SP 23-04 - Policy on Instructional Materials Adoption for Accessibility and Affordability (supersedes Senate Resolution 06-07)

Since 2006, CI has had a “Senate Resolution on the Timely Adoption of Text-Based Materials for Students with Disabilities” (SR 06-07), but no enforceable Senate policy on instructional materials adoption. This policy has been drafted to fill the aforementioned void and to address the significant evolution in instructional materials that has taken place since the approval of SR 06-07.

The goal of this policy, in addition to complying with federal law and CSU mandates, is to ensure accessibility and promote affordability of instructional materials by way of timely adoption and notification of said materials, and through the implementation of related best practices at CI.

1 See Higher Education Opportunity Act-2008; Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA); CSU Executive Order 962; California State Auditor Report 2007-116; Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act, CSU Accessible Technology Initiative Policy, and the College Textbook Affordability Act of 2015.

Accountability: Division of Academic Affairs, CI Bookstore, and Office of the Registrar

Definition(s):
Accessibility: Instructional materials are accessible if “a person with a disability is afforded the opportunity to acquire the same information, engage in the same interactions, and enjoy the same services as a person without a disability in an equally effective and equally integrated manner, with substantially equivalent ease of use.”

Course registration: The process by which students enroll in courses for a given semester. DASS: Disability Accommodations & Support Services (DASS) is the CI office responsible for ensuring that the CI educational experience is accessible for every student.

Instructional materials: Materials required (or recommended) for use by students in a given course. Instructional materials are of two main types: a) materials that students purchase (or rent); and b) materials made available to students at no cost (such as library materials, Open Access and Open Educational Resources).

Instructor: The instructor is the assigned faculty of record for a given course who typically, although not always, is responsible for the selection and adoption of instructional materials for their assigned course.

Open Access (OA): Open Access refers to teaching, learning, and research materials that are available free online but may not be revised, remixed, or redistributed. The OA designation is typically used for scholarly works (journals, books, etc.), but can also refer to materials such as government documents and reports from research or policy institutes. OA materials should not be assumed to be accessible to learners with disabilities.

Open Educational Resources (OER): Open Educational Resources (OER) are learning, teaching, and research materials in any format and medium that reside in the public domain (or are under copyright) and have been released under an open license to permit no-cost access, re-use, re-purpose, adaptation, and redistribution. OER materials should not be assumed to be accessible to learners with disabilities. (UNESCO)

2 CSU Policy 9798168: Disability Support and Accommodations Policy

Policy:
A. Process for Determining and Announcing Due Dates for Instructional Materials Adoption

1. The due date for instructional materials adoption shall be ten (10) calendar days before the start date of course registration for the corresponding semester or session.

2. By February 1 of the preceding academic year, the Registrar’s Office shall publish the due dates for adoption of instructional materials and the start dates of course registration for the upcoming academic year (including fall semester, winter session, spring semester, and summer sessions).

3. By the start date of course registration, the Registrar’s Office, in coordination with the Manager of the CI Bookstore, shall ensure that identifying information for adopted instructional materials that are to be bought (or rented) by students, along with the respective CI Bookstore retail price of said materials, is available in the CI Schedule of Classes so that students can be informed of anticipated costs when selecting classes. Similarly, the Registrar’s Office shall ensure that the Schedule of Classes indicates which courses have adopted no-cost or low-cost instructional materials.

B. Responsibility for Complying with Due Dates for Instructional Materials Adoption

1. Upon submitting their program or department’s class schedule to their respective Dean’s office for the upcoming semester or session, the Chairs of all academic programs or departments shall remind their faculty of the due dates for instructional materials adoption for the semester in question.

2. Instructors shall submit their instructional materials adoptions to the CI Bookstore by the announced due dates (unless special circumstances apply; see section D). Adoptions shall include all instructional materials that are required (or recommended) for the class (including but not limited to books, lab coats, art supplies, etc.).

3. If instructors are not requiring (or recommending) the purchase or rental of any instructional materials for a given class, or if they are using only CI library electronic materials or e-reserves, OER or OA materials, instructors are responsible for notifying the CI Bookstore of this fact by the announced due dates for adoption of instructional materials for the semester in question.

4. Prior to the due date for adoption of instructional materials for the upcoming semester or session, Chairs of all academic programs or departments shall remind faculty of the approaching due dates.

5. Prior to the due date for adoption of instructional materials for the upcoming semester or session, the Manager of the CI Bookstore shall notify the Chairs of all academic programs or departments of any outstanding adoptions of instructional materials in the classes offered by the respective academic department or program.

6. Upon receiving notification of outstanding adoptions of course materials, Chairs of programs or departments shall remind those faculty who have outstanding adoptions of the need to submit them by the published due dates.

C. Affordability

1. Faculty shall consider affordability when selecting instructional materials for their classes. When appropriate, faculty are encouraged to consider CI library resources, OER or OA materials and other low-cost or no-cost options for their classes. See the appendix to this policy for related resources.

2. Whenever possible, instructors are encouraged to work with the CI Library to arrange for a copy of required textbooks and/or instructions materials to be available via Course Reserves (in electronic or print format, as appropriate).

D. Special Cases of Adoption of Course Materials

1. Courses added to the class schedule after the announced due date for the adoption of course materials for the upcoming semester (or session) shall have their instructional materials identified at the time the course is added to the schedule of classes. It is the responsibility of Chairs of programs and departments to ensure that course materials adoptions for late-launch courses are submitted to the CI Bookstore when said courses are added to the schedule.

2. Instructional material adoptions for multiple-section courses (or sequences of courses) that require the same course materials across all sections (or sequences of courses) shall be the responsibility of the program or department Chair (or designee).

3. If a course is listed on the Schedule of Classes without an identified instructor, the Chair may notify the CI Bookstore that instructional materials for said courses are “To Be Determined” and shall ensure that the CI Bookstore is notified of the course materials adoption at the earliest possible date. Alternatively, when appropriate, Chairs may submit course materials based on previous semester adoptions.

4. If the a course has not notified the CI Bookstore of their instructional materials adoption by the announced due date, the Chair of the program or department in question shall assume the responsibility of ensuring that the course materials adoption is submitted to the CI Bookstore by the start of Course Registration for the upcoming semester or session.

E. Accessibility of Instructional Materials

1. For students with a DASS-approved accommodation, the University shall bear the cost of converting required instructional materials to an accessible format if an accessible version of the material does not already exist.

2. When contacted by DASS, instructors are responsible for submitting to DASS as soon as possible any instructional materials that DASS requests in order to make them accessible for students with approved accommodations.

3. Instructors who use a selection of diverse teaching materials (e.g., OA articles from scholarly journals, online videos, podcasts, online news articles, etc.) rather than (or in addition to) traditional or OER textbooks, should make every effort to identify their instructional materials as early as one-month prior to the date when the instructional materials are made available to their class so that the materials in question can be made available to DASS upon request to allow timely adaptation of the materials for students with approved accommodations.

4. If the need arises to adopt additional course materials after the start of the semester, instructors shall provide these new materials to DASS upon request as soon as the materials are adopted to allow timely adaptation of the materials for students with approved accommodations.

5. As a general best practice for creating a campus culture that prioritizes accessibility, and in accord with Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act, instructors shall strive to ensure that all instructional materials (e.g., documents, videos, etc.) posted to their respective course pages on the campus learning management system (LMS) have been vetted for accessibility via the system’s “Accessibility Checker” or similar tool.

6. Given the choice between two or more equivalent instructional materials, instructors shall select an accessible version.

Appendix:

Appendix
Resources to Support Affordability and Accessibility of Instructional Materials

Instructors are invited to peruse the following resources when searching for affordable instructional materials:

5. Broome Library: https://library.csuci.edu/

6. Broome Library Course Reserves: https://library.csuci.edu/services/course-reserves-main.htm

7. OpenCI: https://www.csuci.edu/openci/

8. Broome Library OER Librarian: https://library.csuci.edu/about/contact-us.htm

9. CSU Affordable Learning Solutions: https://als.calstate.edu/

10. California Online Open Library for Education: https://www.cool4ed.org/

11. OER Commons: https://oercommons.org/

12. OpenCI: https://www.csuci.edu/openci/

13. Open Textbook Library: https://open.umn.edu/opentextbooks/

Instructors are invited to reach out to the following CI campus offices when seeking assistance regarding issues of accessibility and inclusivity of instructional materials:

1. TLi Accessibility and Inclusive Design Lead: https://www.csuci.edu/tli/aid.htm

2. DASS Resources for Faculty & Staff: https://www.csuci.edu/dass/faculty-staff-resources.htm