Frequently Asked Questions for Faculty

While you are required to use your department’s officially adopted course materials, no, you are not required to use them through the First Day model, unless your Program Chair has already designated your course CRN as First Day™. Not all course materials are available through First Day, and you are not required to use First Day even if your course materials are available through the program, but you must discuss this with your Department Chair. Please do not electively choose to not use First Day-Inclusive Access Course materials if your class has been designated as such. This will cause the students to have a charge on their accounts, and they will look for reimbursement from you and your department.

Currently, Barnes & Noble has partnerships with 89 publishers for First Day™. Some of the publishers include Pearson, McGraw-Hill, Cengage, Wiley, Sage, LoudCloud, W.W. Norton, Oxford, Macmillan, Vista Higher Learning, Hawkes Learning and more. Contact your publisher rep and/or bookstore if you would like more information.

First Day™ requires an earlier adoption period to ensure that the HCC Barnes & Noble Bookstore has enough time to secure the proper materials and the best pricing possible. The earlier adoption deadline also allows for course descriptions to be updated in Canvas & PeopleSoft for student registration, so that students can make informed decisions when registering for classes.

Instructor First Day™ materials will appear in Canvas approximately three to four weeks before classes start. For students First Day™ materials will appear in Canvas on the first day of class and if you have published the course.

Instructors should check to see if the correct course materials are pair to the First Day Inclusive Access Course Materials link in Canvas 2-4 weeks prior to the start of the term. In Canvas when you press the First Day Inclusive Access Course Materials link, if the correct course materials are not present or no course materials available, please take a screenshot and make sure that the URL address is visible and email your chair, your publisher representative, kvergin@bncollege.com and Inclusive.Access@hccs.edu to get the matter resolved.

Instructors should check to see if the correct course materials are pair to the First Day Inclusive Access Course Materials link in Canvas 2-4 weeks prior to the start of the term. In Canvas when you press the First Day Inclusive Access Course Materials link, if the correct course materials are not present or no course materials available, please take a screenshot and make sure that the URL address is visible and email your chair, your publisher representative, kvergin@bncollege.com and Inclusive.Access@hccs.edu to get the matter resolved.

Please email the HCC Bookstore Manager, Ms. Pate, at kvergin@bncollege.com to let her know what Course/Course Number/CRNs you plan to cross-list/merge in Canvas so that all your students will have access without any issues. NOTE: Your course sections must be merged BEFORE integrating the publisher’s materials.

When the student enrolls in a First Day – Inclusive Access course at Houston City College, that student should automatically be provided an account with the publisher. To be able to access that account, the professor must link their Canvas course to the publisher’s online content. This is generally done through details provided to faculty by the publisher or by a department’s faculty leader or the Inclusive Access Coordinator. There is a link in the Canvas course named First Day (Inclusive Access) Course Materials. This serves two purposes:

1. For First Day – Inclusive Access courses, this is where a student would opt out (or opt back in) to the First Day – Inclusive Access program before the set opt-out date also known as the Census Date. Also, this is a bookshelf where all of your and the student’s Inclusive Access course materials will be found.
2. For students not enrolled in a First Day – Inclusive Access courses during the current term, no course materials will be associated when they click the link

No, you will not receive a notification when a student opts out.

No, you cannot make students buy materials and not use the official First Day™ course materials. This would lead to a double charge for the students, and then generate student pursuit of refunds from you and/or the department for the First Day™ charge on their accounts.

We recommend emailing your students when you open the course in Canvas to remind them that they are enrolled in a First Day™ course. We suggest including the following language in your syllabus:

This course participates in First Day™, a program managed by HCC Barnes & Noble Bookstore that provides digital course materials to students at a discount. Required materials for this course can be accessed through Canvas. If you wish to opt out of First Day™, you can do so in Canvas on the first day of class by clicking on the First Day (Inclusive Access) Course Materials Link Opt-out button and before the Census Date. If you opt out, you are still responsible for purchasing all required course materials and completing all assignments on time.

Go to the PeopleSoft Faculty Center and click on the blue hyperlink next to the CRN to see the course detail; then scroll down to the course materials section.