If you want to provide scalable access to learning, the best people to do it are those who can teach.
After a successful career, Dr. Ryan Tipton felt it was the right time to start a new chapter. After a successful career that saw the Lovington, New Mexico native grow his oil company into an acclaimed cross-industry subsidy group, Dr. Tipton enrolled at Walden University. His career took a new turn after he earned a Doctorate of Business Administration.
2009 was the year. The year was 2009. Dr. Tipton was reluctant to teach a course as she had never taught one before.
He reveals that he initially said that he wasn’t interested. “But I ended-up teaching a class, and I loved it!”
Dr. Tipton’s entrepreneurial background and his terminal degree proved to be a great fit. Six months later, he was appointed Dean of the College of Business. Dr. Tipton was promoted to the position of Provost and Vice President at USW in May 2019.
Dr. Tipton recalls that the department was founded with only 20 undergrads.
The College of Business had approximately 300 students this spring. It is the largest institution’s undergrad program, second largest Master’s program, and only doctorate program.
“We’ve done a lot in a decade,” says Dr. Tipton.
What about the next ten years? With rising costs for higher education and a changing learning profile, Dr. Tipton met with Cengage to discuss how technology can help students succeed, not only in his department but all over the USW.
Focus on affordability
Dr. Tipton was Dean and emphasized innovation to address the affordability and access issues that plague academia. He stated that USW serves mainly students from the first generation, and that many parents are not prepared for the different pricing options beyond tuition. Dr. Tipton said that it was especially difficult for students to pay for course materials.
Dr. Tipton explains, “They say, “I’m in college now. I’ve paid my tuition. I don’t have an additional two- or three-thousand dollar for textbooks.”
Many students believe that sacrificing textbooks is a way to cut down on extra spending. Nearly 90% of students say they spend up to a week looking for affordable textbooks. Dr. Tipton says that borrowing from a friend is a money-saving option. However, this decision can be costly and could endanger students’ health.
Dr. Tipton says, “They end up failing because they don’t have a book.” Poor grades are often due to a lack in course materials. 20% of students fail a course simply because they can’t afford the textbook.
Dr. Tipton wanted a way to simplify pricing, but the traditional campus-bookstore setup made this difficult.
He reveals that schools make money from booksellers, even though there are better ways.
It might be time to embrace change. Dr. Tipton says that students are not the only ones affected by high course-material costs. He says that they affect retention and graduation rates.
Dr. Tipton was inspired by these challenges and the culture of innovation at USW to take action and began looking for ways to ensure that students had their course materials without breaking their budgets.
Dr. Tipton says that the USW could require course material, but that there is no guarantee students will buy them.
His solution? He suggested that textbooks be taken off the table. Dr. Tipton wanted a system that was not only simple and easy for students and their parents but also for USW.
Dr. Tipton explains, “I searched for ways to register students into the LMS to make an online learning shelf capable of housing their syllabus information and info about the instructor.” He began to look for vendors that could embed ebooks in his classes via the LMS and met a representative from Cengage. This move would allow USW to avoid $50 per textbook per student.
Dr. Tipton was informed by a Cengage representative that he could pay one price per student to all their textbooks in ebook format without the need for LMS embedding.
Cengage Unlimited was the next thing Dr. Tipton discovered. Although it sounded too good for real, Dr. Tipton was delighted to learn that he could offer an online subscription to his entire department and cover all Business Administration students.
Success is Scaled
News of Cengage Unlimited caused a buzz in USW and Dr. Tipton was happy help spread the word.
Dr. Tipton shares that he has the privilege of creating a unique space for the College of Business as the innovation lab on campus. “If it works in the o
