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CHAPTER 5 POLICIES PERTAINING TO CLASSROOM ACTIVITIES

Section 18 - Policy Governing Instructor-Authored Materials Assigned for Text Rental or Student Purchase

(To see who has authority to approve changes to this section, please see the Approval of Changes page).

  1. Guiding Principles

A. Textbook adoption should be the decision of each instructor and department, given constraints imposed by the text rental policy (see Chapter 5.1 of this Handbook), and all instructor-authored texts must comply with text rental policies.

B. AAUP guidelines and UWSP guidelines on Academic Freedom in UWSP Chapter 5.4, protect the instructor’s discretion in choosing texts based on content and subject matter, pedagogical concerns, and other issues related to academic freedom in the classroom.

C. UWSP is a community of learners and scholars. The university classroom provides a unique opportunity for students to learn directly from experts in the fields of study offered at UWSP. A blanket prohibition on the use of instructor-authored course materials would deny this unique learning opportunity to UWSP’s students.

D. UWSP values peer-reviewed research leading to publication, including instructor-authored materials that are subject to peer review and are distributed to a wide audience.

E. Instructors should take reasonable steps to avoid the possibility there is even a perception that course materials are adopted for reasons other than pedagogical value. This is acutely important when the instructor stands to gain financially.

  1. Perceptions, Values, and Ethical Considerations

A. Required purchase of instructor-authored materials that are used only on the UWSP campus

When a UWSP instructor authors a textbook or creates course materials, ethical concerns are heightened when the materials are used only on the UWSP campus, and students are required to purchase them, or they are purchased through UWSP Text Rental. This is based on several reasons, some of which are articulated here:

i. The perception (or reality) that a UWSP course provides a “captive audience” of students that an instructor is exploiting for financial gain;

ii. The possibility that the text has not gone through a rigorous peer-review process;

iii. The possibility that a lack of peer review raises questions about the accuracy and currency of the materials authored by the instructor; and

iv. The risk of violating state conflict of interest laws.

Therefore, two concerns are especially pertinent for UWSP instructor-authored texts that will be used only on the UWSP campus:

i. The intellectual rigor, veracity, suitability, and reliability of these materials might not be established through peer review.

ii. The instructor author might financially gain from the use of the assigned materials.

For texts that are authored by a UWSP instructor and adopted for use only on the UWSP campus, answers to the following questions help to evaluate ethical concerns:

i. Did the text go through a peer review process? If so, is there evidence of that? If not, is there a good reason for not subjecting the text to peer review?

ii. Does the instructor member financially gain from the text?

iii. If so, is the money donated to a UWSP department, foundation entity, student group, or any group or institution associated with UWSP? Is the money donated to a charity? Or, does the instructor member keep all or most of the proceeds?

B. Required purchase of instructor-authored materials that are also utilized at other institutions.

When a UWSP instructor authors a textbook or creates course materials, and uses the text or materials in UWSP courses, ethical concerns are attenuated when the text is also utilized at other institutions. This is because:

i. It is likely that the text has undergone a rigorous peer-review process;

ii. It is likely that the text reflects the most current content in a given subject area;

iii. The adoption by other universities and colleges lessens the risk that a UWSP course will be perceived as a captive audience; and

iv. State conflict of interest laws may be mitigated.

  1. Policy and Approval Process

When instructor-authored materials are to be assigned for a course, and this assignment requires either student or Text Rental purchase of these materials, the instructional staff member must request and justify the use of materials in the course in a request for approval to the head of the academic unit (i.e., the department chair or associate dean).

The head of the academic unit shall evaluate the request based primarily upon the academic merit of the materials, but may also consider the values and perceptions articulated in the foregoing sections. The decision to approve the request should also typically include a consultative step with peers knowledgeable about the use of the materials. If the head of the academic unit is also involved in the creation and use of these materials, the dean of the college must provide the written approval.

The approval, if given, will apply to all offerings of the course for which the affected individual is responsible during the twelve-month period following the approval date.

If the individual wishes to assign the same materials, or other materials created by that individual for courses occurring after the twelve-month period lapses, a new request for approval must be submitted to the head of the academic unit.

Records of approvals shall be kept in the departmental office, and will be made available upon request of a student, Text Rental personnel, dean, or the provost.