How Moving From Print to Digital Lab Materials Maximized Quality

The Challenge

Low-cost learning materials were light on the quality and interactivity needed for STEM labs

Affordability can often come at the cost of quality. As Christine Kelly quickly learned, that holds especially true when it comes to course materials. Kelly, a professor and Assistant Chair of the Department of Biology and Chemistry at County College of Morris, knew she wanted to reduce financial barriers where possible. “A lot of our students are commuters and working part-time. They don’t want to spend all of their hard-earned money on textbooks,” she says.

Kelly initially gravitated towards a low-cost lab manual to use across her biology courses. “They were $10, but they weren’t in color—critical for labs—and on top of that, they used a cookie cutter approach to curriculum,” Kelly says. As someone who oversees up to five Biology I and two Biology II sections per semester, Kelly was determined to find a more relevant, student-friendly lab solution that provided the flexibility and empowerment traditional materials couldn’t.

When Kelly came across Morton Publishing Company, a press specializing in bespoke educational content for the sciences, she was immediately drawn in. “Customization was a huge deal for us. We didn’t want to settle for labs already in a book. We wanted to be able to add and remove items as we pleased, and Morton allowed that to happen,” she says. When Top Hat acquired Morton in 2021, Kelly was presented with another exciting opportunity to not only update the material within her existing manual, but to stabilize fees by switching from print to digital delivery.