Use of Proprietary Educational Material

A college professor offers his undergraduate students a choice of several optional term projects for extra credit.  One of these requires the purchase of a workbook, authored by the professor, who makes it available for purchase through the campus bookstore as a Xeroxed, loose-leaf volume.  Is this a conflict of interest?  Does it matter whether the book is sold at cost or at a profit?  Would it matter if someone else wrote the workbook that the professor is selling?

J1G says:  Well, if this is deemed a conflict of interest, then we're condemning thousands of academics to a mire of conflict.  This practice is so common -- including asking students to purchase an expensive textbook written by the professor -- that no one questions it anymore. Is it sleazy?  Often.  Is it a source of great income for most professors?  Hardly.  It's difficult for an author to make much on the sale of 30, 60, or even 600 books.

K5F says:  There is no conflict of interest here.  The professor has offered multiple options including the use of his own textbook. Many professors/authors have used their own textbook in teaching their own classes and offered the book for sale at the local university bookstore--not because they will make any profit out of it (the royalty payments from textbooks are appallingly small) but because they probably honestly believe that it is the best treatise on that particular subject and/or is more germaine to the topics that professor and their classes are focused on.  Certainly, the professor could make a donation in some form to the class as a re-imbursement for their expense if his conscience required it, but I don't see any real ethical dilemma in this case, even if the book was required for a regular grade rather than being an option for extra credit.

P3L says:  The "product" of academia is not widgets, but rather, new knowledge and dissemination of knowledge.  In addition, there is cost involved in printing the workbook.  In a rapidly changing or very specialized field, producing the workbook might be the most appropriate way to provide materials to the students.  It makes no difference whether the book was written by this professor or by another.  Moreover, the professor has offered the students a choice; purchase of the workbook is not required to pass the class.