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National Economics Teaching Association, Cengage Learning Honor Paul Romer with Innovations in Economic Education Award
Nearly 2 Billion Student Assignments Graded by Professor Romer's Aplia Digital Course Solution

DALLAS, Nov. 6, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- The National Economics Teaching Association and Cengage Learning today honored Paul Romer with the inaugural Innovations in Economic Education Award. The award recognizes instructors who have advanced the cause of economic education through new techniques and technology. The award was presented at the 11th annual Economics Teaching Conference in Dallas.

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Professor Romer is a world-renowned economist at New York University who, in addition to his contributions in the area of economic theory, created Aplia, the first digital course solution to successfully provide online assignments. Moving forward, the prize will be known as the Paul Romer Innovations in Economic Education Award.

"Because of his pioneering work, NETA believes Professor Romer embodies the spirit of the award," said Dr. M. Young, President of the National Economics Teaching Association. "The National Economics Teaching Association's mission is to advance economic education by helping educators become more effective, both in and out of the classroom. In that vein, we are honored to recognize Paul Romer, whose work has done so much to facilitate student learning." 

In the early 2000's, with the expansion of the fiber-optic network and increased use of the Internet, Dr. Romer saw that an intuitive program to get more effort from students while requiring little additional effort from instructors was a possibility. Romer then created Aplia, a digital solution that enables instructors to assign online problem sets that deliver immediate feedback to students. This digital learning tool was one of the first to engage students outside of the classroom, enabling instructors to teach with greater ease and increase student effort and engagement. To date, Aplia has graded almost 2 billion student submissions. Cengage Learning (then Thomson Learning) purchased the company in 2007.

"There should be as much opportunity to raise productivity in education as in every other human activity."  Said Dr. Paul Romer, "Nevertheless, we have seen little progress. I wanted to do something to change this."  

"Paul Romer is a true visionary who saw early on the power of technology to improve student learning," said Jim Donohue, Chief Product Officer, Cengage Learning.  "Professor Romer's groundbreaking work 15 years ago led to what is today nearly universal use of digital solutions, regardless of subject, and it's fitting to honor him as the first recipient of this award."

About Cengage Learning

Cengage Learning is a leading educational content, technology and services company for the higher education and K-12, professional and library markets worldwide. The company provides superior content, personalized services and course-driven digital solutions that accelerate student engagement and transform the learning experience. Cengage Learning is headquartered in Boston, MA with an office hub located in San Francisco, CA. Cengage Learning employees reside in nearly 40 different countries with company sales in more than 125 countries around the world. www.cengage.com.

About NETA

NETA is a non-profit professional organization whose main mission is to serve economics faculty by helping them improve economics education at the undergraduate and high school (AP) levels. NETA is a co-sponsor of the annual Economics Teaching Conference, held each fall. www.econteach.com

Media Contact:
Chloe Ryan
Cengage Learning
617-757-8160
Chloe.Ryan@cengage.com

Susan Aspey
Cengage Learning
202-695-6012
Susan.Aspey@cengage.com

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SOURCE Cengage Learning