Part 2: Submitting Textbook Adoptions
- When you log into FAST, you should see a list of your courses for the upcoming semester.
- To open a course, click on it.
- First, for any course that will not have required textbooks, click on the sliding button that says, “No Textbooks Required.”
- For a “No Textbooks” course, you can still add comments to the course by opening the course and clicking on the “add comments” button at the bottom of the page.
- To begin adopting textbooks for a course, first open the course by clicking on it. If you already have the ISBN for the textbook, click on the “add adoption” button. If you don’t know the ISBN, click on the “search catalog” button. After you have selected a textbook for your course, click on the “Save” button at the bottom of the screen.
- Adoption History: If you are teaching a course in the spring that you taught in the fall, your previous textbook adoption(s) should be available by clicking on the “Adoption History” button.
- You can use the “Search Catalog” link to search for available textbook options. You can also use the “Add Adoption” button to search for a book to see if it is available through eCampus. If the book you searched for is not in the eCampus catalog, you will be presented with a request form you can use to request that eCampus add the book to their catalog.
- If you have added textbooks to your adoption page but aren’t ready to make your selections final, then keep the checkmark next to the option that says, “Textbooks to be Determined.” As long as that option is checked, students cannot see your textbook selections.
- If you wish to see how your textbook adoption page will appear on the student bookstore site, click the “Preview” button at the top of your course page.
- If you are adopting an open-access textbook, an ebook from the MSJ Library ebook collection, or any other resource that would be free for students to access, you can communicate that to your students through the “course comments” window in FAST. To add a comment, click on the “Course Comments” button at the bottom of the screen. In the course comments, you can type a message for your students, something like “The required textbook for this course is a free open-access textbook that you can access at the following link,” and include the link to the textbook. Or you could type a similar message for a library ebook. The value of entering this information in FAST is that students will see your message when they look at the course schedule in myMount, and it will let them know your course is using free textbooks. This helps communicate our affordability initiatives to students!
- Alternatively, if you are using an OpenStax open-access textbook, you can add the ISBN of the print version as a textbook adoption, so that students who want a print copy can purchase one through eCampus. Then, in the “Book Comments” window next to the image of the textbook, enter a message that says something like, “A digital copy of this open-access textbook is available for free at this link,” and paste the link so your students may access the book
- At about 21:17 in this training video, you can see an explanation of how to add open access textbooks to your course.
- Older Editions of Textbooks: you may choose to adopt an edition of a textbook previous to the current one, but please keep in mind that supplies of older editions may be limited, which means students may not be able to obtain a copy of the textbook.
- Availability of Textbooks: if eCampus experiences trouble with sourcing the textbook you adopted, a representative of eCampus will contact you to alert you to the problem and recommend alternatives.