Dr. Doug Emlen, Regents Professor of Evolutionary Biology at University of Montana and co-author of Evolution: Making Sense of Life, was recently inducted into the National Academy of Sciences. “It’s surreal and difficult to process,” he said, “but it’s an opportunity to be an ambassador for science on a much grander stage.”  A fierce believer in the importance of vibrant science and a population of citizenry that understands, embraces, and appreciates it, Dr. Emlen has spent his career fostering a passion in his students for the sciences. Macmillan Learning recently sat down with Dr. Emlen to learn more about his background, to find out what inspired him to become a biologist, and to learn more about his research and teaching interests. Get to know Dr. Doug Emlen in this month’s author spotlight.    Science is in Dr. Emlen’s blood Dr. Doug Emlen, Regents Professor of Biology at University of MontanaDr. Emlen is a third generation biologist and a fourth generation scientist. His dad was a biologist who studied animal behavior, his grandfather was a biologist who studied animal behavior, and his great grandfather was a physicist. As Dr. Emlen puts it, science is in his blood. “I guess you could say that my background is a little unusual,” he said. “As a kid, I was dragged along with my dad to do field work in some spectacular places around the world.”  Those travels during his childhood and teenage years were formative for Dr. Emlen. He spent six months attending middle school in Nakuru, Kenya, while his father conducted research on White-fronted Bee-eaters in Lake Nakuru National Park, and he spent a month in Panama during high school. “I learned early what it was like to live and work in the field,” he said, “and I grew up with a great appreciation for the natural world and this intense, infectious desire to understand it.”  Dr. Emlen is grateful for those experiences. “I was raised in the life of a field biologist,” he said. “We rarely traveled as tourists, but actually lived in the places we visited, getting to know and understand the people and culture, and studying animals in the context of their natural environments.” As he put it, that’s just what the Emlen family did. Dr. Emlen was hooked early; he was also going to become a scientist.  Though when he started his undergraduate career at Cornell University, he decided to pursue a degree in archeology–not biology. “I wanted to break out of the mold,” he said. “I’ve always had a closet passion for history, so I considered becoming an archaeologist or maybe a paleontologist.” The reason he switched majors is a reason that many students change their majors: how much they like or dislike their professors. While a really good professor may persuade a student to change their major to that professor’s discipline, a poor professor may convince students to leave their major for another. For Dr. Emlen, it was the latter. “I didn’t like my professors in my archeology courses,” he said, “and the coursework just didn’t light my fire.”  When Dr. Emlen changed his major to biology, he needed to take all of his father’s classes, as he was on the faculty at Cornell. “Oops,” Dr. Emlen said with a smile. “Maybe I should have gone to a different university.” Even with his father as one of his professors, Dr. Emlen’s love of biology continued to grow. At the conclusion of his undergraduate degree, he decided to continue his education, pursuing a PhD in biology at Princeton University.    The uncharted frontier: beetles  Dr. Emlen may not have broken away from the field of biology in undergraduate, but during his time at Princeton, he was determined to carve out his own path. “My dad’s main area of research was birds,” he said, “and my grandfather also worked on birds.” Dr. Emlen wanted to focus on something new, something about which far less was known, an uncharted frontier. For him that meant beetles.  More specifically, that meant rhinoceros beetles. “I like extremes,” said Dr. Emlen, “and I wanted to explore things that seem like they shouldn’t be possible.” When looking at different species, from extinct triceratops, to deer and elk, Dr. Emlen became fascinated by extreme structures. “But, unlike many other animals, there were literally thousands of beetle species that nobody knew anything about,” he said.  Dr. Emlen’s interest in beetles also resulted in the fulfillment of another one of his dreams: a trip to the rainforest. “I had always wanted to visit the rainforest, and now I had a reason to go,” he said. When doing his PhD research, Dr. Emlen got to spend more than two years living in the rainforest studying beetles in their natural habitat. Although that was nearly thirty years ago, he continues to be fascinated with beetles to this day. “My questions are always changing; technology is always changing,” he said, “and I like the intellectual challenge. It’s exciting!”  For Dr. Emlen, it’s the sheer size of male weaponry in species like rhinoceros beetles, elk, and deer that first grabs his attention. “They’re huge!” he explained. “Say you line up one hundred of the same species in a row. If you compare the smallest to the largest in body size, the difference will only be about twofold. But, if you look at their horns or antlers, there can be a thirtyfold difference in size.” Dr. Emlen and his students seek to understand how this happens, exploring the genes and developmental pathways regulating weapon growth, as well as why it happens – what advantages (besides when fighting for territory or a mate) this exaggerated male weaponry serves.  “For years, I’ve sent graduate students to Japan to conduct field work to study these fascinating beetles,” Dr. Emlen said. “We’ve sequenced their genome and looked at the genes involved with the expression of their horns, but all from a lab.” Last summer, Dr. Emlen finally got to accompany his graduate students on their trip to Japan. “I was back in the forest again studying them in the wild,” he said enthusiastically. “I felt like a kid again, when I was just starting out my career in the field.”    An old-fashioned teacher and storyteller  In addition to his graduate student advisees, Dr. Emlen also teaches two large undergraduate courses each year: Genetics & Evolution and Behavior & Evolution. “The way I teach now for my large format classes is a combination of lecturing and discussion sections,” Dr. Emlen said. “I know that lectures may seem a little old-fashioned for many, but I believe that done right, a lecture can be a tremendously impactful way to teach.”  Dr. Emlen sees himself as an outlier in that regard. “I’m a storyteller,” he said. Dr. Emlen takes time to carefully craft his lectures so that they are interesting and engaging. “I try to pull the students in by grounding what the students are learning in time and place, so that the students can relate to the content,” he said. Many of Dr. Emlen’s students grew up in rural Montana, surrounded by the agriculture industry, so he uses what the students already know to improve their understanding of difficult topics. “What they don’t know before coming to my class is how much agriculture has to do with evolution,” he said. “It has everything to do with evolution!”  Dr. Emlen also builds his classes around contemporary issues that are on the minds of his students. “I love teaching most when I can awe my students a little,” he said. “When I can leave them sort of spinning and reeling and thinking about their world in ways they never thought they would.” Dr. Emlen also recognizes that many of the topics discussed are not easy, and that his students can become quite overwhelmed. “The pandemic and climate change are big topics for the students,” he said, “which is why I want to start including a segment on hope in my classes.” He wants his students to walk away from his class feeling energized and optimistic. “Science can do that. Especially with new technology, biology can provide the solutions they’re looking for,” Dr. Emlen said.    A biologist and a writer Dr. Emlen never intended to write a textbook, even though his teaching and storytelling experience would have positioned him well to do so. Instead, he was approached by a publisher to review a non-majors biology textbook written by Carl Zimmer. “I didn’t know Carl at the time,” said Dr. Emlen, “but I was a huge fan of his writing. There are a few science writers out there that really get it. Carl is one of them.”  As a journalist by training, Carl Zimmer was an excellent writer who also really understood science and knew how to articulate difficult topics without making them too simple. “They asked me to go through the chapters because of my teaching experience,” Dr. Emlen said, “and to bring a trained research biologist on board.” Based on his contributions to Zimmer’s non-majors textbook, Doug was asked to continue working together with him on a majors-level textbook. “I viewed it as a good opportunity to learn from Carl and improve my writing,” Dr. Emlen said. “After working on the non-majors book, I thought I was ready. How wrong I was! I’ve probably spent 10,000 hours of my life working on this book.”  A majors-level textbook has different criteria then a non-majors book. On top of that, Dr. Emlen and Zimmer wanted to achieve something new with their textbook. “Flashback a generation,” said Dr. Emlen, “textbooks were more like an encyclopedia, used as a desk reference to look something up. Today, students can do that on their own, so we wanted to create a book that students would actually want to read.” Dr. Emlen and Zimmer saw this as an opportunity to build a textbook that didn’t feel like a usual textbook.  “While I’m proud of what we created today, we made the mistake at first of sharing our book with instructors without clearly explaining the goals of our book,” Dr. Emlen said. When finished with their first edition, they asked biology instructors to try their new book. What they didn’t expect was the sharp criticism. “‘It’s not technical enough,’ ‘You don’t have this equation,’ ‘And what about this? That’s not how that study actually works,’” he said. “The pushback was massive.”  The next time they shared their book with instructors, they included a cover letter explaining why they departed from a traditional textbook format. “They eventually came around,” Dr. Emlen said. Soon, Dr. Emlen and Zimmer were receiving praise for what they achieved. Students were reading the textbook and understanding topics and concepts they hadn’t before. “Our approach with this book was to introduce students to material through stories and to build on what they learn in each successive chapter,” he said. “By the third edition, as far as I’m concerned, we nailed it.” ... View more

As long as I’ve been with Macmillan Learning, our company has been anchored by its belief in the transformative power of learning. This commitment and the responsibility derived from it lives in our mission: "Inspiring what’s possible for every learner." From general education courses throughout the higher education curriculum to the expanding reach of Advanced Placement® courses in high schools and the development of enterprise technology solutions that promote student engagement and success, our mission drives us to discover the individual learner in any product or service we provide.  We are also at an inflection point with AI, as the educational environment and opportunities to support learning are changing rapidly. The emergence of Generative AI, among other AI-based programs, has the power to amplify our mission and help us do what we do best better than ever. Both inside and outside the classroom, AI has the potential to reinforce some of the most important pedagogical strategies. And at the same time, it challenges many long-held assumptions. Our Compass is Good Pedagogy  Central to our ethos are evidence-based teaching practices. These instructional practices, which have been rigorously vetted and validated through empirical research, are the foundational pillars that dictate the creation and refinement of our tools. These practices provide a framework that reaches beyond the origins of our work as a textbook publisher to the learning company that we have become and, used ethically and effectively, AI can serve to reinforce, strengthen, and advance use of those practices. Over time, the influence on the overall education experience and impact that Macmillan Learning has had on student success has grown. Gone are the days where students received a printed textbook and our work was done. Now our products offer students multimodal experiences that help incite their curiosity, motivation, and engagement. In particular, we see personalized learning turning an important corner; new technologies advanced by AI can help make the educational experience even more meaningful, relevant, and transferable. These new technologies can help realize the long sought-after goal to advance skills and competencies in students that are demonstrable, repeatable, and applicable to the novel situations they will encounter over their lifetimes. In this work, we help to enrich and foster a learning environment that supports and advances learning, but which also brings comfort, belonging, and compassion to the educational environment for each learner. Today, our responsibility to each learner is to create an educational experience in which we inform, inspire, enrich, and help each student understand themselves in the arc of their educational journey. Together, the outcomes are students who know their learning, love their learning, do their learning, and become their learning. Pedagogy is the Heart of Any AI Implementation As with any tool, efficacy depends on how it’s designed and used. The litmus test for any AI application in education is this: does it augment learning and advance human endeavors or does it act only as a sufficient substitute? We believe that the greatest benefits are realized for students when AI serves to augment the learning process in ways that retain its humanity and foster learning that is applied and transferable. The real power of AI lies not in its advanced algorithms and LLMs, but in its thoughtful implementation.  Our obligation to the success of classrooms drives our work everyday and frames our decisions as we integrate AI and new technologies into our work, products, and educational services. In practical terms, this means supporting the different ways that learning takes place and supporting them differently than we have in the past.  Learning begins with the learner, not the educational tools we create. It means challenging our pedagogical intent by viewing it through the lens of a first generation college student experiencing campus life for the first time; a student commuting between job and an online class who searches the course catalog for the skills and know-how they will need at their next employer. We ask questions about assessments and how they could impact a student who throughout their life has experienced socioeconomic barriers that question if they belong in the college environment at all. We believe that it's in the moments of grappling with complex problems that the most good can be fostered, not to make learning easy but to make it meaningful in every respect to every learner. The Nexus of Outcome-Driven Education and AI As we think about the best uses of AI, we consider the important aspects of pedagogy and how they relate to the human experience of education and together they inform Macmillan Learning’s mission. This is where everything changes -- from how we assess learning to helping students hone their metacognitive skills. It is revealed in the way learners discover themselves that education truly can be transformative. Accomplishing these goals requires continual improvement and new strategies. While traditional tests and formative assessments may not be as effective in an AI world, it doesn’t mean that assessments don't have a place. Maybe, as our CEO Susan Winslow said, we were placing too much value on the multiple choice question all along. Continuous evaluation and feedback during the learning process can offer invaluable insights into students’ understanding of material and AI can be an effective, though imperfect, resource in that effort: queries about a confusing topic need not wait for office hours nor require the student to stumble through articles from a browser search; persistent engagement with AI can not only be a positive pedagogical practice but can help the student practice skills that will transfer outside the classroom, build confidence, and help them envision new possibilities and their potential within them.  Instead of students just absorbing information, AI-driven tools can further enable the shift to active participation, change the way educators design project-based learning, and captivate learners with personalized challenges and real-time feedback creating a learning experience that is uniquely their own. Additionally, AI can aid in fostering metacognitive skills, advance students’ own thinking about thinking, and help students become more self-aware and strategic in their approach to their education, reduce anxiety, and increase their self-assurance.  All of these possibilities are only as real as the care we put into making them safe, reliable, ethical, and unbiased. All the trapdoors and stumbling blocks remain; no system will drive them out entirely. Measured approaches need to produce measurable results; good intentions and optimism won’t win the day on their own.  At Macmillan Learning, we prioritize good pedagogy and evidence-based teaching practices as the framework to make these important decisions. As we navigate this AI-influenced pedagogical landscape, we won’t lose sight of our belief that technology is most beneficial when it complements, not substitutes, the human touch in education. While AI is not the destination, it can be a rather helpful companion on the path to learning. ... View more

  The next business we want to highlight is Packback. I’ve gotten to know Packback CEO Kelsey Behringer and CPO & Co-Founder Jessica Tenuta over the past few months and seen their passion for student success firsthand, as our companies announced a partnership that pairs Packback's AI-powered technology with the hundreds of course materials found within Macmillan Learning’s Achieve digital learning platforms Packback and Macmillan Learning are both committed to creating learning science-backed products that help students develop critical thinking skills as well as a lifelong love of learning, which is why the partnership works.   Packback’s flagship, their inquiry-driven discussion platform, Packback Questions, was inspired by their mission to harness the power of AI to help educators increase engagement in their classrooms and help students find their unique voice. This form of active learning encourages students to achieve higher levels of critical thinking and discover real-life applications of course material via discussion questions in and out of class. Their AI-enabled platform can help students build and master foundational skills like critical thinking, writing, and research.  Here’s how it would work for, say, a psychology class: students would be assigned course materials and assessments via the Achieve platform and then be asked to respond to a prompt either provided by Packback or to create one of their own. Prompts could include questions like: Why would NASA suggest the strategy “follow the water” when searching for life on other planets and What kind of conversation would cells have if they communicated like humans? The AI supports the students through the writing process, offering suggestions and feedback on both content and grammar. You can learn more about the partnership here. -- Macmillan Learning is committed to fostering an inclusive environment where women entrepreneurs not only have a seat at the table but also thrive. We believe that by supporting and collaborating with women-owned businesses, we contribute to a more equitable and prosperous future for all. Read about other Womin in Business Week profiles: Work Simplr,  In the Room, and Wright Consulting. ... View more

Amber Jones, founder of The Wright Consulting Group, has been an invaluable partner to our business over the past five years. Her company has directly contributed to more than $5M in business for state and district bids for our organization. Amber is reliable, never missing a deadline - no matter how tight a turnaround time required. Her work is always stellar and of the utmost quality. Bringing more than 20 years of professional experience as an educator, K-12 administrator, and educational consulting and program management, Amber’s deep knowledge of curriculum and instruction are immediately obvious in every project her company undertakes. Working with Amber feels like working with a trusted friend, who understands the needs of educators, district and state administrators, and more importantly student learners. I cannot think of a more deserving company to celebrate during this year’s Women in Business Week, than Amber Jones and The Wright Consulting Group. I highly recommend anyone looking for editorial or educational services support reach out to The Wright Consulting Group at http://askthewrightgroup.com --- Macmillan Learning is committed to fostering an inclusive environment where women entrepreneurs not only have a seat at the table but also thrive. We believe that by supporting and collaborating with women-owned businesses, we contribute to a more equitable and prosperous future for all. Read about Monday's Spotlight on Work Simplr here and Tuesday's Spotlight on In the Room here. ... View more

I'm excited to highlight In the Room for Women in Business Week. It has been a pleasure working with the In the Room team, led by CEO and Co-founder Sarah Coward. In partnership, we have worked to deliver an interactive experience that enables people to connect with peer consultants, authors, and our own team members as though they were meeting them in real life  Using voice recognition and machine learning, this conversational technology provides its audiences the opportunity to have a dynamic interaction that is informative and authentic. The platform allows users to ask questions and receive personalized responses. The experience helps to break down barriers and create a sense of shared presence, offering an unparalleled and meaningful experience that goes beyond traditional methods of storytelling or learning A brief view of the In the Room website demonstrates this. Here you can speak with Sarah herself in an In the Room experience and learn about her company and her team. Speaking of her team, they are so easy to work with. They support, project manage, and advise every step of the way - from initial idea to storyboarding, and quality assurance. We can’t wait to share the In the Room Experience that we’re working on now. --- Macmillan Learning is committed to fostering an inclusive environment where women entrepreneurs not only have a seat at the table but also thrive. We believe that by supporting and collaborating with women-owned businesses, we contribute to a more equitable and prosperous future for all. Read about Monday's Spotlight on Work Simplr here. ... View more

Welcome to ​the first of Macmillan Learning's Women in Business Week Spotlight​s, where each day we will be highlighting  some of the many women-owned and operated businesses we have the pleasure to work with. In recent years, there has been a surge of  entrepreneurship​, with The National Association of Women Business Owners (NAWBO), ​reporting that women-owned businesses account for nearly 40% of all U.S. businesses. That they generate trillions of dollars in revenue and create millions of jobs is a testament to the resilience, creativity, and determination of women.​ At​ Macmillan Learning, we are committed to fostering an inclusive environment where women entrepreneurs not only have a seat at the table but also thrive. We believe that by supporting and collaborating with women-owned businesses, we contribute to a more equitable and prosperous future for all. I am thrilled to share the exceptional experience we've had working with WorkSimplr. I have personally used them for a couple of different projects. Launching the projects was incredibly easy, and the fact that Work Simplr manages all of the administrative work of payment is invaluable. The students assigned to the projects were conscientious, completing the work well and on time.  Owned by Leah Jewell and Jodi McPherson, both of whom have proven passion for and experience in workforce readiness the Work Simplr team is highly responsive, collaborative, and consistently delivers exceptional results. The passionate, informed approach used makes all the difference in how they source, train and support student employees. Their deep understanding of educational publishing and workforce readiness is evident in everything they do.  If you have any projects where you are looking for reliable and vetted talent, you should definitely check out Work Simplr: https://worksimplr.com/ ... View more

Advancing equity and access isn't just the mandate of a month—it's an ongoing commitment to change, growth, and understanding. Every October, we observe the National Disability Employment Awareness Month (NDEAM), as it offers an opportunity to reflect and find paths to create lasting change. For me, it took a long time before I was comfortable acknowledging my place in the disability community. I was afraid I was taking space from other people who had been through more than I had or whose disabilities were more apparent than my own. Disability felt like a dirty word. Founding our employee resource group AVID (Awareness of Visible & Invisible Disabilities) alongside my co-chair gave me a view into how everyone has a unique experience with disability and each of us deserves our space. Our conversations, meetings, blogs, presentations, and research have exposed me to a wonderful and varied world of life experiences and peer support that have made me feel truly welcome. My AVID co-founder had this to add: “the creation of AVID has fostered a community where we share our struggles, lean on one another, and bring levity in dark times. AVID has empowered me to realize that I don’t need to hide who I am. My disability is as much a part of me as my love of spreadsheets. I am now proud to tell you I’m disabled. I’m now me.” Our experiences being not only employees, but part of a thriving community of employees with disabilities, are oftentimes unfortunately the exception. While we have a rich community within Macmillan Learning, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, in 2021, only 17.9% of persons with a disability were employed, in contrast to the 61.8% employment rate of those without a disability. The unemployment rate for persons with a disability was 12.6% in 2021, notably higher than the 6.2% for those without a disability. This data underscores the importance of our continued efforts to bridge these gaps and promote an inclusive work environment for all. The Power of Collaboration One critical way to drive change is through strong collaborations. By building bridges with internal stakeholders, partnering with community organizations, and liaising with disability advocacy groups, we multiply our potential for meaningful impact. This not only ensures that the needs of the disabled community are accurately represented but also fosters a support system that extends beyond the boundaries of our organization. To this end, AVID partners with groups like Disability:In, National Organization on Disability, Rutgers Center for Adult Autism, and several others. Their expertise, insights, and shared commitment have been invaluable in our journey towards a more inclusive workplace. Further, as part of our ongoing commitment, this month, we're excited to announce that we will be offering scholarships to Macmillan Learning’s employees for Deque University’s Accessibility Training Course. This course provides invaluable skills and knowledge, setting the foundation for a more inclusive digital environment.  While the National Disability Employment Awareness Month serves as a significant reminder, our dedication to equity and access doesn't wane with its conclusion. We are resolute in our mission to champion disability inclusion, continuously seeking novel solutions to eradicate barriers. The goal is to not only uplift every member of our team but to also instill a culture where all employees, irrespective of their abilities, can flourish. We invite you to harness the spirit of NDEAM to foster a workspace where disability stands not as a limitation but as a testament to the indomitable strength of the human spirit and the transformative power of inclusion. Together, the vision of an empathetic, understanding, and inclusive future becomes attainable. ... View more

At Macmillan Learning’s Tech Ed Conference this year, I connected with dozens of instructors teaching the next generation of learners about the topic on everyone’s mind -- Artificial Intelligence. AI will undoubtedly continue to change the learning experience. But I would also argue that the most meaningful parts of learning, at the core, are deeply human, and that's something we must never forget. So as teachers around the world have returned to class, I wanted to share some thoughts on our future and on what I believe will be AI’s impact on education. But first, let’s take a step back in time to November 30, 2022 -- the day that Chat GPT was unleashed as a free platform for the world to use and explore. I remember vividly the enormous influx of messages from my colleagues across the company and in classrooms. Everyone had questions about what it meant to education, what it meant for Macmillan Learning, and what its impact will be on society in general.  Not too long thereafter, we were inundated by headlines like The End of High-School English from The Atlantic and Teachers are on alert for inevitable cheating after release of ChatGPT from The Washington Post.  We began getting messages from instructors letting us know that their students were cheating using AI to write essays, to answer homework, and even during quizzes -- and they needed help.  It was at that moment of information crush that I remember looking up at the ceiling and understanding that everything had completely changed. I told our instructors at Tech Ed that in that moment, it felt a bit like I was rapidly going through the stages of grief: Denial. Sadness. Bargaining. Depression. And finally, acceptance. But that journey was critical to understanding the problem … and envisioning the solutions. AI as an Educational Tool  To best solve a problem you first need to understand it. So the first thing I did was what so many of us who work in education love doing -- learning more about the problem. I spent the next two months with various generative AI tools, with tech leaders, at AI conferences, with students and with teachers, and ultimately fortified myself on what Macmillan Learning’s role could and should be. There were enough people training the AI how to learn. Our job is to help humans learn.  Coming to that conclusion, for me, changed everything. I became optimistic. I remembered that learning should require effort. To form those new synapses, you need to be puzzled, challenged, engaged. The education community works tirelessly to both guide students along their learning path, and ensure the reward once it is taken.  I considered that this may be another opportunity to revisit some of our goals when it comes to reaching learners. To do things in a better way. To address issues of equity, equality, neurodiversity, or access in a different way. To address issues of bias in the system. To create stronger assessment tools, that can be tailored to a broader set of outcomes. Maybe we can unlock new learning experiences, reach more students, and have a real learning renaissance. Maybe the multiple choice problem wasn't the best assessment tool to begin with. Maybe there are other experiences we can develop that will assist all instructors in creating that magic moment that becomes the human connection to learning with their students.  Learning is Still Human In each of our lives, there likely has been someone or something that inspires: an influential moment in a person’s life that helped them to become the person who they were; a book they read; a speech, a lesson they learned in class; an instructor who took the time to get to know them and make them feel like they could do it. As amazing and useful as generative AI technology is, it still falls short of that person who inspired you to be better, that maybe changed your life. And that is ok. AI can do what it does well, and there is still a place for the human connection to do what it does best. As a learning company, enabling more of those moments needs to be at the forefront of the work we do. This means that we need to talk directly with, and listen to, students about how they use AI, and under what circumstances it advances their learning. As I have talked to students, I have found that they are not shy about sharing how they have used AI, talking as much about how they have used AI apps to cheat as they have used them to assist in their learning. We need to do more work here to know what exactly they’re doing and why they’re doing it.  Can we unlock learning for students in a way that is exciting and expands their curiosity? In my conversations with them, in many cases, they have told me they’re not actually sure if what they’re doing is, in fact, cheating. And when I ask them what motivated them to use AI in the first place, the answer is often “because I want to see if it will work.” There’s curiosity in there. There is learning happening there. With the rapid advance of AI tools and functionality, we’re getting into the potential of a new experiential learning experience. Students were one of the fastest adopting demographics for AI and there’s much to learn about how they use it.  Can we use metacognition in a way that helps provoke learning? If you ask ChatGPT what it learned this year, it responds “I don't have the ability to learn or experience things in the way humans do, as I am a pre-trained model with a knowledge cutoff in September 2021…” We can work with that. We can use metacognitive prompts to ask students if they’re aware of their learning, and what they learned. We can use the science of learning to help our human students be better at learning, to gain the kinds of critical thinking and awareness skills that will be crucial to helping them get better jobs in an AI-assisted future.  At Macmillan Learning, we see significant opportunity in this new world, but we also know there is a lot to continue to learn, understand, and be careful of. We’re partners in this journey. We’ve already rolled up our sleeves and are digging in creating new, exciting products and processes to support students and instructors. We are working to set new standards in inclusive practices within AI tools. And we are committed to advancing the learning science that will shape our next education renaissance.  In the coming months, you will begin to hear from our company leaders about our strategy, our projects, and our ideas. We’re working on some cool things. We’re eager to learn from you along the way. I hope you will stay close to us through our collective journey so we can inform each other’s progress. Our job is to help humans learn, to inspire what’s possible for every learner, to envision a world where every learner succeeds. And AI is changing the game in how we all support that journey. ... View more

Ever wonder why National Hispanic Heritage Month starts halfway through the month of September and not on the first like other affinity months? Or maybe you’re unsure which countries Hispanic Heritage Month celebrates? Find out the answers to these questions and more from members of Viva@ML, Macmillan Learning’s Hispanic/Latino/a/e/x employee resource group.  Viva@ML is a community of colleagues, Hispanic/Latino/a/e/x and allies alike, working together to foster a sense of belonging and explore the cultural diversity of Macmillan Learning through outreach and education. To kickoff this year’s Hispanic Heritage Month, they answered common employee questions about the affinity month.    Why does Hispanic Heritage Month start on September 15th? September 15th is the independence day for Costa Rica, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Honduras, and Guatemala. Mexico is right after, with their independence day celebrated on September 16th, followed by Chile and Belize on September 18th and 21st, respectively. With so many Latin American countries celebrating their independence in mid-September, President Lyndon B. Johnson recognized this time as Hispanic Heritage Week. (You can view all Latin American independence dates here.) In 1988, President Ronald Reagan moved to observe Hispanic heritage for a full 31 days, and President George H. W. Bush dedicated September 15th–October 15th as Hispanic Heritage Month in 1989. The United States has honored those four weeks since.   Does “Hispanic Heritage Month” include those who identify as Latino/a/e/x? Short Answer: Yes! “Hispanic” was the term used in the US Census in the 1980s when Hispanic Heritage Month was created, but “Latino” was not added as an option until 2000, so it might be fair to say that the month’s name was dictated by the most recent term of the time! Viva is committed to ensuring that inclusion is at the heart of what we do, and we know that how everyone identifies can be an extra personal question in our community, so we welcome everyone with Hispanic and Latine origins to consider themselves part of our Viva community!   What is the difference between “Hispanic” and “Latino/a/e/x”? “Hispanic” refers to Spanish-speaking countries or people from or whose ancestors are from areas/countries colonized by Spain, while “Latin” refers to ancestries in Latin America. Many of these countries and identities overlap, but a few do not! For example, Brazil gained its independence from Portugal, so while someone from Brazil or with Brazilian ancestry/heritage might identify as Latino, they would not be considered Hispanic.   What countries does Hispanic Heritage Month celebrate? If you think of the distinction between Hispanic and Latin countries as a Venn diagram, some countries are Hispanic; some countries are Latin American; and some countries are both. However, Hispanic Heritage Month, which is strictly a US holiday, celebrates people with ancestry in all of these countries: Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Equatorial Guinea, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Puerto Rico, Spain, Uruguay, and Venezuela. ... View more

As students prepare to go to college, they’re likely excited about their independence, the upcoming academic challenges, and the prospect of new friendships. At the same time, there  could be anxiety or concern about adapting to unfamiliar environments. According to the American Psychological Association, during the 2020-2021 school year, more than 60% of college students met the criteria for at least one mental health problem. The weight of academic expectations, social adjustments, and the need to establish a sense of belonging all converge to underscore the importance of mental health resources. Rachel Comerford and Tina McCosky, leaders from Macmillan Learning’s Employee Resource Groups AVID@ML (Awareness of Visible & Invisible Disabilities ) & the Village@ML (Parent and Caregivers) respectively, share some tips about how to support students’ mental health. By Tina McCosky (Village@ML) and Rachel Comerford (AVID@ML) College life can be both fulfilling and challenging, particularly for new students. With the wide range of activities, assignments, classes, and opportunities available it can be easy to become overwhelmed or to neglect one's mental health. But like your physical health, mental health is integral for your well-being for a number of reasons.  Academic Success: Mental health plays a crucial role in academic success. When someone is emotionally well, they are better able to focus, retain information, and manage their coursework effectively. Personal Growth: College is a time of personal growth and self-discovery. Addressing mental health can enhance this process, allowing students to build resilience, cope with challenges, and develop healthy coping mechanisms. Relationships: Healthy relationships are essential to the college experience. Taking care of mental health ensures that students can form meaningful connections and communicate effectively with peers, professors, and staff. Both students and their guardians can play a role in ensuring that mental health remains a priority. Due to all the moving pieces and emotions involved with sending a child off to college, parents may prefer to be all business when it comes to college planning: planning move-in, buying dorm stuff, and asking teens many questions about their university portal and other resources. Students are already stressed about these things and more. They are moving from the safe space they’ve always known to a completely unknown environment, and even though they may be taller than their parents, they are anxious, excited, and likely feeling unsettled.  Students Research university website. All colleges have staff dedicated to mental health now. This is a huge improvement over the past where mental health was not always a priority. Start by searching for the "Counseling Services" or "Mental Health Services" section. Keep close contact with parents and other close friends and family members in the weeks before moving to college. Enjoy the free time, take time to just hang out, play games, talk to each other about things non-college, non-future planning. This will reduce stress and help both you and your parents (it’s a big transition for parents too!). Start Small. If talking to a counselor seems intimidating, you can begin by attending workshops or support groups. These can provide valuable insights and strategies for managing stress and improving your mental well-being. Self-Care. Incorporate self-care into your routine. Engage in activities that bring you joy whether it's exercising, reading, creating art, or spending time with friends. Prioritizing self-care can help reduce stress and improve your mood. Build a Support Network. Connect with peers, roommates, professors, and advisors. They can help provide emotional support and guidance. Parents and Guardians Give your teen the space they need to process. Parents may find themselves needing to hold their thoughts, or just talk privately about them with a partner or other parent friends going through this same transition, so that they don’t add more stress to their teen. Let your teen know they can talk to you whenever and you will be there to listen to them. If they know you’ll listen, they’ll ask for guidance when they need it. Similarly, encourage your teen to become comfortable with discomfort, analyze things their way, make mistakes, and trust that you are there for them, always. Their safe space won’t necessarily be in close proximity, but cell phones offer safety and virtual hugs at a fingertip’s reach. Our benefits provider is good at helping locate a counselor in specific zip codes. Some students feel a bit uncomfortable seeking a counselor at their university. Despite all the strides we’ve made, there is still hesitation on how they’ll be perceived or whether they’ll be impacted negatively by seeking help.  Normalize Seeking Help. Remember that seeking help is a sign of strength, not weakness. Many students face similar challenges, and seeking support is a proactive step towards personal growth and well-being. Talk to your kids early and often about how and why to seek mental health assistance.  Mental health issues can be a reality for many of today’s college students, and there’s an ongoing need to first recognize the issue and then provide increased support and resources to address them. Students, their parents and even the college community each have a role to play in supporting this important moment in time for the teens. ... View more

With her Eras tour, Taylor Swift has been dominating the news this hot, cruel summer, including the $55 million in bonuses she gave to every member of the team that worked on the tour. But her impact on the people and the places involved with the concert experience extends way beyond that. From the resale prices, to the impact on local economies, to the role of Ticketmaster, we can learn a lot about economics from the pop icon and her tour. Economists research topics like labor, trade, global markets, healthcare, inequalities, education, etc., but the core of economics - one that Swift's Eras Tour has helped to teach us is How should economies allocate scarce resources?  Macmillan Learning author Paul Krugman (Economics from Krugman/Wells 6e) indicates that we can learn a lot from analyzing the headlines around something like the Eras Tour. Knowing that Swift's Eras Tour provides such strong teachable moments in economics, he created assignments for instructors to use this fall. The assignments are available beginning this August as an added benefit to all instructors using Macmillan Learning’s Achieve, but the team also wanted to make a few of them available for broader use. So … Don't let them slip by, like a moment in time. Is Taylor Swift Underpaid? This assignment asks students to think about economic growth as well as demand. Economic growth, the 11th principle in the first chapter of Economics from Krugman/Wells 6e, considers how the increases in an economy’s potential lead to economic growth over time. Concerts are big business. In fact, according to Bloomberg, Taylor Swift is bringing in ticket sales of more than $13 million a night for each concert, which may make the Eras tour the highest-grossing tour in music history (now that’s an American Dynasty). So how on earth could we even consider that she is underpaid? Let’s think about the question like an economist. Here are some things to consider: Modern superstar musicians don’t make the majority of their money from streaming or music sales. Rather, it comes from concerts. Unfortunately for Swift, but fortunately for us, we have the ability to listen to her songs just about any time (though there can also be a monthly subscription associated with that). While attending concerts offers a special experience, modern technology (Spotify, Apple Music, SirusXM) provides opportunities to hear Swift’s latest songs and even recordings of her live performances. Taylor Swift increased the number of shows on the Eras Tour, more than doubling the original number of shows to 131 shows. Following that announcement, ticket prices continued to soar (people seriously need to calm down!). Ticket prices on secondary markets have, in some instances, increased to more than 10 times their face value. Secondary markets exist because face values don’t reflect actual demand and supply. In the case of Taylor Swift, concerts sell out and prices continue to increase. That means demand continues to exceed expectations -- and when demand exceeds supply, prices will increase. So … should Taylor Swift have been paid more? What do you think? Start out your fall term by thinking about economic growth and demand. If you’d like to use this assignment in class, you can use the prompt above or log into Achieve for Krugman Wells 6th edition; there you’ll find a slide deck in the Resources Tab titled First Day of Class Icebreaker: Taylor Swift for even more details on the assignment.  Also, check out the assignment about the cost of attending a Taylor Swift concert & the concept of opportunity cost. ... View more

Sustainability is an issue I have always been very passionate about. Over the years, I’ve witnessed firsthand the effects of global warming on my coastal hometown. Seeing things change more by the year has spurred me to look deeper into how I’m personally contributing to climate change, and what steps I can take to combat it.   This most recent Earth Day, I learned some interesting facts about Macmillan Learning’s commitment to sustainability. Macmillan Learning CEO Susan Winslow noted that “our global team has taken an active role in making the education and publishing industries more sustainable” since 2009. I wanted to dig a little deeper into the details of this, and as it turns out there was a lot more to it than even I knew.  I’m not the only one concerned about the impact of climate change; it’s something that’s important to many people including Instructors and students. They care deeply about supporting companies that are dedicated to sustainability and helping the environment. Here are four things I learned about Macmillan Learning’s role in supporting the environment.  1. Macmillan Learning is Carbon Neutral Macmillan Learning and its supply chain has been carbon neutral since 2013! Climate neutrality is the “idea of achieving net zero greenhouse gas emissions by balancing those emissions so they are equal (or less than) the emissions that get removed through the planet’s natural absorption” Source. Climate neutrality is an important step everyone can take in fighting climate change.  2. Emissions have Decreased by 60% Globally Carbon emissions occur when a carbon compound, like carbon dioxide, is released into the atmosphere by human activities like burning fossil fuels. These carbon emissions, also known as greenhouse gas emissions, are a main contributing factor to climate change. Reducing carbon emissions globally is necessary to combat climate change.  Macmillan Learning has been taking steps to reduce our carbon footprint and as a result, its carbon dioxide emissions in the US have dropped 60% from 2010 to 2021. The reduction includes Scope 1 emissions, which are derived from heat in our facilities and fuel in our sales representatives’ cars; Scope 2 emissions, which are derived from the electricity we purchase from utilities to power our building; and major Scope 3 items, which are emissions are derived from our manufacturing and transportation of our books, business travel, employee commuting, and waste management. 3. Paper production When buying textbooks, you may not think twice about the type of paper it was made with, but Macmillan Learning does. Macmillan Learning has drastically reduced emissions by vetting the supply chain, and purchasing paper at lower carbon-intensive mills. And they have also supported the efficient use of recycled fiber for hardcover books, although hardcovers are used less and less frequently. 4. The Shift Toward Digital Learning Materials & eBooks E-textbooks, or eBooks, provide a completely digital experience for students that can be accessed anywhere on any device. In recent research conducted by Student Monitor, students named “environmental benefits” as one reason that they prefer digital course materials to their print counterparts. Macmillan Learning offers ALL of our textbooks in a digital format! eBooks provide a variety of benefits compared to traditional textbooks, and many students prefer the features offered by digital textbooks. eBooks use no paper, are generally more affordable, are easily portable, and have features such as searching and highlighting. They’re also more accessible as they allow font size and brightness to be adjusted to fit each reader’s needs. Macmillan Learning’s eBooks have been recognized as Global Certified Accessible by Benetech, meaning that the digital learning options offered “ensure that all students have the same access to information”. ... View more

With her Eras tour, Taylor Swift has been dominating the news this summer, including the $55 million in bonuses she gave to every member of the team that worked on the tour. But her impact on the people and the places involved with the concert experience extends way beyond that. From the resale prices, to the impact on local economies, to the role of Ticketmaster, we can learn a lot about economics from the pop icon and her tour. Economists research topics like labor, trade, global markets, healthcare, inequalities, education, etc, but the core of economics - one that Swift's Eras Tour has helped to teach us is how should economies allocate scarce resources?  Understanding economic principles doesn’t have to be thinking about “widgets”; rather, we can look at decisions in our everyday lives. In fact, Macmillan Learning author Paul Krugman (Economics from Krugman/Wells 6e) indicates that we can learn a lot from analyzing the headlines around an important piece of pop culture -- like the Eras Tour. Knowing that Swift's tour provides such strong teachable moments in economics, Krugman created assignments for instructors to use this fall. The assignments are available beginning this August as an added benefit to all instructors using Macmillan Learning’s Achieve, but the team also wanted to make a few of them available for broader use. So … Are You Ready For It? The cost of attending a Taylor Swift concert & the concept of opportunity cost This assignment asks students to think about the true cost of attending a concert. Was it just the price you paid for a ticket? Let’s consider … In Chapter 1 of Economics from Krugman/Wells 6e, the concept of opportunity cost is introduced, which discusses both monetary and non-monetary costs.  In this example, students are asked to consider what they gave up, relative to their next best alternative. This means the cost of buying tickets plus what they could have been doing during the time spent waiting in the virtual queue, including lost sleep, missed homework assignments, and missed school or work.  What about the money spent buying the tickets? The concert outfit? The concert t-shirt? How about parking? And dinner before the concert with your Swiftie besties? Students may have given up the chance to sell them on the secondary market and just watched Netflix instead. Thinking about the costs of attending the concert -- what would students have if they made the decision to stay home instead. It should be no Trouble working that out. All of these decisions are part of the costs of getting Taylor Swift tickets. So … here’s your Question …” -- was it worth it? Start out your fall term by thinking about opportunity cost and the true cost of attending a Taylor Swift concert. Stay tuned next week for another Swiftie-nomics assignment! Instructors can learn more about Economics from Krugman/Wells 6e and Macmillan Learning’s digital learning platform Achieve. The 7th edition of Krugman/Wells will be available later this fall. To learn more about it, find your rep!) ... View more

Our mission is to inspire what’s possible for every learner. We pursue this mission with intention, not by mandate. We envision and create products that reach the diverse populations of students we serve in the classroom; more so, the inherent benefits of diverse and inclusive school environments motivate our research, editorial development, and pedagogical strategies to reduce the inherent gaps in outcomes that persist along racial, ethnic, gender, socioeconomic, and cultural lines. The end of one set of government policies nor the onset of another will cause us to stray from the values that serve as a catalyst for our actions.  Yesterday’s Supreme Court ruling, effectively ending affirmative action policies relying on race as a determinant for admission to public and private colleges and universities has engendered a lot of reaction. Advocates for affirmative action see this ruling as a closure of yet another avenue for socioeconomic and class mobility for underrepresented racial minorities; or view the decision as a striking and racially-motivated reaction to thwart progress of Black, Latino, and Indigenous communities. Those skeptical of government policies or the implementation of affirmative action programs may view the ruling as a politically divisive if warranted decision to retire a well-intentioned policy that had outlived its effectiveness. Proponents might applaud the end of a race-centric policy as an opportunity to transition away from a race-driven perspective of American society. These arguments alone fail to represent the range of emotions and perspectives in respectful discourse felt by our colleagues and in our communities. We have stated repeatedly at Macmillan Learning that we believe classrooms should be places where ideas are fostered, engaged with, and critiqued; fair debate about affirmative action policies and programs has been presented in the educational titles we publish. But debates about public policy should not be mistaken for indifference to the quality and composition of our classrooms.  We envision a world in which every learner succeeds and where we play an important role in making that possibility a reality. Whether the mechanism that makes this vision a reality is government policy, a shift in cultural zeitgeist, community care, or by some other means, we recognize that diverse perspectives are a catalyst for inclusive thought. and a more engaged community of learners. We support an educational ecosystem that helps communities thrive, be less limited by social, economic, and cultural constraints, and enable colleges and universities to encourage a student experience that enriches each student, exposes them to a diversity of perspectives, and serves as a means to raise the prospects for all while reducing the equity gap experienced by so many.  ... View more

According to the National Center for Education Statistics, Economics is the 15th most popular major in the U.S. But, students don’t have to major in Economics to take an economics course and reap the benefits. They don’t even need to be an expert at math.  From learning about whether to rent or buy a house to understanding why the prices of gas vary so much in any given year, students can learn practical and useful skills by taking economics courses -- and perhaps choose it as a minor or secondary area of study. One might even say that economics can be like a superpower that helps students to make decisions throughout their lives.  We have pulled together seven reasons why students should consider taking an economics class -- even if they don’t plan on majoring in it. Is Taylor Swift Underpaid? Understanding the Game of Supply and Demand: Economics can help students to better grasp the art of balancing supply and demand, a concept that demonstrates how the prices of things are determined in a market. By analyzing market trends and consumer behavior they may be able to better predict when the price of their, say, favorite sneakers or purse will drop, or why their concert ticket prices are high. Great examples of real-life applications that demonstrate how economic concepts like supply and demand play out in the real world can be found in an article about the economics of a Taylor Swift concert by Paul Krugman or Economics and Essentials of Economics by Paul Krugman and Robin Wells.  Every Decision is an Economic Decision. Mastering Opportunity Costs to Make Wise Choices: Most students have been faced with the decision of whether they should study for that test or do something a bit more fun, like watch a movie or go to a party. Whether or not they know it, that decision is an economic one -- the principle of opportunity costs. Taking an economics class will help them to better understand that there’s a cost to what they give up when they choose one option over another. Principles of Economics authors Betsey Stevenson & Justin Wolfers present a framework in their title that argues that every decision is an economic decision and demonstrate throughout how economic principles can be used by students to make better decisions in their own lives. Who isn’t Looking to Save Money? Becoming a Savvy Consumer: Is that sale the best deal a student can get for a new laptop, or should they wait to buy one? Economics can help turn students into savvy and strategic shoppers. In an economics class, students learn about pricing strategies, how to manage their resources more effectively, and even be able to spot some misleading advertising and marketing tricks. Is Pizza Alone Enough? Exploring the Power of Incentives: Another challenge students face -- especially early on in college -- is having to move frequently. They may try to entice friends with offers of pizza, a night out on the town, or even promises to help them when they move. But are those incentives enough to help? Maybe some garlic bread and refreshments may make their friends more inclined to help. Economics reveals how incentives work and how people respond to rewards and punishments. Specifically, how both are used to encourage people to take certain actions or make certain choices. Modern Principles of Economics by Tyler Cowen and Alex Tabarrok demonstrates the importance of incentives and covers the topic in great detail with an entire chapter dedicated to it. Why is it Impossible to Choose? Embracing Decision-Making and Critical Thinking: Not every student starts college confident about what major they want to choose. They can use skills gained in an economics class to help them decide by considering what they value the most and what they’re willing to give up in order to get it. For example, if a student is passionate about studying the world around them and is not sure whether they’re more interested in biology or astronomy, they can learn how to weigh which are of study they may like more and would give them a more fulfilling career against what it would cost for them to achieve the desired outcome -- whether it be a high salary, the ability to work in the field, or something else entirely. Economics classes can help sharpen decision-making abilities by teaching students how to think critically, evaluate costs and benefits, and assess risks.  Can you Measure GDP by How Happy a Country is? Gaining a Global Perspective: Did you know that the government of Bhutan doesn't measure their well-being through gross domestic product, but through a Gross National Happiness Index. Whether talking about dollars, euros or shekels, students can discover how countries interact as it relates to their economies. They’ll learn about international trade, exchange rates, the impact of international agreements and treaties. Understanding the global economy can help students discover more about our interconnected world (and possibly a fun global job as well). There’s a Macmillan Learning title that looks at economics specifically from this perspective: Economics: Principles for a Changing World by Eric Chiang. How do Sports Play into Economics? Understanding that Economics is Everywhere. Even in sports. Students can learn about one of their favorite pastimes and how economics impacts so much of it -- from ticket prices, to how much athletes get paid, to why some teams are more profitable than others. One of Macmillan Learning’s titles, Sports Economics by David Berri, even has a section dedicated to “Why People Hate the Yankees.” No matter students' reasons for studying economics -- and whether it be for a class or a lifetime -- they can reap the benefits for years to come. Economics is a vast field that allows students to explore human behavior, societal issues, and the workings of our intricate economic systems.  Learn more about Macmillan Learning’s catalog of Economics textbooks and the experts that write them here.   ... View more