Barnes and Noble Textbook and Courseware Adoption
Faculty can select their course materials via the Barnes & Noble College (BNC) Faculty Course Materials Adoption site.
For questions about books or materials, pricing, or digital vs. physical availability, please email Barnes & Noble at SM8505@bncollege.com for clarification.
- 1 FAQs
- 1.1 What is Red Stack Direct, and are students required to opt-in?
- 1.2 Adopting Course Materials
- 1.2.1 How do I adopted course materials?
- 1.2.2 I want to use a course material that is not available through the Adoption Portal. What are my options?
- 1.2.3 I want to use Perusall in my class with paid materials. What do I need to do?
- 1.2.4 How will students see what materials are required for the course?
- 1.3 Accessing Adopted Materials
- 1.4 Support and Contact Information
FAQs
What is Red Stack Direct, and are students required to opt-in?
Red Stack Direct is an affordable textbook rental program providing students with course materials at a fixed rate of $24 per credit and by the first day of class. Learn more about Red Stack Direct. Students can opt-out by going to the opt-out portal, found in the FAQS on that page.
Below is contact information for students who have trouble with their orders or need help opting in or out of the program:
Students can opt-in or out: sm8505@bncollege.com or (203) 254-4262
Support for Digital Materials: firstdaysupport@bncservices.com or 844-9-EBOOKS (844-932-6657)
General Bookstore Questions: (475) 291-3040
Adopting Course Materials
How do I adopted course materials?
The Faculty Course Materials Adoption Portal lets you log in with your Fairfield University NetID via a link in Blackboard. You can also access the portal through the link in your Adoption Reminder emails.
As faculty, you will land on the Course List and see all your courses for the term/semester, as recorded in Banner. Here, you can submit your adoptions by using your adoption history, searching the catalog, and more.
To Re-Adopt from a past term, use the One Click Re-Adopt function. Don’t forget to select which term/section you want to use when doing this!
I want to use a course material that is not available through the Adoption Portal. What are my options?
If the material is free for students (OER, available via the library, etc.), you can link to the material in your syllabus or Blackboard course.
If the material has a cost associated, email SM8505@bncollege.com the list of materials you wish to select. When possible, provide the ISBN or direct link to the material. Some materials may take several weeks to acquire, so we encourage you to select your course adoptions as soon as possible.
I want to use Perusall in my class with paid materials. What do I need to do?
If you are using Perusall and use a course material with a cost associated, you must indicate your intent to use Perusall at the time of adoption through Barnes and Noble College. After selecting your text, include a note that you will be using Perusall. If you were provided with an ISBN from Perusall, include that int he note. If no ISBN is available, any other information to assist the BNC team in finding the content would be helpful.
How will students see what materials are required for the course?
This can happen in several ways:
Students can always see their required (and recommended) materials in the Red Stack Direct portal. All students will have the opportunity to see this because they are auto enrolled into the program each semester.
The students can check the bookstore website using their student information (OR searching by TERM/DEPT/COURSE/SEC).
These will correspond to what faculty have submitted in the Barnes and Noble portal and will generally update within 24-48 hours of the adoption being placed (or changed).
Accessing Adopted Materials
When/how will I get access to my course materials?
We strive to have all items ready for the first day of class. Once adopted, the material in question is added to our tracker document and sent to our BNC team to be paired in VitalSource, the provider of our ebooks.
You should have access to your course materials 30 days prior to the start of the course via the BNC Course Materials link in your Blackboard course.
If you recently adopted your materials, or the bookstore is working on adopting new material for you, there may be a delay.
Questions regarding instructor access to course materials should be directed to the bookstore at sm8505@bncollege.com or (203) 254-4262 ext. # 3084.
When/how will my students have access to their course materials?
Students will receive a welcome email on the first day of class regarding their Red Stack Direct materials. The email will list their courses, the digital items that are in them, and any specific instructions related to them. Samples of the emails can be found on our Wiki page, Yuzu for Students (Accessing Your Digital Textbooks). Students can then access their digital course materials through the Yuzu app, the BNC Course Materials link in Blackboard (once you have made your course available), or by using the physical materials they selected at check out (if applicable).
eBooks
When students open the BNC Course Materials link in Blackboard, they will see a button to “activate” the book. This will make them appear in the student’s Yuzu library.
Publisher Courseware
If you are using publisher courseware (Pearson, Cengage, etc.), you must add the LTI (learning tool integration) to connect the publisher content to your course.
Within your course, choose Add Content (+) and select Content Market from the drop-down menu
In the content market, find the tool for your courseware
Specific instructions to connect your Blackboard course to the publisher’s courseware vary by publisher. We’ve compiled some of the more popular publisher instructions here: Connecting Publisher Content to Blackboard
Where will students find the access code for courseware?
Students will receive an email with instructions for accessing courseware, including the access course if applicable. Examples of the emails students receive can be found on Yuzu for Students (Accessing Your Digital Textbooks).
Students can also find their access codes by clicking on the BNC Course Materials link in Blackboard and clicking the “Reveal Access Code” link. They can then use those codes as they normally would to activate the courseware.
What if I accidentally deleted the BNC Course Materials link from my Blackboard course?
You can add the course materials link back to your Blackboard course by emailing academiccomputing@fairfield.edu your course information or by following these steps:
Within your course, choose Add Content (+) and select Content Market from the drop-down menu
In the content market, find the BNC Course Materials tool
Select the add to course button in the bottom right of the tile.
Support and Contact Information
Questions about course materials, access to either the Red Stack Direct student portal or the opt-out tool, and the Barnes & Noble LTI in Blackboard should come to the bookstore.
Questions about a publisher LTI in Blackboard (needed to use the courseware product we are providing access to in our LTI, for example Pearson MyLab, Cengage MindTap, etc.) or using courseware to manage the course should be directed to the publisher representative working with the faculty.
Contact the ITS Help Desk in the Library Room 230 or at (203) 254-4069 for assistance.