Reflecting back on our work this semester, in what ways are textbooks a challenge for students?
Textbooks are a challenge for students in a way that they seem to be written for someone who already has some kind of prior knowledge and they automatically assume that the reader/student must be familiar with terminology, descriptions, and they tend proliferate knowledge by increasing the text volume and it feels as if they don’t make the book crazy big it wouldn’t be preferable by schools. I also don’t think that the publishers would check and balance their books. Checking might be practiced by some other faculty and editors of their own, but don’t think that they get some kind of consultations of students or lay persons. So, my reviews throughout the semester and my prior knowledge and utilizing of the textbooks made me believe that the way textbooks are mostly formatted can be a barrier between the student/learner/seeker and the knowledge.
What is one way OER addresses these challenges? What is one way OER fails to address them?
OER addresses these challenges by utilizing the students who are in the end the real customers of the textbooks and they are the ones who can decide if the textbook is helpful in what ways.
One way the OER might be failing that I am not sure how much OER has some kind of enforcement on utilizing textbooks and which ones would be fit for the appropriate levels, and how much a student for that specific class can make a nice blend of online sources in use. How much is the two way communications between the OER and the student/instructor(s)/faculties/departments open for productivity. Is this communication based on advise or on some kind of sanctions. Of course an instructor will claim that her/his textbook is the best, but what about the student’s opinion? The way the instructors were requiring the textbooks almost made me think that they might be taking some commissions from the sales.
Should students evaluate textbooks as part of their regular classwork/education? Why or why not?
Yes, definitely. Because in the end the student is the one who has first hand learning experience, not the instructor.
Imagine your are a professor choosing a textbook for your class. What are three important ideas to consider when selecting a textbook for students?
The most important one would be if the textbook addresses the level, especially for introductory courses. Whether the content fit for the group of students as a whole, not for a few individuals who had their way out of challenges who the rest of the students would be facing on a regular basis. Also simplicity is very important and less is more. If the book is pages long over a 100, I’d have my high hopes fall because what are the odds that we’d be retaining the pages of information in such a short period time. I see more and more textbooks and instructors are having hard time explaining topics simply and cannot stop thinking of “If you can’t explain it simply, you don’t understand it well enough.” – Albert Einstein
What is the most important thing you learned from this seminar?
Textbooks matter that it can help us come over the challenges we experience during our educational journey or can be another challenge itself by causing us lose our motivation..
