The Massachusetts Medievalist on Open-Access Teaching Resources (1 of 2)

The Massachusetts Medievalist has been on unintentional hiatus for the past two months, trying to remember how to teach in a real classroom with other real human beings. Things are smoothing out now after a beginning of term that felt a bit like crashing around on a rocking train.  And so I can turn my attention to two items relevant for those of us who care about open-access resources in teaching. First up: why students should opt out of the insidious college bookstore program called "First Day Complete" from Barnes and Noble.

Like many educators, I see the future of educational materials to rely on open access resources (OAR) as a form of social justice and inclusivity. Yet many universities, including mine, are currently making deals with a for-profit corporation rather than building a base of open access curricular materials.  Barnes and Noble's "First Day Complete" seems to operate something like Netflix in that all students pay the same per-credit fee and then receive all their course books and materials, as ordered by their faculty, regardless of the cost of paying for those materials a la carte. At Lesley in spring term 2023, all undergraduates will be automatically enrolled in FDC for $20/registered credit, so that a student enrolled in the standard 15 credits will see an additional $300 charge on their spring term invoice. Unlike Netflix, consumers will have to opt-out instead of opt-in.

That paid fee will theoretically entitle the student to all materials for all classes in spring 2023 term, with "digital rental" as the default mode, although faculty can theoretically specify a different format (hard copy edition etc). FDC promotional materials boast about "inclusive and equitable access solutions" – OAR expert Eileen Joy points out that "Textbook publishers have co-opted the term 'open access' & are using the term 'inclusive access' which sounds great until you realize it means these books are in your tuition & fees & at the end of the term the books 'disappear.'" (Twitter 26 October 2022).

In signing up with FDC, a university thus sets up what is basically a default company store. Since the advent of Amazon and AbeBooks, most undergraduates do not purchase books at university bookstores. This new program primarily benefits the bookstore (surprise!) by basically forcing our students to be its customers as they were in the days before easy e-commerce. 

Some questions remain: how much do our students actually spend on books and materials each term? (last week, I surveyed my undergraduate students and discovered that their average book bill this term was $141, far below the $750-$1200 claimed in the B&N promotional documents). What about specialized art supplies and other materials that B&N cannot provide? Why did upper level administration not consult with faculty and students before signing the FDC contract?

A last point: universities are obviously keeping a percentage of the "First Day Complete" fees before sending the bulk to B&N. I am deeply uncomfortable with universities generating yet another revenue stream from our students. Rather than partner with a publicly traded company dedicated to rewarding its shareholders, we should be committing to developing and using as many open-access materials as possible to benefit our students and the communities around us. For now, our students need to be savvy enough to study their invoices and opt out.

Stay tuned: second OAR item to follow soon.