Dive Brief:

• A study commissioned by education publishing and tech company Cengage Learning shows that college students benefited from using its online homework tool.
• According to Cengage, the study, conducted by education nonprofit Project Tomorrow, students using the Aplia tool were more engaged and productive,  received better grades, and developed better workplace skills than students who didn’t use the tool. Professors also benefited as a result of the Aplia's auto-grading ability.
• The release of the study comes days after Cengage announced the opening of its new office in San Francisco, which it regards as a milestone for turning the company’s focus from textbook publishing to ed tech. 

Dive Insight:

Cengage emerged from reorganizing under Chapter 11 bankruptcy on April 1 with $4 billion shaved off its $5.8-billion debt, and with plans to cut staff and other costs through 2016 to save about $100 million. With its San Francisco location, the company hopes to capitalize on the technology talent available in the area, and its new space was designed to foster collaboration among employees. The study charted the progress of college students in introductory psychology courses, and students who had access to the Aplia online tool had an average GPA of 2.86 compared 2.22 for students who didn’t use the tool. As many as 80% of professors indicated they  would recommend Aplia to peers.