51视频

07/06/2020
By Ed Brennen

Back when she was a student at 51视频, Assist. Teaching Prof.Yahayra Michel鈥�07 鈥�09 would make a beeline to the campus bookstore at the start of each semester to grab used textbooks for her courses.

鈥淚 was a first-generation student, and textbook cost was a concern,鈥� says Michel, who bought quite a few textbooks en route to dual bachelor鈥檚 degrees inpsychologyandcriminal justiceand a master鈥檚 degree incriminology and justice studies.

Now that she鈥檚 a faculty member in theSchool of Criminology and Justice Studies, Michel can empathize with students who have trouble paying for textbooks 鈥� a plight that鈥檚 been magnified by financial hardships brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic.

鈥淐ost is part of my decision-making process when choosing any textbook,鈥� says Michel, who is among a growing number of UML faculty members switching to free or low-cost digital textbooks, or e-books, for their courses.

Encouraging faculty to use e-books is the latest in a series of steps UML is taking to help students save money and keep them in school. The effort includes anew textbook ordering systemthat launched last year.

Image by Liron Asher

of college students by the National Association of College Stores, students spent an average of $413 on textbooks and course materials in the 2019-20 academic year, which is a 41 percent drop from 2007-08. Twenty-six percent of students surveyed said they downloaded free materials online this spring (twice as many as in spring 2019), and one in every five paid materials was digital.

Besides saving students money, e-books are easier to access 鈥� which is an important factor as schools increase virtual learning options to limit personal contact on campus this fall.

Nisarg Jhaveri, a rising junior in theManning School of Business, hasn鈥檛 used a traditional textbook since high school.

鈥淎nd I am not going to, given the choice,鈥� says Jhaveri, who finds the best thing about e-books is that many of them are connected toBlackboard, the university鈥檚 learning management system.

鈥淚f my laptop鈥檚 battery is running low, I can borrow a Chromebook from the library and still use the resource,鈥� says Jhaveri, who also prefers not to lug heavy textbooks around in his backpack as he hops between work and school.

Jhaveri adds that some textbook publishers, such as Cengage, offer unlimited access plans by the semester. He has subscribed to 鈥淐engage Unlimited鈥� for $120, which he has found to be a 鈥渧ery convenient tool.鈥�

Image by Liron Asher

Theprovidesfor faculty to find 鈥渙pen access鈥� textbooks, which are released under an open copyright license and made available either online as an e-book or in print format at little or no cost to students.

Using thesearch portal, a professor can find a multiuser e-book that is already part of the library's collection or that the library can purchase through its subscription with EBSCO, a leading publisher of digital course materials. The library subscribes to several other e-book collections containing thousands of titles, including Ebook Central and Knovel Technical Reference. TheOffice of the Provostrecently provided funding to expand the library鈥檚 e-book offerings, and a portion of students鈥� technology fee goes toward the purchase of e-books.

When Michel was prepping for a new course, Crime and the Media, last year, she found an EBSCO e-book that the library was able to purchase for a few hundred dollars. Since then, more than 70 students in four sections of the course have been able to access the textbook for free online.

鈥淚 love that students have it on the first day of class,鈥� says Michel, who notes that students will sometimes wait to buy a textbook because they can鈥檛 afford it, hoping they can get by without it. 鈥淭he students that are most likely to make that decision are precisely the students who need the most support. Getting the material to them on day one increases their probability of succeeding. That鈥檚 worth spending some time to go through that textbook selection process.鈥�

Faculty members can also choose from Creative Commons textbooks, which are openly licensed e-books written at other colleges and universities and available for free through public clearinghouses such as OpenStax and the Open Textbook Library.

鈥淕etting the material to them on day one increases their probability of succeeding. That鈥檚 worth spending some time to go through that textbook selection process.鈥� -Assist. Teaching Prof. Yahayra Michel

Elissa Magnant, a visiting instructor of management in the Manning School, worked with the library last year to find an OpenStax textbook for her Business Ethics course.

鈥淚t鈥檚 challenging for faculty to transition from materials they may have used for years, but the transition makes the learning experience better for the student and the teacher,鈥� says Magnant, whose students could download the textbook for free on any device or receive a paperback version for just $20.

Whenever a faculty member chooses an e-book for their course, Library Guide Production Editor Meg Shields creates a LibGuide that integrates the book into the course鈥檚 Blackboard shell. The LibGuide includes instructions and videos on how to navigate the book online 鈥� information like how to use the glossary, how to download content and how to take notes.

鈥淚t helps students get more comfortable with the idea that they don鈥檛 have a physical textbook in front of them,鈥� Shields says.

Image by Liron Asher

Magnant says having her course鈥檚 e-book and LibGuide already set up on Blackboard last spring made the sudden transition to remote learning nearly 鈥渟eamless.鈥�

鈥淚鈥檓 really happy with my new textbook. It鈥檚 a peer-reviewed and engaging textbook that brings business ethics to life,鈥� says Magnant.

Faculty can also write and publish their own textbook under a Creative Commons license. That鈥檚 what Mathematical Science Prof.Kenneth Levasseurand his late colleague,Alan Doerr, did with their free, open content textbook,.

Another popular option is to work with the library to create a course packet that includes journal articles, single chapters of books, and selected Open Educational Resources (OERs) published under Creative Commons licenses.

Librarian Margaret Manion has put together a LibGuide to help faculty find such resources and UML-owned textbooks.

鈥淚n the current situation, e-books make a lot of sense,鈥� says Shields, who acknowledges that identifying and transitioning to an e-book can be a lot of work for busy faculty members. 鈥淏ut I鈥檓 hoping this disruption will actually help faculty, who are having to retool their courses anyway. This might be a good time to be a little more DIY on the textbook front.鈥�