for me and my class, which allows me to be a more effective teacher and cost-conscious for my students."

Increasingly, instructors are demanding content solutions that are tailored to the way they teach. Custom publishing is one of the fastest growing areas in the higher education market, rising by 25 percent on a yearly basis. But not all custom content is created equal: results of a recent McGraw-Hill survey show that instructors are looking for low-cost solutions that offer the ability to integrate content from multiple disciplines, allow them to seamlessly incorporate their own material, contain enhanced search functions and promise faster delivery times. It is with these needs in mind that McGraw-Hill developed Create.

"McGraw-Hill Education is committed to putting the control back in professors' hands when it comes to producing course content," said Ed Stanford, president, McGraw-Hill Higher Education. "Through Create, we are empowering professors to customize content with a great degree of specificity and flexibility based on their course and syllabus, enhancing students' learning experiences while lowering the burden of cost."

McGraw-Hill Education created the custom publishing concept nearly 20 years ago when it introduced the popular Primis platform. Create builds on the Primis foundation by adding 21st century customization options, an intuitive drag-and-drop user interface and speedy digital delivery.

At Create's core is a Google-like search engine functionality that enables professors to immediately pull from a wide range of quality content, including 4,000 McGraw-Hill textbooks, 5,500 articles, 11,000 literature, philosophy and humanities readings, and 25,000 business case studies from prominent providers such as the Harvard Business School. This powerful search tool allows professors to view content across the library, or limit their search by category, such as discipline or copyright year. Through a recently announced partnership with Blackboard Inc., teachers will have access to the full suite of McGraw-Hill Create content through their Blackboard account, seamlessly integrating Create with their established and familiar classroom tools. Professors can also easily upload and incorporate self-produced content into their Create project.

Once a Create text has been fully customized, the instructor receives a digital review copy in under an hour or a print review copy in three to five days. This represents a marked improvement over existing platforms, which often take up to three weeks to deliver review copies. Once a professor finalizes the book in Create, he or she can make it available for student purchase. Students may purchase Create e-books through the McGraw-Hill ebookstore or purchase Create print books through their campus bookstore.

To simplify and streamline the custom publishing process, an index and table of contents is automatically generated for each Create project. Create allows professors to easily save and archive projects to work on at another time or edit for future semesters. Professors can customize the look and feel of their Create project by selecting a cover design and adding their name and course information. Additionally, instructors can share Create projects with colleagues for review, making content customization a collaborative experience.

Instructors from two-year, four-year and career colleges and universities nationwide have used Create to customize their educational content since its launch in April. Twenty-eight percent of the instructors who have used Create elected to receive their review copies as e-books. Create, which can be used by higher education institutions worldwide, is currently available across all 75 disciplines for which McGraw-Hill supplies content.

About McGraw-Hill Higher Education:

McGraw-Hill Higher Education, a unit of McGraw-Hill Education, is a leading innovator in the development of 21st century teaching and learning solutions for postsecondary and higher education markets worldwide. Through a comprehensive range of traditional and digital education content and tools focused on improving student learning outcomes, McGraw-Hill Higher Education empowers and prepares professionals and students to connect, learn and succeed in the global economy. McGraw-Hill Education, a division of The McGraw-Hill Companies (NYSE: MHP), has offices in 33 countries and publishes in more than 65 languages. Additional information is available at http://www.mheducation.com.

About The McGraw-Hill Companies:

Founded in 1888, The McGraw-Hill Companies (NYSE: MHP) is a global information and education company providing knowledge, insights and analysis in the financial, education and business information sectors through leading brands including Standard & Poor's, McGraw-Hill Education, Platts, and J.D. Power and Associates. The Corporation has more than 280 offices in 40 countries. Sales in 2009 were $5.95 billion. Additional information is available at http://www.mcgraw-hill.com.

SOURCE McGraw-Hill Education; McGraw-Hill Create