Meeting Minutes: October 2, 2014

Present

Stephen Blosser, Chair
Graham Pierce, Vice Chair; Webmaster
Al Puzzuoli, Digital Communications Coordinator
Liza Reynolds, Recording Secretary
Angela Sebald
Chris Shaltry
Dave Goodrich
James Jackson
James White
Mike Ezzo
Nate Evans
Nick Kwiatkowski
Paul Heberlein
Phil Deaton
Ranti Junis
Shirl Rowley
Todd Ring
Tyler Smeltekop

Minutes

Blosser called meeting to order at 3:00 PM
- Blosser indicates that this meeting will continue conversation from prior meeting, and include a conversation with Milind Basole about E-text Illinois
Discussion of potential benefits of E-text Illinois
- Would fit goal of establishing a way to receive books from publishers
- Uses HTML 5-based accessible format with the option of audio and highlighting text
- Can have accessible books available to all students on campus and not just those registered with RCPD (700 or less use RCPD book database to download accessible books) - all UIUC students can use the books if the publisher allows it
- They are working to get more publishers to allow the school to use their books
- Use of a program similar to this at MSU will allow publishers to distribute books
- Sebald expressed concern about students getting access to books without purchasing them, but it is clarified that students must purchase the book in order to view it electronically
- Pilot study pricing (provided by Milind): $5,000
- ATC could include pilot study in APP&R request
Teleconference with Milind Basole about E-text Illinois (phone, screen share via Adobe Connect)
- Electronic software to deliver course content to students
- Developed over last 3-4 years
- E-text Illinois can deliver PDFs and books, including copyrighted content
- Students sign in with campus credentials and are able to see all active books in their system, but cannot read them without access code
- Students can buy access codes for each book
- Book can be read via E-text Illinois, similar to other systems for reading books online
- Students are able to post questions to their instructors/TAs (E-text Illinois is tied into class rosters)
- E-text Illinois strives to make everything accessible in the system: notes, bookmarks (can set up hot keys to do this), videos, images, etc.
- Works with screen readers
- Students can jump back and forth between various sections of the text
- Math is done with text in the browser
- Implemented free-hand note taking in August, 2014 (useful for students with iPads who need to take math and physics notes and record equations)
  - Can't be shared in the system yet
  - Can be saved
  - Not be useful for a student with a severe visual impairment
- Who are the e-text books available to?
  - Open to students based on which class/section they are in
  - Students can buy access to any book
- Can students get audio and save it for later/copy text from book?
  - Text cannot be easily copied
  - Online-only system, but the university is working on making chapters available offline
  - If you go offline and had it loaded in browser, you can still browse through entire chapter
- How long do students have access?
  - The length of time students have access to the book depends on what the authors/publishers have set, but normally as long as the students are studying at the university they will have access
  - Some licenses are only 180 days; additional access requires additional purchase
  - Currently the offer is for electronic access codes (not tied to physical book); if student wishes to purchase physical copy of book, they must do so separately
  - Concern with the window of access raised by ATC (student cannot look at E-text Illinois version of textbook after graduating)
- What is done for books that are not produced by university staff?
  - As long as the book is provided in some way and there is a license from the publisher, then an electronic book can be produced
- How many active books do you have at U of I?
  - 20 books are available online from 24 classes
  - 2,500 students using the E-text Illinois system
- What does the timeline look like?
  - Must first get permission to use book and get electronic version
  - E-text Illinois version can be produced in 12 weeks or less for faculty books, and in weeks or days for books from publishers
- After separating out the structure to make E-text Illinois a multi-state program, it can be adjusted specifically for MSU
- MSU can able to use its own PDFs and documents from, but accessible books already scanned at the RCPD will not be able to be used in this system (need publisher permission)
- Do not need to buy the physical book first
- MSU has a very minimal amount of homegrown books, so a majority of the books in E-text would need permission from publishers
- Milind offered to set up a demo account for ATC members to look at system
Discussion on how E-text Illinois differs from CourseSmart
- Better selection, more accessible, joint venture with publishers
- Discussion of getting a demo of both systems at the same time
Blosser noted that some publishers make textbooks inaccessible in order to prevent theft
- People with disabilities cannot access interactive content
- Pierce suggested D2L as potential way to deliver textbooks
- Discussion of restricting textbook content in D2L by group and making content available only to section that needs it
- D2L may not provide usage statistics, which are helpful for RCPD
- Many publishers have their own systems so students can have both the hard and electronic copy of the textbook, but the systems are generally accessible and incompatible
- Enforcement of laws regarding accessibility may be necessary to force change in publishers
Blosser noted that Guenther made motion at last meeting to define what is considered accessible material and what isn't
- Use accessibility as a filter for buying books from publishers and recommending as a part of courses
- Faculty must be told that they can teach with whatever material they want as long as it is accessible
- Pierce noted that faculty must make all online matierials accessible per MSU Web Accessibility Policy
Blosser asked for suggestions for future meeting agenda items
- Puzzuoli gave brief synopsis of new exam software at vet school that is not accessible
- Discussion of inviting someone from the upper administration (e.g., CIO)
- Instructors may need to find own proctors when materials are inaccessible, rather than relying on RCPD
The meeting was adjourned (Pierce) at 4:30 PM

Respectfully submitted,
Liza R. Reynolds, Recording Secretary