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Automatic Purchasing Programs

Katie Steen

Open Education Fellow, SPARC

@katiesteen627

#OpenEd17

10/14/2017 | Anaheim, CA

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What are Automatic Purchasing Programs?

Inclusive Access models
Digital Discount programs
Digital Direct Access
Day One Access

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Definition and Impact

No clear definition…depends on your perspective (or employer)

Arrangement between a publisher(s) and an institution to deliver digital materials to students through a proprietary platform
Students pay set fees up front for content
OER can be included in the content

Pearson: 1200+ campus bookstores nationwide

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Kaitlyn Vitez

Higher Education Advocate, US Public Interest Research Group

@HigherEdPIRG

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Automatic purchasing: our perspective

We have a longstanding stance against restrictive access codes and other practices by the publishing industry that put students at risk.

Student consumers are a captive market
Tactics traditionally used by students to price-check the textbook market are increasingly less effective
These tactics have pushed textbook publishers to move their platforms online, where they can restrict access and the timeframe that the product is active
Students should have open access to course materials and knowledge

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What the students are saying

Cost remains the main driver for students- 65% have skipped buying a book at some point
The vast majority (anecdotally and from our research) feel that their performance has suffered because they cannot buy materials
Low-income students have unclear alternatives if they choose to opt-out of an automatic purchasing program or access code
Courseware platforms reduce the few opportunities for choice and cost-saving measures

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Daniel Williamson

Managing Director, OpenStax

@new_edu

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OpenStax

”The Original Inclusive Access Program?”.

Daniel Williamson, Managing Director

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Principled Approach

Increase Access

Improve Choice

Embrace Freedoms

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Keep in mind

“Prices Change but Freedom is Forever”

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Robert Butterfield

Assistant Library Director and Director of Instructional Resources Services, University of Wisconsin-Stout

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University of Wisconsin-Stout

1 of 13 University of Wisconsin System four year campuses

Wisconsin’s Polytechnic University

About 9500 students

Laptop Campus

Long history of innovation

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Stout’s Affordability Program

Supported 100% by student fees

Fee increases must be approved by students
Students pay about $400 per year for $1500 worth of content

Provides the majority of assigned curricular content

Textbook rental school since 1910

Program includes print textbooks, e-textbooks, access codes,

other

Initiated our OER program in 2015

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Cheryl Cuillier

OER Coordiantor, University of Arizona

ccuillie@email.arizona.edu

(520) 310-9874

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A librarian’s perspective on IA

• Day-one access

• Saves shopping time

• Classes can get off to faster start

• Students can opt out

• Billed to Bursar’s so can use financial aid

• Publishers tout discounts of >50%

• If available, OER are a better option (no cost, perpetual access, customizable)

• Savings depend on negotiations with publishers – may not be >50% in reality

• Digital only – printing limits vary by title

Pros

Cons

IA is appealing to publishers and authors because they make money on every sale (not the case with rentals, used books, & other methods students use to save money). UA BookStores began piloting Inclusive Access in Fall 2016. This is phase 2 of the pilot. UA BookStores (along with the publishers, and faculty) are still learning a lot, and are working to streamline the process better so it's more scalable. At the moment, there is still a lot of manual work on all parts of the program, as well as small technological bumps, such as where did the faculty member put the digital content in D2l, or if you're using a Chromebook, you need to do xyz...

Pros

Day One access important not only for student success but also equity and social justice
Saves shopping time – I have 2 kids in college and they’ll go to extreme lengths to save a few bucks on a textbook (sometimes it backfires)
Faculty can just start teaching the very first day, instead of waiting for a couple of days for all the students to acquire the required content.

Pro & Con – data collection. Publishers tout the “valuable learning data” generated by these platforms for instructors and administrators. While it may be useful for instructors to be able to track students’ reading progress, but how is data being used by publishers? As librarians, customer privacy is one of our core values.

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IA lessons learned at UA

Target courses that:

Require textbooks and use them extensively throughout term
Have high enrollments
Use expensive textbooks with low sell-through
Use adaptive learning technology (Connect, MindTap, ALEKS)
Are offered online

Avoid individual access codes for IA books
Inform students of length of access to digital content
Have publishers remove website prompts for direct sales to students
Have faculty actively engage students with IA content during free-access period for best opt-out decision-making

semester	# courses	# students	opt-out rate	estimated savings
Fall 2016	7	2,151	4%	$111,000
Spring 2016	21	5,324	3.9%	$135,500
Fall 2017	89	20,684	7.6%	$1 million +

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Inclusive Access title in booklist

Source: UA BookStores’ textbook portal for students

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Rajiv Jhangiani

Faculty, Kwantlen Polytechnic University /

Open Education Advisor, BCcampus

@thatpsychprof

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Free + Freedom

Access + Agency

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Open or Closed by Alan Levine is licensed CC-BY 2.0