Conestoga College, Communications Dept: Textbook Investigation Report

This report presents an investigation into textbook-related issues within the Communications Department, focusing on the COMM 1234 course at Conestoga College. The investigation, conducted in response to concerns from the Dean, Kelly Book, involved interviews with the bookstore manager, an instructor, and an administrative assistant. The core issue revolves around the transition between the third and fourth editions of the 'Writing Effectively' textbook published by Oxblood Publishing, and the implications of returning unsold copies of the third edition. The report analyzes the lack of effective communication between stakeholders, the potential for student confusion, and the financial implications of textbook purchases based on enrollment data. Recommendations include returning a portion of the unsold books, and establishing timely consultation between the department and the publisher to ensure course material relevance and minimize losses. The report concludes with a discussion of the challenges and proposes solutions to streamline the textbook adoption process.

DATE: 5th November 2018
TO: Kelly Book
FROM:
SUBJECT: Investigation on Textbook Case
The investigation carried out was based on the emerging issues that arose in issuance and receipt of
textbooks in the Department of Communication for the Communication Course-1234. Following your
guidelines, we carried out interviews from different stakeholders in this department. They include;
Dave Black, the bookstore manager
Matt Hoan, instructor, Effective Writing Strategies
Hector Mead, Administrative Assistant
The response that was gathered from this investigative piece helped point out some of the challenges
that this department is grappling with. It also helped us to suggest some of the solutions that can help in
bringing efficiency in the issuance of textbooks to students.
Issues arising
It was discovered that by the time of carrying out this research, the department’s main publisher,
Oxblood Publishing had already published the fourth edition of Writing Effectively. The policy between
the department and the publisher states that the unsold copies need to be returned before the next
edition is released. It was however discovered that the third edition was still needed for the coming
semester. The department has, however, been given two weeks’ time to return the unsold copies failure
to which they won’t be accepted back by the publisher. There are also charges that the department has
to pay for the late return of the unsold copies. This is why the bookstore manager seems to be in haste
to return the third edition copies even when it is evident they will be still in use in the coming semester.
Matt Hoan, the instructor has indicated that the fourth edition that cannot be adopted to the
Communication Course-1234. This means that there was no consultation between the department and
the publisher.
Analysis
According to the investigation that was carried out, few issues came to the fore. The response that we
got from Dave Black, Matt Hoan and Hector Mead, there is a conflict between the third and fourth
edition from the extra chapter added to the later. The third edition has, therefore, has to be used since
the time remaining to the next semester is little to adopt the new chapter in the fourth edition. Since
the publisher has already produced the fourth edition and is recalling the unsold copies of the third
edition, this has the potential of creating confusion. This is because the students might buy the latest
edition but not useful to the semester.
There is proof that there was no effective communication between the stakeholders in this department.
The bookstore manager seems not to be having the data on the number of students to be enrolled in
the coming semester. The instructor, on the other hand, realizes the mistake in the fourth edition after it
has been published. This is a clear indication that there was no consultation between the department

and the publisher. This would have prevented Oxblood Publishing from producing the fourth edition of
the Communication Course-1234 which will be useless in the coming semester.
Statistical issues to put into consideration
The department can try to minimize the wastage of publishing excess books by relying on the number of
enrolment to the Communication Course-1234 (III, 2016). The data that was provided indicate that 106
students bought the books out of 356 who are enrolled in the Communication Course-1234. From the
106 students, 95 bought the new copies while the remaining 11 purchased used ones (Martie Sanders,
2016). This represents a third of the total enrolment. This represents a small percentage of the students.
The course also predicted enrolment of 202 students for the coming semester. This added with the
current number of 127 amounted to 329 the number of students. Having in mind 221 as the number of
new copies, 150 copies will not be purchased.
Conclusion
The department has to act with continue using the third edition since the changes made on the fourth
edition cannot be implemented. This is due to the limitation in time (Rajiv Jhangiani, 2017). There also
need consultation between the publisher and the department to avoid production of irrelevant content
to subsequent editions.
Recommendations
Two-thirds of the third edition need to be returned before the time lapses. This is to avoid penalties of
late submission or having to get stuck with unused copies. This is based on the data provided on the
enrolment number.
Timely consultation between the department and the publisher needs to be implemented. This will
ensure that whatever content that is published is in line with what is semester requirements. This also
ensures that losses are minimized on both the department and the publisher.

References
Eun-OK Baek, J. M. (2013).
Journey to Textbook Affordabilty: An Investigation of Students' Use of
eTextbooks at Multiple Campuses. San Bernardino: California State University.
III, J. H. (2016). Open Educational Resources and College Textbook Choices: A Review of Research on
Efficacy and Perceptions.
Educational Technology Research and Development.
Martie Sanders, D. M. (2016). The possible Influence of Curriculum Statements and Textbooks on
Misconceptions: The case of Evolution.
Education as Change.
Rajiv Jhangiani, S. J. (2017). Investigating the Perceptions, Use, and Impact of Textbooks: A Survey of
Post Secondary Students in British Colombia.
International Review of Reseach in Open and
Distributed Learning.
Senack, E. (2014). Fixing the Broken Textbook Market: How Students Respond to High Textbook Costs
and Demand Alternatives.
Stephanie Pitts-Noggle, R. R. (2017). Investigation on Textbook Reserves: A Case Study of Two Models of
Reserve Collections.
College & Research Libraries. Retrieved from College & Research Libraries.
Regards,