Blackboard and Chegg, two companies that offer separate academic resources, are partnering to offer tutoring services starting in 2015.

About half of all college students use Blackboard and a different half use Chegg, said Usher Lieberman, vice president of communications for Chegg. Now, the two companies are partnering to help reach more students and close the gap.

“Both companies are very alive among student outcomes and improving the overall experience for students and helping them persist in their course work, do better in class, graduate at a higher rate. So we were able to find a lot of common ground between the companies,” Lieberman said.

Starting in 2015, students will be able to subscribe to Chegg Study, Chegg Tutors and Chegg Career Center programs through the Blackboard interface. Chegg Study offers solutions to challenging math and science homework problems. Chegg Tutors allows students to connect with an online tutor for 40 cents per minute. Chegg Career Center helps students learn how to apply their education and skills to the job market. The Wall Street Journal reported that the deal is currently set for three years, but that it is renewable.

“Together, we are working towards a goal shared by students, institutions, faculty, Blackboard and Chegg: better outcomes and higher graduation rates,” said Jim Hermens, vice president of content partnerships at Blackboard, in a press release.

Sophomore public relations major Lexie Slavin thinks that the partnership will make it easier for students to access Chegg’s services. Slavin said the new partnership would be convenient for students since most of them are already using Blackboard for classes.

Sophomore accounting major Cynthia Poirier said the partnership could make it more convenient for students whose schedules often make it difficult to attend office hours.

“I definitely think it would be a really great tool for us because sometimes I feel like we might not have time to go talk to a professor or TA about a certain problem,” Poirier said.

Lieberman said Chegg’s products have been very successful and popular among students so far. He said a survey that Chegg conducted found that 87 percent of Chegg Study users have reported that its services are helpful for them and that about half of the people who try the program sign up for a subscription to the paid service.

According to a press release on the Chegg Investor Relations website, Chegg had 15 million students in its “network,” but not all of these students use tools like Chegg Study. Lieberman hopes that this partnership will help make Chegg’s services more visible to students.

“If we can put our product in front of more students, we can help more students,” Lieberman said. “We think that if we can get students to try the product, they’ll see the value in it and will be interested in subscribing to it.”

Published on November 10, 2014 at 12:01 am

Contact: clmoran@syr.edu