Inclusive Access Impact on Student Outcomes in a Community College Network

Abstract

Alamo Colleges District is a network of five independently accredited community colleges serving the Greater San Antonio metropolitan area. In Spring 2015, Alamo Colleges began its IM Direct Inclusive Access program as part of a larger initiative to increase cost savings for students in the network and improve outcomes. As of Spring 2018, IM Direct has impacted over 65,000 students who were enrolled in 2,740 IM Direct course sections, and the breadth of implementation allows for a valuable and insightful analysis of the impact of the program on student outcomes.

This chapter provides a brief overview of the Inclusive Access implementation at Alamo Colleges and administrator perspectives on the implementation. It then presents a historical analysis of course grades, retention, cost savings, and student engagement in digital courseware to illustrate the impact that Inclusive Access has had on these metrics of student achievement, access, and course material’s cost. It compares gains in student outcomes between courses participating in Alamo’s OER initiative (AlamoOPEN), Inclusive Access (IM Direct), and those using traditionally delivered course materials. The data set includes student grade and retention (course drop and withdrawal) data for students enrolled in courses that implemented IM Direct, AlamoOPEN, and courses using traditional course material delivery methods between 2012 and 2018, student activity data from the Pearson digital courseware that compares student assignment submission and attempt activity on the platform before and after implementing Inclusive Access, and student cost savings data for the duration of the Inclusive Access implementation based on pre- and post-Inclusive Access pricing and course enrollments, and faculty survey data.