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Going Green to Save Green: The E3 Initiative in the Department of Political Science
The Department of Political Science is delighted to announce the implementation of its E3 Textbook Initiative, which provides students of Introduction to American Politics (POLS 1113) with a high-quality, cutting-edge electronic textbook and learning platform to enhance the educational experience, while being economical and eco-friendly. With the implementation of this initiative this fall, we continue our aggressive efforts to provide the best learning experience for our students, while also addressing the increasingly high cost of textbooks, both in terms of student expenses and the toll on the environment. With our partners at Cengage Publishers, we have been able to meet each of these goals. First, our new e-text provides a high-quality educational experience. After careful review by students and faculty, we selected Cengage Publishers and their best selling textbook, American Government and Politics Today, and the Cengage “Course 360” learning platform. Rather than adopt a static collection of PDF pages, our electronic platform is dynamic and interactive. With input from students and faculty members, we have worked with our publishers to develop a customized platform with content, objectives, learning outcomes, tailored to Oklahoma State University. The e-text and learning platform allows students to take pre- and post-tests in each chapter, while highlighting text and adding notes directly in the e-text itself as they read the chapter. Moreover, the electronic text allows the instructor to highlight text, to add additional information or focus questions about various points, or to add links to readings, websites and videos in order to add more depth of knowledge. These “on-the fly” customizations are “pushed” directly to the e-texts of each student in the class section. At the end of the chapter the student can use a study guide that includes their highlights and notes and any highlights and/or additional notes that the instructor has also put into the e-text. Our book is also highly economical. Full-size, new American Government textbooks typically sell for $100-150. Our text itself, in its current print version, retails for approximately $120.00. To save money for our students and address the high cost of college texts, we negotiated a price of only $47.00 for the e-text for our students, and we locked this price in for a five-year period. This is a potential savings of $73.00 for each student enrolled in POLS 1113, although some of that savings is lost to the university bookstore’s mark-up (over 25%) of the access card for the e-text. Since students purchase a simple card with an access code, there are no bulky texts to carry around either. Third, our electronic text is environmentally friendly. Some estimates suggest that it requires as much as one tree to produce just twelve books. If such estimates are accurate, our e-text and electronic platform save as many as 250 trees per year. Moreover, in future updates and new editions of the textbook, we will not be contributing to the loss of mature hard-wood trees because all of the updates will be made to electronic files and not require the printing of new textbooks. Please click on the presentation link for additional information on our E3 Initiative. And, as we strive to deliver the highest quality learning opportunity possible, while reducing the costs to students and our environment, we welcome your feedback. Thank you,
James M. Scott
Professor and Head
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