Book options for students may change under a proposed book agreement with Pearson Education.

Electronic texts may be one of the primary delivery systems. The decision has yet to be made, but if the agreement with Pearson goes through it may replace the rental system in favor of a shared-fee system.

“The idea is that they would negotiate a campus-wide agreement to supply most -not all certainly – but most of the textbooks and potentially some of the supplements to go along with those textbook for a fee that would presumably be shared between students and the University,” said Dr. John Messick, vice president for academic affairs,

The e-delivery system would benefit distance learners. Another option could replace the Blackboard system with eCollege, the Pearson equivalent. Sites would come preloaded with expert-designed content, but Pearson said they would be able to migrate professor’s Blackboard content if a switch were made.

There would be the option to print custom books or create photocopies through Office Services and make those copies available to students at an additional fee. Messick said it is difficult for the existing rental system to recover costs on books for some upper-division courses, especially those offered on an alternate year basis.

Dr. Larry Flatt, assistant professor of teacher education, is already using Pearson to create a custom book for his classes.

Flatt teaches EDUC 301, Use of Computer Software in the Classroom. Technology changes quickly, and he wants to create a textbook core to carry over from year to year.

“I want a small, simple book that I can use, and get my own stuff in there,” Flatt said. “So when it comes out it comes out it is at a decent cost to the kids, but has only what I believe needs to be in there. I don’t like all that other junk.”

No agreement has been outlined yet.

“I think we’re at least a year and a half away probably from realistically going with this – even if we do,” Messick said. “This Faculty Senate committee may not go along with this at all – and that’s fine.”

Although he believes in the benefits of the customizable book program, Flatt says he does not want to be tied to one book provider. He said the decision should be made at the departmental level.

“I don’t think it should be an administrative mandate,” Flatt said. “When we build our classes we need to build our classes – somebody else might not teach the special ed class like I do, but when I’m in there, I’m teaching it – it’s my baby.”

Messick said no specific agreement has been outlined. The reach of the program has not been determined, but if an agreement is signed it could include the majority of courses as Pearson has agreements with several other publishers.

“I’m sure that they would say ‘we will supply books for 80 percent of your courses’ or something like that,” Messick said.