Every professor should use GVSU SAVE to provide wide access to course materials to students.

I am a faculty member in the Department of Statistics and the lead author of the textbook used in all sections of STA 215. In the past, we delivered the textbook through an online provider. Students purchased an access code for the textbook which could then be redeemed online to gain access to the text. To put it bluntly, this process was fraught with delays and other issues. Often in a STA 215 class of 30 students between 2 to 6 students would not have access to the text on the first day. Bottlenecks in getting access codes to students, or in students redeeming those access codes, were commonplace. In most semesters I had multiple faculty tell me that they had students who waited until the third or fourth week of the semester for access codes to arrive or, more commonly, they had students who waited that long to decide whether to purchase the text. This put those students at a disadvantage in the course. Some were never able to catch up on the missed material. The GVSU SAVE program has resolved these issues. The textbook is connected to a student’s account such that when they register for the course, and the instructor makes the course Blackboard (BB) site available, the textbook is immediately available! No purchasing access codes: no waiting for access codes; no deciding do I really want this book? The default setting is that students will purchase the text (and have their student account charged which means they don't have to have the "cash on hand" at the time of purchase). Students can opt out of textbook purchases. We started using this program for the STA 215 textbook spring/summer of 2021. The number of emails that I have received with textbook access issues has dropped to almost none. From an instructor's viewpoint, it is wonderful to know that students will have access to the text from Day 1. Actually from Day -7 if you get your BB site up…[GVSU SAVE] works beautifully!

Purchasing textbooks at the beginning of the semester is a difficult time for students as many involved access codes. Publishers were switching to online access only (no physical books) by making them the most cost-effective option. The GVSU SAVE initiative was an effort to save students the hassle of purchasing access codes for online resources (they are automatically billed through their student account), obtain the cheapest rate for that access, and have that all available to the student in Blackboard once they enroll in the class. Faculty from the BMS dept worked with the bookstore and IT during the pilot program (along with the publisher) to get this started…the program was already a success in its first semester which speaks to the commitment of the team who put the program together. They were always available (and responded quickly) to deal with student issues that arose. After using GVSU SAVE this semester, the extent of communication and cooperation among units was amazing as there were no student issues in my large lecture class (70 students). The class was ready to go (and student access to the online resources available) weeks before the semester started which helps students and faculty prepare for the upcoming semester. GVSU SAVE is the way of the future for student access to online publisher resources and my faculty is in debt to the administrative units at GVSU who worked tirelessly to make this possible.