Inclusive access textbooks, e-books and courseware that are included as an additional fee in tuition for students, are increasingly utilized in courses across the Baldwin Wallace University campus.
All courses in all departments at BW are eligible for inclusive access, particularly those that want e-books or use courseware for digital assignments such as Pearson’s MyLab Math.
Brent Strunk, department chair of mathematics, said that the math department began implementing inclusive access to help students with cost and setup for their courses.
“We wanted them to have access to the online homework systems [from day one], which is important for our math as it gives them a lot of instantaneous feedback that is impossible otherwise,” Strunk said. “Inclusive access made sense because you’d walk into the classroom having access.”
Shaunna Chapman, market leader for Baldwin Wallace University Bookstore and the Buzz on Front Street, said that the bookstore works directly with publishers to create the lowest possible cost for students. Once a price is set, students and parents will be able to pay for textbooks within the tuition as added course fees.
Peggy Slavik, associate professor of mathematics and core mathematics coordinator, helped implement inclusive access into the math department. Slavik said she likes having the courseware and having inclusive access makes it easier for students during the initial setup.
“It gives us a lot of different resources and it adds time back to my schedule that I can use to work on projects with students and more hands-on interactive type assignments and leave the algorithmic homework type problems to the MyLab Math,” Slavik said.
Another option for courses looking to decrease added costs are open education resources. Open education resources compile copyright free material to use as a textbook instead of going through a publisher, which allows the material to be low-cost or even completely free for students to use.
While inclusive access allows students to pay for their textbooks in the same bill as tuition, flex dollars cannot be used as they normally can with textbooks bought directly from the BW Bookstore.
Victoria Batcher, third-year creative writing major, said she used inclusive access textbooks for her elementary French courses, and prefers paying for her textbooks with flex dollars as it’s “money that’s already paid for” by the meal plan.
Students are always able to opt out of inclusive access by following instructions sent in an email at the beginning of the semester. Any textbooks or courseware purchased through inclusive access are rentals and will be returned automatically after 180 days or after the spring semester if a continuation course is needed.
Chapman said that while more courses have begun using inclusive access, the process has been slow with getting faculty on board, but they have seen it pick up steam since the pandemic in 2020.
“What has happened is more and more the cost of textbooks has gotten higher and higher and that’s just the reality of it,” Chapman said. “And so, if we are able to offer digital components, that lowers the cost, then that is becoming more and more attractive to instructors, campuses and students, of course.”
