THE CHALLENGE

The Auburn University Bookstore manages one of the largest inclusive access programs in the United States. “Inclusive access” is a program whereby students receive all required course materials on or before the first day of class, and the required course materials are provided at a lower price to students. As a result, students demonstrate better success and outcomes.

After having performance issues with other vendors who support Auburn’s All Access program, the Auburn University Bookstore asked Copia to serve as a vendor in support of their All Access program.

The Auburn University All Access program started in the Fall of 2014. Since that time, they have delivered All Access course materials to 567 courses, 1,982 course sections and 90,121 students. In Fall 2018 semester, the All Access program delivered over 30,000 course material units to students with very few staff supporting this initiative.

COPIA’S INCLUSIVE ACCESS SOLUTION

Copia has developed a sophisticated Inclusive Access (IA) module that allows bookstores to offer either Opt-in or Opt-out IA programs for students. Copia IA Module supports the following capabilities:

• Manage course materials and pricing: Customized for each course section, and delivered in the college’s or university’s LMS.
• Opt-in and Opt-out programs: Provides schools/bookstores with the flexibility to set relevant business rules that run behind-the-scenes, guaranteeing access only to eligible students with Opt-in and Opt-out IA programs, and manage data either directly within Copia IA Module, the bookstore POS, the LMS, or other required platform(s).
• Student selection override mechanism: Allows the school/bookstore to opt a student back into an IA course after the course add/drop date.
• Invoicing students: Enables use of a variety of invoicing options for students (e.g., automated feeds to Bursar; integration with bookstore POS with direct billing to the student; etc.).
• Payments to publishers: Enables use of a variety of payment options depending on standard bookstore processes (e.g., Copia pays the publisher and the bookstore relevant percentages of revenue on a set date; Copia pays the bookstore and then the bookstore pays the publisher; etc.).
• Reporting tools: Provides ongoing IA-related data to bookstores and publishers.

COPIA’S INCLUSIVE ACCESS SOLUTION CUSTOMIZED FOR AUBURN UNIVERSITY

The Auburn University Bookstore used Copia’s IA Module as follows:

•    Copia managed IA course materials across 26 courses during Fall 2018 semester.
•    Copia managed student opt-outs in the LMS based on data provided by the Auburn University Bookstore.
•    The Bookstore leveraged its own communication infrastructure for student and faculty communication.
•    Copia pulled reports required for invoicing students.
•    Copia managed opting students “back in” to the Auburn University All Access program after students had opted-out.
•    Copia used a mixture of publisher payment options.

THE RESULTS

The Auburn University Bookstore was very pleased with Copia’s performance in support of the Auburn University All Access program, and has asked Copia to manage IA-oriented course materials for additional courses going forward. Below are some examples regarding how Copia supported the Auburn University Bookstore, and Auburn University faculty and students, during Fall 2018 semester:

• Copia staff engaged with bookstore personnel and faculty before, during and after the semester to ensure timely and accurate delivery of materials, resulting in end-user success.
• Copia seamlessly transitioned faculty and their respective courses from another platform to Copia Class.
• Copia successfully added additional courses and publisher titles two days prior to the start of the semester (due to faculty deciding at the last minute to participate in the All Access program).
• Every faculty member completed the Copia Class integration before the end of the first day of class, and every student had day one access.