Inclusive Access can limit faculty’s freedom to choose materials that meet their students’ needs.

While Inclusive Access allows some instructors to continue using the same textbook they have used for years, it also can also add additional hoops to jump through during the textbook adoption process. This can introduce friction for instructors’ freedom to choose the course materials that best meet their students’ needs.

On the other hand, if an instructor chooses OER, which are openly licensed and can be customized, they can tailor the materials to their course’s learning objectives and their students’ needs and backgrounds. 

Who makes the decision about Inclusive Access?

Research shows that the majority of decisions about Inclusive Access are being made solely or partially at the administrative level. This includes decisions to implement new platforms that are required for submitting textbook adoptions. These systems typically integrate with large publishers’ catalogs, but may not integrate with free OER or library materials. Faculty may want to ask themselves: who decides?

A growing area of concern for faculty is programs known as “Equitable Access,” which assess a flat charge per credit hour to all students in all courses. These programs do not allow faculty using open educational resources to opt out of the fee, so their students may be charged as much as $60-75 for access to materials that should be free.

Further Reading

“Savings” Under Inclusive Access Programs (Negotiated Rulemaking Committee Members, 2024)

Inflection Point: Educational Resources in U.S. Higher Education, 2019 (Bay View Analytics, 2019)