Newswise — Auditions are about to get underway at the University of Cincinnati, but these auditions won’t be happening in a studio in the College-Conservatory of Music. Instead, representatives of the nation’s top college textbook publishers will be making a pitch for what could become a model for course content selection by universities associated with the University System of Ohio.
It’s all an effort to enhance student learning while cutting the skyrocketing costs of textbooks that can amount to as much as $600-$800 on a student per academic quarter. Representatives of six academic publishers will visit UC through October and early November for a one-time session to pitch introductory psychology textbook alternatives that save on costs while enhancing learning.
“We’re aiming for a maximum cost of $50 per purchase,” says project leader Charles Ginn, an associate professor of psychology. “The current textbook, purchased new, would have cost the student $200. We have as many as 5,000 students that take this course per year, so it would have amounted to $1 million a year for UC students to actually buy the textbook.”
The introductory course is taken by students interested in majoring in psychology as well as students pursuing majors across the university, since the course is a popular fit for UC’s general education program.
Ginn explains that content will move from the expensive, hard-copy textbook to alternatives that can offer both online and printable content. He says that options already available in the marketplace allow for individual psychology professors to tailor the content around their own course.
The individual publishers will make presentations to a 25-member selection committee involving faculty representing the UC Department of Psychology, UC Blue Ash College, UC Clermont College, as well as undergraduate psychology students, a representative from UC’s Disability Services Office, UC Bookstores, UC BlackBoard (UC’s online, interactive course management system), and the director of the Ohio Digital Bookshelf Project. The Ohio Digital Bookshelf Project is an initiative under the University System of Ohio (USO) Strategic Plan for Higher Education to develop a high-quality, affordable, flexible system of higher education with a wide range of educational options.
The committee will be considering adequacy of content, content alternatives, net cost to student as well as compatibility with UC’s BlackBoard software – in addition to the publisher’s supplementary materials for students with disabilities. The e-text version of the textbook must also be made available on the Ohio Digital Bookshelf.
A seven-member selection committee represented by members of the UC Department of Psychology will make the final selection. The committee is led by Ginn, who is also a researcher on the Ohio Digital Bookshelf Project. The committee is expected to make its final selection by late December or early January after reviewing feedback from the selection committee.
Schedule of Presentations
Oct. 4 – Cengage LearningOct. 11 – Flat World Knowledge, Inc.Oct. 18 – McGraw-Hill EducationOct. 25 – PearsonNov. 1 – WileyNov. 8 – Worth Publishers
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