All packs were sold by John Smith and Sons, usually from Campus
bookshops. Most of the sales occurred during the first two months
of the semester (i.e. September and October), with a small amount
of sales later on in the year. The remaindered packs are expected
to be sold next year.
4.4 Cost
The costs of most of the packs was felt to be appropriate, with
the exception of the Social Sciences pack which were not perceived
as being good value for money. Some students objected to paying
for materials which they used to get free, as happened in the
case of the Engineering packs. Lecturers felt that the packs
were competitively priced, particularly the Business Applications
Software pack.
4.5 Binding
There were complaints about the use of perfect binding on the
Sociology packs - some students reported that they fell apart
on heavy usage. Since then packs have been spiral bound, which
has been well received by both lecturers and students. Spiral
binding allows the packs to lie fully open without placing any
stress on the spine, so students find it easier to read and make
notes in their packs.
4.6 Composition
There was a broad range of pack contents. The Sociology packs
contained 38 published journal articles / book chapters spread
over three alternative packs; the Engineering pack consisted of
lecturers' material and two chapters of previously published,
but out of print material; the Business Applications Software
and Economics packs contained only material written by lecturers.
4.7 Relevance
On the whole, students seem to have reacted better to the packs
containing lecturer's materials than those which contain only
published. This may also be due to the a number of factors.
The material written by lecturers tended to be used and referred
to throughout the course, and all the material contained in it
was directly relevant to what the students needed to know. They
also contained most, or all, of the basic information which students
on the courses needed to know. For this reason, students tended
to indicate that these packs were good value for money.
The packs containing a selection of previously published materials
were intended to be an introduction from which students could
get the general ideas and then move on to other sources. The
packs were never intended to provide students with all they needed
to know, therefore they were seen as being less relevant, and
the students were less satisfied with their value for money.
In addition, the ethos behind the Sociology course was that students
should do as much reading as possible, the lecturers did not want
to tell students what to read, they were asked to form their own
opinions and ideas. In contrast, in the Economics and Engineering
courses, the lecturers were happy to recommend one book. This
is probably to do with the fact that these latter two are far
more fact-based.
Where courses are taught in modules and assessed on an ongoing
basis students prefer to have packs focusing on specific subject
areas, rather than an overview of all areas.
4.8 Use of packs
Use of the pack depended on what it was intended for. The Sociology
packs were not read as broadly as the lecturers had hoped - only
18% of respondents to the questionnaire said that they had used
more than 50% of the material. There was some evidence that they
were used for revision, and as an introduction to the subject.
The Business Applications Software and Engineering packs were
worked through during the course, and the Engineering pack was
also heavily used for revision.
There is no data available on how students used the Economics
text - presumably the same as any other textbook.
4.9 Effect of alternative provision
Library usage:
Some Engineering students stated that they used the library less
because the material they needed was provided by their course
pack. Comparing the number of date stamps on copies of the relevant
books shows some drop in issues over the past year, but not a
conclusive reduction.
The Sociology students who bought packs showed some evidence of
using the library books less than those who did not use the packs,
but there is little quantitative evidence for this.
The Economics textbook in the library showed a 46% drop in issues
since the SCOPE pack was produced, both in the short loan collection
and the main collection.
Book Buying Habits:
In the case of Engineering, Business Applications Software and
Economics, the lecturers stated that there was no one book which
covered the topics they wanted to teach, in the correct format.
From this point of view it can be said that they did not replace
any substitute books. In the case of Economics and Business Applications
Software, the packs replaced course handouts, so no revenue was
lost to publishers. However, if the packs had not been available
for the Engineering course, students stated that they would have
had to buy a book, albeit a less suitable one. The book recommended
for the materials part of Engineering only sold one copy in 1996-97,
despite it being a new edition. This is compared with 30 copies
in 1995-96, and 27 previous to that. The attitude of the bookseller
was that it was a shame but that at least they were getting some
revenue from the SCOPE pack. They had also been warned by the
lecturer that he would not be recommending the text to buy. The
book which would have been recommended for the manufacturing part
of the course is out of print, therefore the inclusion of this
material earned the rights holder some money.
Departmental Spending:
In the case of those packs which replaced handouts, departments
were saved the time and money spent on photocopying. In addition,
the fact that the notes are bound together and students have to
pay for them means that students treat them with more respect
and they are harder to lose than loose-leaf handouts. Therefore
lecturers no longer have to make replacement copies of lost notes.
4.10 Electronic delivery
There were two foreseeable problems which arose out of electronic
delivery. The first was lack of student skills in using the system,
and the second was concerned with the infrastructure of the institution
and whether students would actually be able to access computers.
This latter concern included not only a lack of computers, but
a lack of access to them (e.g. passwords taking several months
to be issued).
On the positive side, those lecturers who felt that course packs
were spoon-feeding were very much more in favour of electronic
delivery, where the student had to go through several steps in
selecting the material they wished to use, and had many alternative
materials from which to choose.
5. Conclusions and Recommendations
5.1 Preparation:
Most lecturers feel that while the packs take a lot of work to
produce, the end product is worth the initial investment of time.
The amount of time required can be expected to fall as more publishers
sign contracts, and is also affected by the amount of previously
prepared work (e.g. course handouts) that is included. Once the
packs have been produced, most have been used again with relatively
little, or no alterations, making the investment of time even
more worth-while.
5.2 Sales:
Apart from the Sociology packs, all packs sold very well. No
single reason has been identified for the failure of the Sociology
packs to repeat their initial sales, and more study of this will
be required when the remaining packs are sold in Autumn '97.
The Economics text and the Engineering coursebook sold out completely,
and only 4.6% (21 copies) of the Business Applications Software
pack remain in stock.
5.3 Cost:
One of the main problems of the packs is that many lecturers feel
uncomfortable about telling students that they have to buy materials.
This attitude depends on the individual lecturer - some see no
problem with telling students that they must buy books. there
is little point in producing a SCOPE pack unless the lecturers
are prepared to strongly recommend that it be bought.
5.4 Binding:
The use of spiral binding has had very positive feedback with
no complaints. It makes the packs easy to use in a small space,
and allows them to be opened fully. The perfect binding was not
successful, since opening the packs fully placed too much strain
on the spine, and some packs fell apart.
5.5 Use:
There is a fundamental difference between what students and lecturers
expect from the packs. Students want packs to contain all the
material they need so they don't need to look at other sources.
For the most part, lecturers want the students to read more widely
and use the packs as an introduction. Therefore it is easy for
both parties to be dissatisfied by the packs and what they achieve.
One solution may be to have a brief introduction at the start
describing the aims of the pack - i.e. it is not meant to be the
entire reading for the course, only the introductory, or essential
material. This might help to prevent student misconceptions of
the purpose of the pack, although they will probably continue
to demand more content for the same price.
5.6 Composition/Relevance:
With the exception of the Sociology pack, the feedback from students
was positive. Most students thought the packs were good value
for money and found them to be useful. There was some call for
more detail in both the breadth and depth of information provided
(e.g. Engineering and Economics), which ties in with the finding
that students would prefer to have all their material in one place
and not need to do any additional reading. Again, there is a
correlation between those amount of published material and the
students satisfaction with the usefulness of the pack. This is
probably also related to the amount of reading students are asked
to do: Sociology students are asked to do far more reading than
the other students who used packs, and therefore any pack produced
for them cannot affordably cover the same percentage of material
as does the Engineering one, for example. For this reason it
is probably that courses with large reading lists are better suited
to online access.
5.7 Effect on Alternative Provision:
There is quantitative evidence of reduced library usage caused
by the provision of the Economics text. There is less evidence
of effect on library provision caused by the Sociology pack.
There was a slight drop in issues, but not marked enough to be
able to say that it was related to the SCOPE pack. This is unsurprising
considering the small percentage of the Sociology reading list
which was actually contained in the pack.
In the case of Engineering, book sales were reduced from 30 in
the previous year, to one. This is because the course was taught
following the pack that was produced. The attitude of the bookshop
was philosophical: they had been warned by the lecturer that the
book would not be recommended for purchase, and they were at least
getting a cut from the sales. It is worth pointing out that this
pack was designed by the lecturer to replace the need for students
to buy books which while adequate, did not cover the needs of
the course as well as might have been wished. The SCOPE packs
containing collections of previously published material do not
replace sales of the original texts, or at least, very few of
them, since very few students would be able to afford to buy copies
of all the original sources.
5.8 Electronic provision
There is little that SCOPE can do about solving problems of institutional
infrastructure, apart from making sure that the equipment is available
for students to use, and that the staff know how to use it themselves.
The user interface is designed to be as simple and self-explanatory
as possible, and guides to using the system are being designed.
As has already been stated , it has been concluded that some courses
are intrinsically more suited to electronic provision that others,
due to their structure and the teaching methods employed.
When online access was first raised as a possibility staff and
students were very positive and enthusiastic about the idea.
As time has gone on and people have had practical experience of
using online resources, enthusiasm has been tempered by the reality
of the practical issues - one CMI has decided against using online
services because their infrastructure will not support it. However,
many CMIs still want SCOPE to provide electronic access for students
- five out of the seven CMIs being supplied in Autumn '97 will
be using online materials.
6. Summary
- Different subject areas have different requirements for content
and delivery methods
- There is a conflict between student and staff expectations
of what the packs provide.
- Problems are anticipated by students and staff with accessing
and using computers.
- Materials written by staff specifically for a course have
been generally well received by staff and students.
