In our opinion, Equitable Access (EA as it's often referred to) is one of the most important developments in course materials. It's not without its challenges. We know a campus-wide move to EA requires a lot of thought and consideration, and even our views are nuanced. But its impact on student success is becoming undeniable, and EA programs are proving efficient and effective across the board. We've been doing EA since before it had a name, and now have years of experience working with partners to execute these programs.
We start this page by briefly explaining each step of our EA program. Below that, we have a full video series answering all kinds of questions like:
• How do you gain faculty buy-in?
• How do faculty adoptions work?
• How does opting out and back in work?
• How do refunds work?
• What content formats are used in EA?
• What are the technology requirements?
• Can you run an EA program virtually?
• How do you know if the program is successful?
• What does onboarding look like?
• What does billing look like?
• What does an EA website look like for students?
• What does in-person and online support look like?
It's all below. Whether you're new to the concept of EA, are up to speed and now learning about vendors, or are already running a program and looking for a handful of ideas to improve your own, we hope you find a lot of value below.
EA begins with a meet & greet and written education for faculty. We can host multiple in-person sessions to accommodate faculty schedules, and distribute information to faculty both digitally and to the classroom. Faculty are the key allies of EA, and when they buy in it paves the way for students to succeed within the program.
Upholding academic freedom is paramount, faculty adopt course materials in any format, and they commit to adopting content for 2-3 years depending on the program or partnership. With that extended adoption commitment, we commit to having the content in student’s hands on the first day of class at the best price, every semester.
Instead of collecting all new adoptions once each semester, faculty only need to submit new adoptions once each 2-3 year EA cycle, saving as much as 80% of their time administering adoptions. We use Verba Collect for adoptions (by Vitalsource).
Note: Although each program cycle is 2-3 years, we continue to collect adoptions each semester for new courses, new faculty, necessary substitute materials, and the like. We work diligently with faculty to keep the program running smoothly.
Faculty are free to adopt both physical and digital items. Valore's EA program is format agnostic.
We integrate with your Student Information System (SIS) to acquire:
• Course data
• Enrollment data
• Student information
If the adopted items are physical, this information informs how many copies are required for each course, allows us to source early for the best possible price, and indicates if the items will be shipped or readied for pickup at the campus store.
If we're already running your campus store, this part is seamless as EA packages are readied for pickup upon student request.
If we're running your EA program virtually (remotely) our Customer Care Specialists arrive on campus approximately four weeks before the first day of class to set up a temporary distribution area and receive and ready all course materials. Four Weeks after the start of class temporary distribution is taken down.
We also set up temporary computer terminals to assist with communication, distribution, and in-person customer support.
Students access digital materials via their student portal in the LMS. But physical books are either picked up or shipped ahead of the first day of class. Adds and drops are handled via our software, no problem.
No monetary transaction occurs, students simply receive their required materials.
We source a small buffer of course materials to account for last minute changes. Leftovers may remain at the store for use the following semester.
After the add drop period, we bill for the agreed upon credit hours. Since our system is continually syncing with the SIS, all adds and drops are accounted for, making for easy reconciliation.
All books that are not consumable, one-time-use, or required as new by faculty, are returned to the bookstore. The EA program is a book rental program which creates the highest levels of affordability.
If a student wants to keep a book, they can pay the difference between the rental price and the buyout price. If the book is damaged and must be kept, students are charged the buyout price.
Charges are handled case by case with students, not charged to the college.
Administering adoptions and faculty communication reduces by 80% since book lists remain constant for 2-3 years.
We do accept and anticipate new adoptions for new courses, changes in faculty, student enrollment growth, and the like. Although the program is designed in 2-3 year cycles, managing adoptions is a continuous process that is closely monitored for accuracy.
We do an annual review of pricing to ensure it is still on track given changes that have occurred (courses, faculty, enrollment) since the program cycle began and make minor adjustments when necessary.
Six months prior to the first 2-3 year expiration, adoptions are collected for the next 2-3 year period and a new cost proposal is created (based on new adoption information and historical learnings).
We quickly walk through the EA process end to end to help you visualize the entire program.
We explain how a student opts out (and back in again if they change their mind)
We explain how this program is format agnostic. Faculty have the freedom to adopt content in any format they choose.
We explain the faculty adoption process.
We explain the situations in which a student needs a refund and how that is handled.
We talk about our Customer Care Specialists and the EA Support Team in general.
We talk about where both students and faculty can go online to find support at any time during the program.
We talk about the materials that are rented vs. the ones that are not.
We'll explain the purpose of an EA website and the functions it serves.
We'll cover the technological set up that underpins an EA program.
We'll explain how we source the lowest priced course materials for our EA programs.
We'll talk about the type of reports available to campus leadership who are looking to understand the reach and effectiveness of the EA program.
