Publisher Perspectives
11 Partnering with Institutions for Student Success: Pearson Perspective
Nik Osborne, SVP Strategy & Business Operations, Pearson Education
Tim Peyton, VP of Solutions Portfolio Management, Pearson Education
Pearson and Indiana University (IU) have partnered for nearly five years on IU’s eTexts Initiative. During that time, the partnership has provided faculty and students with first day of class access to affordable, high quality Pearson products that help improve teaching and learning—and has saved IU students millions of dollars in the process.
Over the past five years, Pearson has successfully partnered with numerous institutions on similar initiatives and has found several common themes that support overall success. Below is a quick overview of the eText Initiative model—known commonly among publishers as “Inclusive Access”—necessary requirements, plus some features that have driven the success of the model at various institutions.
What does an Inclusive Access/eText Initiative require?
- All students in participating courses are directly charged for course materials by the institution or bookstore/distributor as part of a course materials fee/bursar charge (subject to applicable opt-in/opt-out policies) in exchange for discounted pricing from publishers
- A minimum sell-through threshold (typically 90% average across all participating courses) that ensures all students receive/have access to the required product and that publishers and content creators are compensated for all usage of the required product
- The institution and their chosen bookstore/distributor adhere to a Maximum Resale Price for course materials—to ensure that the students receive the product at a discounted price, instead of at a price that has been marked up via traditional store margins
- The publisher and institution implement a delivery model that enables day one access to course materials—ideally through LMS integration, though digital access codes are also an option
What common themes create successful Inclusive Access/eText Initiatives?
Pearson has found that the difference between highly successful initiatives that grow rapidly at an institution vs. those that stay in pilot mode for several semesters often depends on a few factors. As in the case with most partnerships, when both sides are aligned and working towards a common set of goals, the partnership is highly likely to succeed. When the efforts are one sided or alignment doesn’t exist, partnerships will often fail to meet the goals for which the partnership was formed. Below are some important points that should be considered when establishing an Inclusive Access model/eText Initiative:
- Identify the Goals of the Partnership. This may seem simple, but it’s extremely important to have a candid conversation about why the institution/publisher is interested in these types of models. Is the focus on lowering the cost to students? Ensuring all students and faculty have access to high qual