Cengage is a publishing company for college books and courses.
I worked at the Cengage Customer Service center for a few months, and it was a mess. Authors couldn’t even speak with Cengage about their published works. The physical books, when converted to eBooks, don’t have the same page numbers, confusing students trying to find assigned readings or cite sources. They didn’t update their courses and book material to run without Flash.
Now, I’m back in school studying Cyber Security. My classes are all online with no video lectures or meeting times. The instructor relies entirely on the Cengage book and the online course.
The book’s content isn’t well-organized; it jumps from topic to topic. YouTube videos often explain the subjects better. Sometimes, the text doesn’t elaborate on important topics, directing readers to external links that seem like paid promotions.
The lab simulations are also frustrating. The live virtual machines are often down, and there’s not enough context provided for the labs.
We use Web Assign and Cengage in my Physics class. Doesn’t help that the professor doesn’t complete the tasks that are assigned during the lecture, so you are essentially left to guess or search for the answers.
Cengage headaches? You’re not alone. I had a stint in their customer service and let me tell you, it wasn’t pretty. Their system is a mess, authors can’t even reach them. Now I’m back in school, stuck with a Cengage online course for Cyber Security. No lectures, just a confusing textbook that jumps around and relies on dead Flash content. YouTube saves the day sometimes, but the book itself skips over key details and pushes paid-looking links. Even the labs are frustrating - virtual machines are down more than they’re up, and there’s no clear guidance. Anyone else stuck in Cengage purgatory?
I’m already watching around 10-12 hours of lectures a week for my Calculus class. When I go to Cengage/WebAssign to do my homework, I have like 1 or 2 questions that are able to be answered from the lecture content, for the rest I have to dig through CalcView and hope the videos align with the sections of the book.
I never thought I would miss MyMathLab. MML is garbage, but it’s cheaper than Cengage and has examples.