Textbook Publisher Content

In addition to the cost of textbooks, publishers often charge additional fees for digital resources.

• Where and how to purchase digital resources is not always clear (Online? At the bookstore? Is it bundled with the textbook? Can they be purchased separately?).
• Students who buy used texts might still have to pay full price for the resources.
• The cost of the resources might not be refundable, creating an additional financial burden for students who drop the class.

Because resources are created by a range of publishers, there is no guarantee that the materials will be accessible to students with disabilities. 

• Generally, electronic books, or eBooks, that come with a course are accessible, but the added content, such as flashcards, might not be.
• All digital resources must be evaluated for accessibility prior to adoption.

All digital resources must follow federal guidelines for student privacy, otherwise known as FERPA compliance. They are not always FERPA compliant.

• Sometimes the resources are hosted on third-party web sites, meaning that students have to leave Canvas in order to access information or contribute to the course.
• If there is a chance that student educational record data (grades, comments, roster information) is stored on a site outside of Canvas, this could violate FERPA guidelines.
• Students cannot be required to use a site that requires them to reveal any information other than directory data. In addition, if students are required to use a third-party publisher site, they will need to be issued aliases if that web site is not FERPA compliant. View 10 Questions for evaluating the Terms of Service (TOS) of third-party tool providers for FERPA compliance.

There are numerous concerns with publisher content and best practices in online instruction.

• Cheating web sites that contain questions and answers for publisher quizzes and exams are available to students (usually for a fee).
• Publishers don’t always put the correct questions or answers in their quizzes or exams. You will need to check, and sometimes correct, their work before you make quizzes or exams available to students.
• Digital resources are created by the publisher, and as such, might not meet the quality standards for the course outline of record or the OEI Course Design Rubric.
• Even though some of the resources are customizable, there is not as much flexibility about how the content is presented than there is in instructor-developed courses.
• Differences between the resources (writing tone, type of content, organization) and what the instructor creates might be confusing for students.
• Presentation of material and assessments often do not encourage collaborative, student-centered, or critical-thinking activities.
• It is not always clear to students how to access and use the content, particularly if they have to register at third-party sites. Students might be overwhelmed by dealing with different content delivery systems, which could cause their work to suffer.

There can be technical issues with publisher materials.

• There is limited on-campus tech support for these resources. Most technical issues need to either be dealt with by the instructor or by the publisher. 
• Instructors need to make certain they have the right version of the content. With each new textbook edition, faculty need to double-check that they have an updated version of the resources.
• Moving content to new courses can sometimes present problems.
• If a publisher provides links to other web sites, you’ll need to make sure that those links are active and contain current information.