Making Textbooks More Affordable
University System of Ohio Makes College Textbooks More Affordable
As an outcome of Chancellor Eric Fingerhut's April 2008 Textbook Affordability Symposium – which brought together students, faculty, bookstore managers, publishers, and key civic and community leaders to share best practices and develop strategies for helping reduce student out-of-pocket costs for college textbooks and related materials – the University System of Ohio has taken several steps to help make textbooks more affordable for students.
New Discounts on eTextbooks
In August 2008, the University System of Ohio entered into an agreement with six of the nation's largest commercial publishers to offer Ohio college students at public and private institutions significant discounts on electronic textbook purchases. Students purchasing eTextbooks through the Ohio Textbook Portal at http://textbooks.uso.edu receive a University System of Ohio discount on the purchase of electronic textbooks. Students can also purchase additional discounted digital material, which supplements textbooks, such as articles, cases, stand-alone textbook chapters, and other copyrighted materials.
Honoring Faculty Who Enhance Learning While Reducing Students' Costs
Making college more affordable, including leveraging technology to reduce out-of-pocket textbook costs for students, is a priority of the University System of Ohio. It is expected that the discounts on electronic books and rewards to faculty members will lead to a new business model, which provides consumer-driven savings for students.
To that end, the chancellor announced two new programs that reward University System of Ohio faculty who find innovative ways to reduce the price of textbooks for students across the system.
Textbook Affordability Grants
In March 2009, four college and university faculty collaborations were chosen to receive the University System of Ohio's first "Textbook Affordability Grants." Four academic teams comprised of professors from 11 of Ohio's public universities and community colleges will work together to develop, build, and package collections of course materials, which – once developed – will be offered free to students in selected courses across the System. | Full Story
Faculty Innovator Awards
Ten faculty members and teams received $1,000 awards and were recognized by Governor Strickland, Chancellor Fingerhut, and on the floor of the Ohio General Assembly March 24, 2009, for work they have done to introduce digital course materials in the classroom that enrich learning and make college textbooks more affordable for their students. Many awardees completely replaced printed textbooks in the classroom and made digital materials available at no cost to students. Some offered students online eTextbooks and class notes, audio recordings, music files, and video/flash animations. Other awardees taught students how to use the latest digital technology In the classroom, including the social bookmarking of web pages, and have taught other faculty how to use technology to innovate in their own classrooms. Students impacted include those taking the awardees' Accounting, Teacher Education, Educational Psychology, Physics, Music, Electronics Engineering, Biology, Nursing, and Computer Science courses on community college and university classrooms across the state.
