Electronic Learning Materials Taskforce Report to the Faculty Senate April 2013

Transcription

1 Electronic Learning Materials Taskforce Report to the Faculty Senate April 2013 This report presents the work and outcomes of the Electronic Learning Materials Taskforce, established by the EIU Faculty Senate to address concerns emanating from the faculty of the School of Business concerning access to electronic learning materials. The report is not intended to be an exhaustive examination of every aspect of the concerns at hand, but substantially represents the discussions conducted during the process and the final consensus of the Taskforce members at the conclusion of the year-long process. Background In May 2011, the faculty of the EIU School of Business submitted a Position Paper on EIU Textbook Rental Service to the Textbook Rental Service Advisory Committee, the Faculty Senate, the Council on Graduate Studies, and the Council on Academic Affairs. The memo summarized the School of Business s concern about the university s lack of proactive planning to match our services to the changes that are occurring in the textbook publishing industry, and asserted that: 1. Having access to current material is critical; information changes constantly. 2. Access to on-line materials is limited because access codes are frequently only able to be used for the first semester a textbook is adopted. 3. The current textbook rental fee is not flexible and does not support options other than the hard copy text. 4. On-line access to textbooks and ancillary materials provides for a much more interactive and dynamic learning environment. 5. On-line materials can facilitate customized use of materials by instructors and better enhance learning. 6. On-line assurance of learning materials are only available to instructors when students purchase ancillary materials. 7. There exists a growing movement in open textbooks that completely circumvents the traditional publishing industry. 8. A paradigm shift in the textbook industry is expected in the next few years, but the campus is not prepared to leverage this change. 9. After the costs of on-line materials are included, the university is not being completely forthcoming in the marketing of the textbook rental program.

2 10. The Textbook Rental Service ought to reinvent its purpose, rethink its business model, and react to changes in the textbook industry in order to meet the needs of students, faculty, and the learning process. In response to this memo, the Faculty Senate in March 2012 convened a Taskforce on Electronic Learning Materials with the following charge: 1. Analyze electronic learning materials and the role of these materials in the curricula of our colleges, departments and programs. 2. Review current discussions among scholars of education about electronic learning materials. 3. Compare EIU s approach to electronic learning materials with that of peer and nonpeer institutions. 4. Recommend priorities for electronic learning materials in the context of EIU s mission and the current framework of Textbook Rental. 5. Make policy recommendations to CAA, CGS, COTE, Faculty Senate and CUPB regarding electronic learning materials. The membership of the Taskforce was comprised of representatives from the Council on Graduate Studies, the Council on Academic Affairs, the Council on Teacher Education, the Faculty Senate, the Center for Academic Technology Support, the Graduate Student Advisory Council, the Student Senate, the four academic colleges, the office of the Vice President for Student Affairs, and the Textbook Rental Service. The Taskforce as a whole met periodically between March 2012 and April 2013, with work groups within the Taskforce meeting as needed to complete specific tasks. Process The work of the Taskforce was organized into three successive stages that explored the following questions: 1. What is the current state of the art in electronic learning materials? Three Taskforce groups examined the current, relevant scholarly and practitioner literature; the practices of EIU, peer, and non-peer institutions; and the current and near-future practices of textbook publishers. 2. What do EIU stakeholders desire/need? Taskforce groups examined the perspectives of faculty, students, staff, and administrative units involved in the use of both traditional and electronic learning materials. 3. What should we do? The Taskforce reviewed the results of the first two stages and synthesized the findings into a set of relevant values and recommendations.

3 3. Findings As noted above, the following findings are not meant to be exhaustive descriptions of every aspect of this issue, but represent a consensus summary of what was discovered during the process. 1. There exists a continuum of knowledge, interest, willingness, and proficiency among both faculty and students in regard to current use of electronic learning materials at EIU. While some academic department and programs show greater use of such materials than others, much of the variability is found at the level of the individual instructor. In general, electronic learning materials are employed by an instructor when the instructor is comfortable and proficient in their use and when the materials are appropriate for the curriculum and supportive of student learning. Students are interested in and willing to use these materials when they are easily used and meet their perceived learning needs. There is not a strong, campus-wide consensus either strongly supportive of or opposed to large-scale transition from traditional materials to electronic materials at this time. Rather, both faculty and students are comfortable with the idea of incremental adoption of electronic materials when such materials are clearly supportive of the curriculum and are easy to use. 2. The scholarly literature at this time is relatively scant and inconclusive regarding the learning value of electronic materials, while the practitioner literature is primarily anecdotal and does not conclusively indicate primarily positive outcomes in the use of such materials. While many works written by early adopters of electronic learning materials were generally positive, other works painted less uniformly positive acceptance and use of materials by faculty and students. Overall, the literature reviewed was inconclusive in terms of measurable effects on learning outcomes, and even the anticipated benefit of increased accessibility and engagement among technologically savvy college-aged students was not strongly supported. While it is anticipated that research in this area will dramatically increase in the coming years and will yield better information upon which decisions can be made, at this current point it is difficult to use existing literature to either conclusively support or conclusively discourage the use of electronic materials in support of learning processes. 3. The review of electronic learning materials by peer and non-peer institutions revealed a variety of approaches at the institutional level. This comparison was complicated by the fact that EIU has a textbook rental system funded through a mandatory university fee structure, rather than a traditional system funded by individual student purchases. The variety of approaches by other universities is certainly evolving at this point. Most institutions still list the required and recommended book titles and ancillary materials, and individual students decide if they will purchase them and in what form (hard copy, electronic, or on-line) they will purchase or license them. Some institutions have begun small-scale, targeted initiatives to transition to greater use of electronic materials; some of these projects are located within specific academic programs, while a few have targeted the general education curriculum. In some instances, institutions have adopted a specific platform or device for institution-wide use, while others are trying lessspecified approaches. In a number of instances, institutions have relied upon grant money from government agencies, foundations, and corporations to enable them to fund such initiatives. On the whole, however, medium to larger public institutions have not initiated campus-wide, largescale, rapid transitions to replace traditional materials with electronic ones.

4 4. EIU faculty, students, and staff are generally cautious about any possible large-scale transition from traditional to electronic materials and to the idea of transitioning from a rental system that minimizes student expense to any structure that could significantly increase costs. This is particularly true in light of the university s current overall enrollment challenge, as well as the increasing proportion of students who are first-generation college students or from lower socioeconomic backgrounds. While tradition in and of itself is not grounds for resisting change, EIU does point to its historical use of the textbook rental system as a competitive advantage in the recruitment and retention of students. Given the university s enrollment challenge, the makeup of its student body, and the current economic climate, many campus constituencies believe it is unwise to commit to large-scale adoption of electronic materials when the fiscal impact on students and the university is very much unknown and perhaps unknowable at this point in time. 5. While technology has certainly changed many aspects of life for the better, there is not a clear consensus on campus that a wholesale move away from traditional textbooks and materials and toward electronic versions of these resources will necessarily create a positive impact on student learning. Some academic programs are much more interested in making such a move, while others are decidedly less so. Concerns with the motives and methods of publishers have been expressed by faculty and staff, in particular with regard to what sales representatives promise versus what can actually be delivered. Campus technology staff members have major concerns regarding impact on campus infrastructure and, in particular, the lack of technology standards in the industry that may lead to unforeseen and undesirable consequences if certain kinds of choices or commitments are made too quickly. The impact on accessibility for disabled students is a concern as well. Finally, some concern has been expressed that, too often, technology is adopted for the sake of adopting technology without regard to curricular priorities, as opposed to judicious adoption of technology to support campus curricular goals. Values As part of the process of developing a consensus regarding recommendations to be made, the Taskforce compiled a list of relevant values to inform both the recommendations and the work of any subsequent campus body or bodies designated to guide a move away from traditional materials and toward electronic learning materials. These values include: 1. Decisions should be driven by curricular and instructional practices focused on improved student achievement of general education and academic program learning goals. 2. The financial impact of changes on students particularly students from lower socioeconomic backgrounds should be a high priority in decision-making; decisionmakers should be especially cautious about making decisions that may create unforeseen hidden costs for students. 3. Access to learning materials for students with identified disabilities must also be considered in any transition to electronic formats; all students must continue to have equitable access to all adopted curricular resources, whether traditional or electronic.

5 4. The impact on campus information technology infrastructure, including both physical assets and staff support requirements, must be anticipated and planned for in any decision-making process; to the greatest degree possible, adoption and use of new electronic materials be supported by and integrate with the existing technology infrastructure, particularly the Desire2Learn Learning Management System (LMS). 5. Where possible, innovation in the use of electronic learning materials should be encouraged and supported by judicious appropriation of campus fiscal resources. 6. Expertise from faculty, technology staff, and business affairs staff should be synthesized to produce a continuously updated framework for planning the likely inevitable transition to increased use of electronic learning materials over the next few years. Recommendations By consensus, the Taskforce makes the following recommendations to the Faculty Senate and requests that the Senate forward them to the appropriate campus bodies for action. 1. The existing Textbook Rental Service (as described in Internal Governing Policy 49) should remain in place for the adoption and use of basic textbooks and supplementary materials; however, the current limits on supplementary materials costs should be reviewed to determine if they should be adjusted to allow for more flexible use of supplementary materials, both traditional and electronic. 2. Departments should make judicious use of the supplementary material provision of IGP 49 to adopt and implement electronic materials in courses on a semester-bysemester basis. 3. Because electronic publishing infrastructure capable of supporting the generation and distribution of Open Access learning materials exists on campus, faculty and departments interested in utilizing or producing Open Access materials should investigate the Learning Repository in the Desire2Learn LMS and The Keep, EIU s open access archive maintained by Booth Library. 4. CATS, with the assistance of the Textbook Rental Service, the Office of Student Disability Services, Booth Library, and the Union Bookstore, should develop and maintain a website to serve as a centralized clearinghouse for information regarding the selection process, issues related to textbook selection, and identification of potential options as a resource for departments and faculty. 5. The university should develop a comprehensive, three-to-five-year framework of standards and procedures to guide incremental transition to increased use of electronic materials. This framework: a. Must be driven by a focus on student learning, awareness of both institutional and student fiscal realities, and in alignment with best information and instructional technology practices.

6 b. Should facilitate a high level of integration of existing and emerging services of the Textbook Rental Service, the Center for Academic Technology Support (including the Desire2Learn LMS), Information Technology Services, and Booth Library, the Union Bookstore, and Panther Print and Copy Center, and should facilitate the use of both published and Open Access resources. c. Should be developed in consultation with faculty, student, staff, and administrative stakeholders. 6. The university s Academic Technology Advisory Committee should be tasked with developing and guiding implementation of the framework described above and in accordance with the jurisdiction and procedures described in Article V of ATAC s bylaws ( 7. The university should consider funding innovative efforts by academic programs for the use of electronic learning materials; such funding should be contingent upon clear linkages between use of such materials and impact on student learning, and should include efforts to document and assess such linkages. Funding could be awarded through existing internal grant programs, external grant awards, or the designation of a portion of the revenue generated by textbook rental revenues. Task Force Members Stephen Lucas, Task Force Chair (Council on Academic Affairs) Patricia Belleville (Art) Mark Borzi (Communication Studies) Christina Coffey (Textbook Rental Service) Jennifer File (Graduate Student Advisory Council) Rose Gong (Secondary Education and Foundations) John Henderson (Assistant VPAA for Technology) Mark Hubbard (History) Amy Jones (Textbook Rental Service) Stacey Knight-Davis (Booth Library) William Lovekamp (Sociology) David Melton (Technology) Michael Menze (Biology) Daniel Nadler (VP Student Affairs) John Willems (Business)