Thomas Edison State University Partners with Ed Map to Support Course Materials Affordability Initiatives

NELSONVILLE, Ohio, July 19, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Thomas Edison State University (TESU), a New Jersey senior public institution of higher learning and one of the oldest U.S. schools designed specifically for adults, has signed a master agreement with Ed Map, Inc. to employ CURATE by Ed Map™ to assist their development of 35 courses that utilize Open Educational Resources (OER). The contract builds on an earlier course materials affordability pilot project in which Ed Map helped TESU acquire and deliver digital course materials for several general education courses.

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Ed Map President and COO Kerry Pigman notes, "After the eBook pilot, we met with Matthew Cooper, associate provost of the university's Center for Learning and Technology, to discuss other Ed Map affordability solutions. Matt was particularly interested in our CURATE by Ed Map service that overcomes the discoverability barrier that impede the adoption of fresh, relevant OER and disaggregated content aligned with school-specific parameters.

"We subsequently arranged a CURATE pilot which proved very successful. They are now using CURATE to scale their development of courses using OER – creating affordable courses that leverage diverse content directly aligned with learning outcomes," Pigman adds.

Cooper said he and his team liked the experience and the results.

"We had been looking for a way to extend our course development model in a way that would include greater use of OER, while taking away some of the work involved in content research," he said. "We knew what we were looking for and the kind of partner we wanted. We had tried other potential solutions for including OER resources in our courses but we weren't completely satisfied with the results or process. The eBook pilot, which proved to be a great success with students, brought Ed Map to our attention,and we liked their project-based approach."

Cooper added, "CURATE by Ed Map has proven to be a big help. Our subject matter experts, who are integral to our course development efforts, are already familiar with established textbooks and materials, but our development teams felt they were missing opportunities to leverage new and innovative course resources because of the sheer volume of what is out there. We wanted to offer innovative, high-quality course materials while simultaneously driving down costs. The CURATE discovery process is fast and their curators provided recommendations of OER items, at the appropriate level for the course, that we could easily aggregate and use. We view CURATE as an extension of our team."

About Ed Map

Ed Map is a content strategy and logistics company. Through its people and technology Ed Map simplifies the discovery, adoption, management, and delivery of quality educational content to help institutions lower the cost of education and improve outcomes. Ed Map makes it convenient and economically attractive for institutions to support student acquisition of course materials. Expert advisory services and outstanding customer service complement its comprehensive OPENVUE^® technology platform. For more information, please visit http://www.edmap.com/.

About Thomas Edison State University

Thomas Edison State University provides flexible, high-quality, collegiate learning opportunities for self-directed adults. One of New Jersey's 11 senior public institutions of higher education, the university offers associate, bachelor and master's degrees in more than 100 areas of study. The university is a national leader in the assessment of adult learning and a pioneer in the use of educational technologies. The university is home to The John S. Watson Institute for Public Policy. The New Jersey State Library is an affiliate of the university. Learn more at www.tesu.edu.  

Media contact:
JoAnn Rollins
Director of Communications
Ed Map, Inc.
740.342.0514
Email

SOURCE Ed Map, Inc.

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