From: "Hamaker, Charles" <[log in to unmask]>
Date: Wed, 14 May 2014 05:37:20 +0000

Coercion in this instance is when students are forced through a
mandatory fee  above tuition and normal fees in order to even take the
tests or do the homework for a class.  The normal expectation until
quite recently is tests and homework were part of what you "got" with
the course. That has been flipped on its head, or tail...

Publisher's sell through for a simple textbook, no "web" additions, is
about 35% according to industry sources. 35% of students buy a new
copy. This scheme forces 100% of students to make a publisher provided
purchase. What publisher isn't going to love that! thus the deep
discounts for proven mandatories, even though its mandatory in these
courses whether the university or professor has gotten it rolled into
typical lab fee structures or not.

Of course the main focus is introductory courses where the largest
enrollment figures are. $170 for an introductory Spanish course (with
web access) is abusive and opportunistic. And 1,500 students a year
for that first semester. Its nice the book is also usable for the
second semester. Sure, the department is "saving" instruction costs
by making the course 50% "online" and 35% of the grade dependent on
homework. In this instance tests are face to face.

But classroom contact time is reduced to an hour and fifteen minutes a
week. The department and ultimately the university are taking
advantage of cheaper "instructors" who are running 4 of these courses
apiece a semester but that cost is on top of student costs of almost
$200,000 for the textbook package gross  (with of course multiple
sections) , Multiple that by a few other campuses using Punto de
Partida and you have some real money being made off forced student
purchases .Other intro course packages include Psych, Math, Stats,
Chem, Geography, etc. even some liberal studies courses. I have a lis
of 100 and 200 level courses requiring web access at my university.
The numbers are significant, the courses have a combined headcount
figure of over 10,000 students.

The average cost of a college textbook has gone up about 812% since
1978. The average cost of medical services in the same time period is
up 575%, Textbook prices are more out of control than medical
services! That's the very definition of a dysfunctional market.  see
the graph at:http://www.aei-ideas.org/2012/12/the-college-textbook-bubble-and-how-the-open-educational-resources-movement-is-going-up-against-the-textbook-cartel/

The national system being created of forced student purchase,
mandatory purchases of publisher website access is gaining speed. I've
mentioned Minnesota but there's also Baylor's pilot with Follett
bookstore for 100% mandatory fees for such content.  If your campus is
going the mandatory fee route, please let me know.

Whatever the causes, and letting publishers off the hook is not the
solution, this is a national disaster. It is directly counter to the
2008 Higher Education law intention which mandates more clarity in
pricing, requesting universities provide pricing info at registration
and that publishers "unbundle"  content to provide more choice- ironic
given the current trends we are discussing. For more on the 2008 law
requirements on disclosure which most campuses  and many publishers
are ignoring,  see
http://www.studentpirgs.org/resources/textbook-price-disclosure-law

A new print copy plus web access for University Physics (mastering
Physics w/access) by Pearson for introductory Physics is $309.00 Many
 thousands of students nationally are required to purchase this
package. (over 1,000 just at my university)

Again, captive purchasers, mandatory purchasing, forced, ie. coercive
purchases . Its time for some sixties level action on the part of
students, and vigilance because of the draconian terms of the
contracts from those supposedly "in loco parentis" We ought to know
better given the abusive behavior of publishers over the last 30 years
in pricing journals. They will take advantage of captive markets.

Chuck Hamaker

PS if you have copies of the EULAS required of faculty and students to
access any of the big 4 publisher's websites  I would like to ask you
send them to me. The big four are Pearson, Cengage, McGraw Hill and
Wiley.

Perhaps we could discuss remediation principles for these EULAS?


________________________________________

From: Mary Murrell <[log in to unmask]>
Date: Tue, 13 May 2014 09:32:31 -0500

I'll add a dimension to this discussion through the case of my niece,
who complained to me about the high price of her textbooks when she
was heading off to college. I offered to find cheaper copies for her
than those available through her university bookstore.  Lo and behold,
I discovered that she was taking courses where enrolling for them
meant signing up for what Chuck describes below.  In short, the course
had been designed by the publisher and the in-room instructor would be
guiding the students through it or adding supplemental discussion (or
who knows what).

As "faculty" are more and more often underpaid, undersupported
adjuncts--75% of instructional staff according to the AAUP's recent
report--shouldn't we expect even more of this?  The "textbook" prices
are really additional course fees, outsourcing the costs of
instruction to the publishers to be recouped through the students
paying even more than for their "textbooks."

I'm with Sandy: don't blame the publishers. They might very well be
solving problems for universities even if they are, once again,
ripping off the students to do so.



On 05/12/14, LIBLICENSE  wrote:
> From: Sandy Thatcher <[log in to unmask]>
> Date: Sun, 11 May 2014 10:06:26 -0500
>
> Calling this model "coercion" is a misnomer. Students may have no
> choice in the matter, but when did they ever have a choice? What
> makes the textbook industry unique is that the publishers do not sell
> to the end users but to intermediaries, i.e., professors, and these
> intermediaries have as much freedom as any other buyer to turn down an
> offer. This does not amount to "an offer they can't refuse." So,
> blaming the publishers for being creative about the ways they offer
> their products seems misdirected. If anyone is to blame here, it is
> the professors who succumb to the temptations the publishers offer
> them. No one is holding a gun to their heads. This might be coercion
> if the professors were receiving kickbacks from the publishers, but
> Chuck has offered no proof of such skullduggery.
>
> Sandy Thatcher
>
>
> > From: "Hamaker, Charles" <[log in to unmask]>
> > Date: Sat, 10 May 2014 11:58:28 +0000
> >
> > Publishers have something new under the sun. The major textbook
> > providers have created websites to "enhance" their educational
> > textbook offerings. The only fly in the ointment is that along with
> > the publisher's website ,student purchase of website access
> > accompanying the text is not optional but mandatory, much like a lab
> > fee.
> >
> > If the student doesn't access the website homework assignments, she
> > can't pass the course or in many cases, take the tests.
> >
> > For most classes a defined percentage of the final grade is
> > determined by website participation. Sometimes the course is marked
> > as "hybrid" at the bookstore or on the course description. Sometimes
> > not. Some classes are now noting such content is 50% of the course,
> > and may reduce classroom contact hours because of the website
> > experience.
> >
> > Students are being told if you don't have website access (usually
> > registration rights that come with an "access card)" then you can't
> > pass the course. Publishers can provide deep discounts if the purchase
> > of textbook and/or website access are "mandatory" i.e. guaranteed.
> >
> > The University of Minnesota bookstore instituted a program that
> > simply billed a student if they signed up for a course using McGraw
> > Hill content that has such enhanced content. No choice.
> >
> > For my take on this you might want to see my editorial in Online
> > Searcher magazine
> > http://www.infotoday.com/OnlineSearcher/Articles/Searchers-Voice/Coercion-96759.shtml
> >
> > Librarians with expertise in negotiating with publishers for econtent
> > and licenses (there is normally for both faculty and students, a EULA
> > required to sign on) need to be in the discussions on every college
> > campus surrounding such arrangements.
> >
> > Content created by both faculty and students on the website usually
> > becomes the publisher's property to do with as they see fit.
> >
> > Chuck