Representatives from the Textbook Cost Reduction Initiative are proposing a strategy to lower student costs and hold professors accountable for choosing resources that easier for students to access.
Representatives from the Ohio University Textbook Cost Reduction Initiative expressed their hopes to lower the cost of educational materials for students at Monday night’s Faculty Senate meeting.
The initiative, comprised of a committee of OU faculty and administrators, is proposing strategies to lower student costs, hold professors more accountable for posting their required textbooks for the semester in a timely manner and choosing resources that are more accessible to students.
The initiative is acting in response to a the Ohio Task Force on Affordability and Efficiency, which is requiring universities to lower textbook costs by 15 percent, Stephen Golding, vice president for Finance and Administration, said.
The Alt-Textbook Initiative, a part of Ohio University Libraries, is a pilot program for the strategy to lower student costs proposed by the Textbook Cost Reduction Initiative committee.
The Alt-Textbook Initiative is meant to provide incentive for instructors to move away from costly textbooks to integrate alternative content that includes licensed library content and open educational resources, Brad Cohen, senior vice provost for Instructional Innovation, said.
Bill Reader, associate professor of journalism, spoke about how OU's libraries are investing in incentives for different classes. The libraries are investing $1,000 in incentives for instructors of large classes and $500 in incentives for instructors of small classes to redesign course and syllabi to integrate that alternative content.
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The committee is also looking to make deals with textbook publishers to make the material available online to students at a lower cost. It aims to partner with the electronic commerce company Amazon.com to provide better physical access to textbooks, Craig Bantz, associate vice president for OU's Office of Information Technology, said.
Under the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FASFA), it is projected that OU students pay an average of $990 a year on education materials, Golding said. Bantz said partnering with Amazon would save students 40 percent to 60 percent per textbook.
Cohen said a big issue for the university is getting accurate information about the required materials for courses out to students.
“There are students who are sometimes misinformed,” Cohen said. “They make textbook purchases and then find out on the first day of class that it not necessary, and if they wait, it may impact their grade.”
A few professors expressed concern that the initiative was targeting course instructors.
“I’d like to see some real numbers that show that we are the delinquents we are,” professor of environmental and plant biology Sarah Wyatt said. “I try to find ways to save my students money, and we don’t really know how much money will be saved by partnering with Amazon.”
Faculty Senate Vice Chair David Thomas, who is a part of the committee, expressed his apprehension about the suggestion to partner with Amazon.
“It isn’t a silver bullet. All of the pieces have to fit together in order for the initiative to make progress,” Thomas said. “But I think the Amazon direction is a waste of time unless there’s a really big payoff.”
Faculty passed no new resolutions at Monday's meeting.
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