Ep. 91 - What is Coyote Day One Textbook Access?

This fall 2024 semester, CSUSB is piloting the Coyote Day One Textbook Access  program! The program is "digital first," meaning that each student will be provided all their textbooks and other instructional materials in digital format unless they are not available or unless the instructor of that class section requests hard copy materials. What are the benefits to students? When will you receive access to your textbooks? How much does it cost? Find out here with special guest, Dr. Bradford Owen, Associate Vice President of Faculty Development and Chief Academic Technology Officer!

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Transcript

Matt Markin  
Hello and welcome back to another episode of the CSUSB Advising Podcast. My name is Matt Markin, an academic advisor in the ASUA Academic Advising office. And on today's episode, we're going to learn more about the coyote day one textbook access pilot program that starts this fall 2024 semester, and to help us learn more about it, let's welcome the associate vice president of Faculty Development and Chief Academic Technology Officer, Dr. Bradford Owen. Dr.Owen, welcome.

Bradford Owen  
Thank you, Matt. I'm glad to be with you.

Matt Markin  
So what is Coyote Day One Textbook Access. Can you give us a little bit background on this pilot?

Bradford Owen  
Yeah, of course. We're excited to be piloting this program for the first time in fall 2024 and really, the whole point of this program is to one, save students money on their textbooks and other instructional materials, and two, make sure undergraduate students have all their instructional materials in their hands before the start of the term. We know from various research data that 65% of undergraduate students nationally don't buy a textbook due to cost, even though those same students are afraid it will impact their grades, and we we're certain that that those data are applied to our undergraduates as well. So really, the whole point is, again, save students money and get the materials enhanced in their hands before the start of the term.

Matt Markin  
So really, this is a huge benefit to students at Cal State San Bernardino, and I guess as well, for the professors or faculty, it kind of ensures that they have the required materials before classes begin. And I guess as a campus, too, if we look at kind of like the broader spectrum of it, I guess that helps with, like, data privacy within Canvas, and also, kind of maybe there's an increased satisfaction between students and faculty as well?

Bradford Owen  
We hope so. Yeah, as you say, it simplifies the process by making the instructional materials all available in the Canvas course site before the start of term. And as you say, it should help faculty in that the students will be more prepared by having instructional materials from day one.

Matt Markin  
Awesome. And I guess from has there been feedback from students and also any faculty regarding this pilot. 

Bradford Owen  
Yes, the program has been developing for a long time. We first presented on this proposal a couple of years ago, and during that time, we've seen the ASI Board, the elected board that represents undergraduates at Cal State San Bernardino, and they approved this pilot to go forward by a majority vote in September 2023 so the student representatives have approved it. It's also been approved by the fee advisory board, which clears any fees that are charged to undergraduates. That was in, I think, in April of 2024 so students have approved the program to be tried for one term faculty. There was a survey just right at the end of the spring term, and faculty had some doubts about the program. The survey sample was quite small. It was about 8% of faculty, approximately 90 faculty out of 1000 of our faculty. We hope that as faculty see the benefit to the students, they will embrace the program as well.

Matt Markin  
Now I know with this coyote day one textbook access, least what's on the website, it says, digital first. What does digital first mean? And I guess if a student doesn't have a textbook that's available online. Do they have a physical textbook that they get?

Bradford Owen  
Yeah, digital first, like it sounds, means that if the instructional material is available in a digital format, that's the format in which the student will get it. And as you, as you asked, if the material is not available digitally, it will be provided in hard copy and in book form or loose leaf printed form to the students. Also, I should note that if the faculty member teaching that section opts for. A hard copy version of the instructional material. All the students in the section will get that hard copy version. So it's up to the instructor if they prefer that the students get books or other kind of hard copy that is just provided, no questions asked. 

Matt Markin  
You know, as we're getting closer to the fall semester, how will a student be notified when their textbooks are ready?

Bradford Owen  
The textbooks will be populated in the Canvas website in approximately one week before the start of term, and I believe Follette, who is administering the program, will email students to let them know that, and on our side as well, we will, we'll send out notification that instructional materials are now available in the Canvas course sites.

Matt Markin  
And you know, as we've been it's summertime, so we've been going through new student orientations, and some students have mentioned, seen that there's already a price after they've registered for classes, and it shows a $322.50 How is that price determined? And can financially cover that? Do they pay it through their myCoyote account?

Bradford Owen  
Yeah, the the fee, which is $21.50 per credit hour, so per unit per semester, but capped at 15 units worth, which is the 322, 50. That price is set by Follett, who is administering the program, and that price is comparable to other such programs around the state and around the United States. For instance, San Diego State University has a similar program, which they administer themselves. It's not through Follett, it's self administered, and that's comparable to what our students will pay. And the yes, the fee does appear as a charge on the student's regular CSUSB account and financial aid does apply to it.

Matt Markin  
All right, awesome. I know that'll be good news for students to hear. And let's say a student downloads a textbook for their class so they get the notification that's available. They go on Canvas, they see the class, or they see the textbook, but maybe they end up dropping the class within a week of taking that class, and then decide to register for a different class. Will they no longer have access to the downloaded textbook, or are they then given access later to the textbook of the new class that they register for?

Bradford Owen  
For the dropped class materials, the access will expire at some point. I'm not sure what that period is, maybe after a week or so, or a few days, it will no longer be accessible, even if it was downloaded as a PDF. And yes, they will immediately get access to the instructional materials for the new course.

Matt Markin  
And let's say there's a student that's like, well, maybe I don't want to do this Coyote Day One Access, is a student able to opt out of this?

Bradford Owen  
Yes, definitely any student who doesn't want to participate is free to opt out with no penalty. And the opt out window is August 1, 2024 to September. 23 2024 that last day of the opt out window is Census. That's the last day to drop or add classes for the fall term, and there's a message that appears in every Canvas course at the top with a link to our website, which has instructions on how to how to opt out. Basically, it's a link to a Follet website where the student registers with Follet and then has the ability to opt out.

Matt Markin  
And I know I've gotten this question already orientation, and that is, you know, this Coyote Day One Textbook Access is a pilot? Is it just for fall, or will this continue in the upcoming terms?

Bradford Owen  
We will survey students early in the Fall term about their experience, both in awareness of the program before it began, and their satisfaction with the process of how they were informed and so on, and their satisfaction with the actual access to their instructional materials, and we will make a decision based on the student survey and on faculty input as well, whether to continue in spring or whether to stop after the fall term, if it would continue in Spring, that would likely be as a second semester pilot. So in the end, we it would be a year long academic year long pilot, and then we would decide on that based on other data we would collect whether to continue it into the future.

Matt Markin  
So we'll stay tuned for that. But Dr. Owen, thank you so much for your answers to all these questions, helping us learn more about this pilot program. I'm excited to see how this goes for our students, starting in the fall semester. Thank you again.

Bradford Owen  
Thank you, my pleasure. And just to underline, Matt, that really the whole purpose of that is to help our students, and we are optimistic that that it will be successful in that in that goal.