INSTRUCTION
INSTRUCTIONAL RESOURCES
TEXTBOOK ADOPTIONS

Procedure

TEXTBOOK LIST

Navarro College shall, with respect to each course, include with the course schedule a list of the required and recommended textbooks that specifies, to the extent practicable, the following information for each textbook:

  1. The retail price;
  2. The author;
  3. The publisher;
  4. The most recent copyright date; and
  5. The International Standard Book Number (ISBN) assigned, if any.

This information will be located on the Web Advisor link on the Navarro College Website on the class schedule tab.

PUBLICATION

Navarro College shall, as soon as practical after the college has compiled the schedule and list but not later than the 30th day before the first day that classes are conducted publish the textbook list with the course schedule on the Web Advisor link on the Navarro College Website and on the course syllabi also located on the Web Advisor link on the Navarro College Website.

TEXTBOOK SELECTION PROCESS

Faculty members shall have an active role in the review and selection of textbooks. Academic departments will approve all textbooks used within the department, and administration will enforce decisions made by the department. The Faculty Association Executive Committee (FAEC) shall mediate any departmental textbook selection issues.

A. Department chairs shall begin discussions regarding textbook and related publisher resource adoptions for the upcoming academic year with full-time faculty in their departments and textbook representatives no later than October 1. Department chairs shall include the Navarro College Bookstore Director or representative before the final textbook selections are finalized so that all parties are made aware of any implications that may result from a textbook change.

B. The departmental textbook selection process shall be a democratic process in which all full-time faculty shall participate equally in the review, discussion, and selection of textbooks that are most appropriate to meet the course objectives. Any faculty member desiring to conduct a pilot of a textbook other than the one approved by the department must be responsible for assessing student learning outcomes (SLOs) in a consistent manner as the department and reporting the SLO data at the end of the semester to the department chair in the same format. After the one-semester pilot is completed, the department will review the data and consider the textbook in the next textbook selection cycle.

C. By February 15 of each academic year, the Navarro College Bookstore Director shall send an email to department chairs and instructional deans requesting fall textbook adoptions, outlining the submission process, and assigning a due date for submission.

D. After receiving the email from the NC Bookstore Director, the department chairs shall submit textbook selections to the appropriate deans, and the deans shall submit textbook selections to the bookstore by the established deadline. No textbook changes shall be allowed after the deadline except in extenuating circumstances and with prior approval by the appropriate dean.

E. Once textbook selections have been adopted by the department, all faculty within the department are required to use the selected materials. Faculty cannot require students to purchase different textbooks.

F. Faculty shall refer students to the Navarro College Bookstore website for information regarding textbook prices and comparisons to other textbook company pricing.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

Navarro College will disseminate to students information regarding:

A. Available institutional programs for renting textbooks or for purchasing used textbooks;

B. Available institutional guaranteed textbook buy-back programs;

C. Available institutional alternative content delivery programs; or

D. Other available institutional cost-saving strategies.

INSTRUCTIONAL MATERIAL FOR CERTAIN STUDENTS WITH DISABILITIES

This section explains the process of obtaining alternative format versions such as PDF, e-book, or other digital formats for required course textbooks and materials.

Materials that are considered required for a course or program must be identified in writing on the courses syllabus, or by another agreement by the course instructor and/or department.

REQUEST FOR SPECIALIZED INSTRUCTIONAL MATERIALS

Students requesting specialized formats must be approved by the Disability and Access Services Office as needing the "alternative format" accommodation based on her/his disability. 

A request for alternative format materials must be made to the Navarro College Disability Services Office and must include a proof of purchase of the course materials (if applicable).

The Disability Services Office will then make a request to the publishers. Requests typically take at least 2 weeks to process. A publisher or manufacturer may require that a request made by Navarro College include from each student signed statement described in 19 Administrative Code 4.206(c).

In order to facilitate students getting their materials in a timely manner, instructors and academic departments shall comply with Navarro College's procedures for turning in materials and reading lists by the established deadlines.

ELECTRONIC COPIES

Each electronic copy of instructional material must:

A. Be in a format that contains all of the information that is in the instructional material, including any text, sidebar, table of contents, chapter headings, chapter subheadings, footnotes, index, glossary, and bibliography, and is approved by the publisher or manufacturer, as applicable, and the college as a format that will contain that material; and is compatible with commonly used Braille translation and speech synthesis software; and

B. Include any correction or revision available at the time the electronic copy is provided.

If the publisher or manufacturer and Navarro College are not able to agree on a format, the publisher or manufacturer, as applicable, shall provide the electronic copy of the instructional material in a format that can be read by a word processing application and that contains as much of the material specified by that subsection as is practicable.

UPDATED: March 31, 2020