Course Works Faculty and Instructor FAQs

No. Faculty and instructors retain full academic freedom under this program. 

Whether you are assigning paid publisher content, library materials, or free and open educational resources (OER), all of your textbooks remain available for adoption. Only required titles are included in the program.

Typically any material with an International Standard Book Number (ISBN) can be included in the program. However, even some items with ISBNs may have limitations (including, out of print titles and old editions, which may fall outside of the program due to access, procurement and delivery constraints). Faculty and instructors may still adopt materials outside of the program.

Some items that may not have an ISBN, such as campus custom course packets, are also included in the program. 

Yes, it is understood that there is no one model that would meet the needs of every course format, curricula, or mode of instruction. If you want your students to only have access to printed materials, please specify that on your textbook adoption. Printed materials will be delivered in a bound format whenever they are available. You can contact [email protected] if you wish to review your adoption requests.

This process remains unchanged. You should reach out to your publisher representative to request a desk copy.

As a general rule of thumb, materials with ISBNs are eligible for Course Works (some exceptions apply).

Required course materials (whether digital or printed) include:

• Books
• Course packets from Printing Services and Libraries
• Library materials like e-books, journal articles, and streaming media
• Homework access

The followings items are not included at this time and will need to be purchased separately:

• Course supplies: lab coats, art supplies, calculators, goggles, etc.
• Art and science kits: architecture, design, electronics, horticulture, etc.
• Items with access or availability issues (which may include out-of-print titles and old editions)
• Many software applications
• Optional materials

The Course Works Complete program is a flat-rate, semester-based program that covers all required textbooks for every degree-seeking undergraduate student. The fee is not based on individual classes. Therefore, if you decide to cancel an adoption for your class there is no additional cost or reduction to the student.

If a student is participating in Course Works Select, there will be a reduction in the student charge as that program charges students for the per-item cost of the materials they choose.

Yes. You may continue to request the same content as prior terms. Many third-party software/courseware providers may already be integrated partners or can be integrated. Library course materials may be offered in Canvas in addition to, or included with, this program. In fact, the use of library materials such as unlimited access ebooks, articles, streaming media, and OER is essential to keep costs for the program down. The more library materials and OER instructors use, the lower the program fee will be for students. For questions regarding non-publisher content’s fit within the program, contact [email protected].

Decisions about Course Works participation are made by individual students, not at the faculty or instructor level.

The Course Works Complete program is inclusive of all undergraduate courses. Students taking courses in addition to your course may find their other courses require paid content. We encourage students to consider if Course Works Complete or Course Works Select is a better fit.

Course Works Complete as an initiative is designed as a “both/and” environment. We encourage any and all adoption of OER alongside the program’s paid publisher content. Providing free or low-cost content will bring down the associated costs that students pay, a main goal of this program. As program costs continue to go down, the program fee charged to students is also expected to go down.

Decisions about Course Works participation are made by individual students, not at the faculty or instructor level.

The Course Works Complete program is inclusive of all undergraduate courses. Students taking courses in addition to your course may find their other courses require paid content. We encourage students to consider if Course Works Complete or Course Works Select is a better fit. Check with the library to ensure the items provided through the libraries have adequate capacity to accommodate all your students’ access.

There are no changes if you are following the existing protocols for course material adoptions with the campus store. This is true for digital, print, and OER materials. Additional information is available on the faculty and instructor information page (Crookston, Morris, Rochester, Twin Cities or Duluth). 

If you do not currently adopt your materials with the campus store or libraries, you will want to do so as students in Course Works Complete will expect their materials to be provided as part of the program fee.

In the near future, the libraries and campus stores are working on an improved, integrated adoptions process so that faculty and instructors will have one point of contact for all course material adoptions.

The Course Works Complete program is inclusive of all undergraduate courses. Students taking courses in addition to your course may find their other courses do require paid content. We encourage students to consider if Course Works Complete or Course Works Select is a better fit.

All digital course materials will be provided through Canvas, however you do not need to use Canvas for instructional purposes.

Students initially access ebooks directly through Canvas.

Publisher courseware (such as McGraw-Hill Connect or Pearson MyLab) is accessed through an integration in Canvas or with a provided URL. Most publisher courseware is integrated with Canvas to connect to the publisher’s content platform and students will use the Canvas link to create their initial courseware login. After an initial login has been created, students may go direct or bookmark the login page of the publisher’s content platform.

For non-digital course materials, copies will be distributed to students through the campus store at the start of the course.

It depends. A few publishers do not offer more than 6-month access. However, for the majority of ebooks, 5-year or perpetual access is usually available, which would allow student access beyond the course's end. Post-course access is not likely to be restricted unless courses adopt courseware (e.g. MyLab, Connect, Achieve, etc.). Publisher courseware is extremely expensive to create and maintain and is the unfortunate reason why access is restricted to a 1-or-2 term limit.

Yes. Students may opt out of Course Works Complete by the established drop/add deadline in any given semester (see Important Dates page). When advising students on the opt out process, it is important to consider a student’s full-term course enrollment, and not just a single course. If a student chooses to opt out of the Course Works Complete program, they can participate in Course Works Select and choose which materials to purchase on a course-by-course and material-by-material basis from the campus store. Please view the Student and Family FAQs for complete details on the opt-out process.

Yes. The ereader is fully device agnostic, scalable, and allows simultaneous usage across multiple devices. Further, content downloaded to the ereader app can be accessed in offline situations as long as it was downloaded prior to loss of internet connection. As for saving as a file, copyright laws can restrict licensed content from taking form as redistributable files. Allowing content to only be downloaded within the ereader puts the onus on the provider to protect copyright and relieves the University of associated risks.

Yes. The campus store will offer all digital course materials directly through Canvas regardless of whether the student is opted in to Course Works Complete or not. For students who are in the program, required print texts will be provided by the campus store automatically. Students who make individual choices through Course Works Select will have those orders fulfilled by the campus store.

If a student opts out of both the Course Works Complete and Course Works Select programs, they must purchase their material from a retailer other than the campus store.

There are two tiers to Course Works: Complete and Select

Degree-seeking undergraduate students are eligible to participate in Course Works Complete, and are auto-enrolled each semester (Fall, Spring) with their student accounts billed a flat-rate fee for access to their required course materials in the Course Works program.

With some exceptions, all other students (non-degree undergraduate, graduate, and professional) are eligible for the Course Works Select program. Participation, access and billing vary by student and course. In Select, students make participation choices at the individual material level; it is not a flat-rate fee like Complete.

During the opting period:

• Complete students can opt out and move into Select
• Both Complete and Select students can opt out of Course Works entirely and pursue course materials on their own

No. Each semester, eligible students are automatically enrolled in Course Works Complete (degree-seeking undergraduates) or Course Works Select (non-degree undergraduates) and provided with access to all of their required course materials—based on the courses a student has signed up for—by the first day of classes.

Students with questions about accessibility, using digital content, or accommodations should contact their campus Disability Resource Center for assistance (see navigation for links to campus-specific resources).

Custom-created, physical course packets from the U's Printing Services will be distributed to participating students through the campus store during the start of courses. Students will receive an email at their umn.edu address when they are ready to be picked up. If the student is opted in to Course Works Complete, the order for print materials will be automatically placed without the student having to do anything.

Students who have opted out of the Course Works Complete and need to obtain a course packet may place an order through the Course Works Select program in Canvas. Similarly, when ready for pickup, the campus store will notify the student via email that it's ready.

Materials included depend on the student’s enrollment type. A degree-seeking undergraduate student enrolled in a graduate course would have their materials included. A graduate or professional student needs to purchase materials separately through Course Works Select.

Course Works Select is offered in the summer (beginning summer 2025). Course Works Complete is only available in the fall and spring semesters at this time. 

TAs will be treated exactly like instructors. TAs will get access to digital materials on their Course Works Shelf in Canvas on the early access date along with everyone else. They will also not be charged for materials like instructors.

If TAs need to be added to courses, they should be added on the Canvas roster. 

No. Faculty and instructors are not required to use Canvas for instruction in order for their materials to be included in the Course Works program. Canvas is a single access point for students to access their course materials, and they are available in a separate main navigation tab. regardless of whether faculty and instructors use Canvas in an instructional capacity.

Faculty and instructors wishing to use courseware materials do need to have a Canvas page set up for integration. Please contact [email protected] for more information.