I think the textbooks are a challenge for students because of the price at times. Sometimes the cost of textbooks are to much for students especially those who don’t get covered by financial aid. But also the material sometimes compared to what the lectures are teaching in class can be showing you two different ways to learn the material which sometimes can be confusing.

OER does great with addressing the cost but sometimes depending on the topic, the OER text can be way to vague for a college student that’s where it fails.

I think students should be able to evaluate textbooks for a couple of reasons. While taking math I realized that my teacher taught me different than the textbook did on how to do stuff so it often confused me. As well as sometimes I realized that the book didn’t give me enough of a depth explanation so therefore I had to do my separate research.

I think the 3 important things to consider would be :

The cost because a lot of students aren’t gonna buy a book if its way to expensive. The material the text should reflect what your teaching in class and in about the same ways. Finally, if we really need the book it would depend on the class because if we don’t need the book than what’s the point of telling us to purchase it.

The most important thing I learned from this seminar would be about the other resources available to me as in textbook alternatives outside of what the school tells us to purchase because I did like some of those books a little better than my regular textbooks and they broke it down in an easier way.

The importance of evaluating a textbook

Textbooks are not only about grouping a bunch of information to share with students so that they could learn from, but also they are about quality, precision, and affordability. So many students are not able to buy those textbooks because of their prices or either they bought them without even being interested in learning from it because of the length and unnecessary information. In this case textbooks represent a challenge for students.  I think OER does a good job into addressing these challenges. OER textbooks are affordable and the information from them is precise, simplified, and valuable. However, some of the OER textbooks fail to present enough study aids such as review questions and some tables. Because textbooks are a core part in students’ learning, I think they should take into account to evaluate the textbooks. It is going to help them extracting the good information out of it and decide whether this is valuable or not and take profit out of it. Their learning experience is going to enhance based on that.

If I was a professor selecting textbooks for my classes, I would consider the clarity, the important study aids, and the price of the textbooks. Not all students can afford to buy a textbook, which is very expensive and sometimes used for a short period of time, and read something which is not well structured or clear. The most important thing I learned from this seminar is the evaluation of study aids and structures in the textbooks because before I did not pay attention to those things. Now, I know better and I am going to use this knowledge when choosing my textbooks.

            Textbooks are becoming more and more challenging to students and there are several reasons for that. First of all, todays textbooks are getting bigger and bigger with lots of materials crammed inside it. This is true most of the time. From my experience, I know that, me and most of my classmates, if they have a textbook ,could not finish the whole textbook and understand it fully in a six months semester. It is not their faults, if the teacher can not cover a textbook in a semester long period, how will a student able to finish it and understand it. Another reason is, in this country textbook market is in the monopoly of couple of big publishers. they are businessman, so it is natural that they want to make maximum profit out of selling textbook. SO, they force the writers to write the textbook in a way that will look heavy with information, looks nice only and without stirring any controversy. Which makes the book ultimately without any personality. They set the price high and does not care much if a student will be able buy a textbook with that price tag. Also, the publishers try to influence professors buy giving them secret incentives(Which I think should be banned) to recommend their published books to the students. Most of the time the professors do not try to make aware of the students that there are other alternative books they can learn from and the students feel compelled to buy teachers recommended textbooks even with a high price tag. These are some of the problems students are facing with textbooks.

               From what I have learned from working in the OER seminar that they made buying the textbooks really affordable. they also let students freely access the digital version of the books which is a big relief to the students. Also, there are the flexibility of improving an OER textbook qualitatively with discussions and recommendations. One shortcomings of OER textbooks are, they are little short on making a textbooks interesting and more engaging to students. They should put more effort on adding more relevant pedagogical aids in their textbooks.

             Students absolutely should evaluate their textbooks as part of their classwork. This way they can let their voice be heard about what they like in a textbook and what they don not.

                If I am professor recommending textbooks to students I will feel the responsibility to evaluate the textbooks myself at first, than I will also consider about the price of the textbooks. But, most important is assessing the quality of the textbooks by self reading and also taking student surveys on the textbooks. last but not the least, a professor should not be persuade by the commercial publishers just for the chance of getting high incentives.

            I Have learned how to evaluate a textbook based on some set criteria. This makes me in some extent an authoritative person to evaluate a textbook properly. Also, I am now more aware of copyright contents and my privacy right in terms of digital medias.

Reflecting back on our work this semester, we’ve uncovered ways that textbooks can be challenging for students. Textbook jargon is a big factor students are faced with because a lot the concepts and  terminologies are unfamiliar.  Another challenge is a limit in teaching methods, in addition to pedagogical aids. One way OER addresses these challenges is by balancing simple and complex terminology within the text, with included definitions and examples. OER addresses the limited teaching methods and aids by implementing familiar examples for students to compare their learning with life experiences. Also OER textbooks use multiple aids to assist in comprehension for different types of learners. Some OER textbooks fail in this aspect because of a limited amount of pedagogical aids; meaning they might only include one or two learning alternative tools, which can limit diversity in learning experiences. Yes, students should be able to evaluate textbooks as part of their regular classwork/education because they are the intended audience. Therefore the information consumed should benefit their future and meet their level of comprehension with a challenging balance. If I was a professor choosing a textbook for my class the three important ideas to consider when selecting a text for students would be intent, utility and challenge. The textbook should suit the overall class objective, be useful outside of the classroom for professional use and challenging enough to spark critical thinking and conversation within the classroom. The most important thing I learned from this seminar is how textbooks affect the learning experience. Encountering textbooks on classes I’ve previously taken and being able to either comprehend well or struggle with the text taught me about the importance of terminology integration, engaging visuals, balanced writing styles and learning tools.

1. There is a crowd of students who ultimately pay for everything such as housing, food, and education. Asking those students, who are probably willing take out loans, to pay for books on top of tuition seems unsystematic to be in a game for their education when they can’t afford.

2. OER address one challenge by giving the student the availability to review a textbook online for free or at a small price. That is a blessing. However, where it fails is that the open domain will have textbooks that contain heavy flaws. Personally, OpenStack textbooks are unappealing and very difficult to read but they are the more popular textbook in OER.

3. I don’t think so, with the load of multiple classes and personal commitments, prioritization comes to play and OER would most definitely fall under both examples. It would be a lost cause but, alternatively, offering a survey in the end of the course about the textbook would be a viable and fair thing to do for students.

4.The three most important ideas are Accuracy, Well-structured writing to explain concepts, and design ability.

5. The most important thing I’ve learned in this seminar is most definitely the copyright lecture. I was baffled with preconceived notions about if I’ve infringed or somebody violated my copyrights. It compelled me to learn and further educate myself on what can I do to protect my rights and others.

Your final reflection will be a public blog post. Below are instructions on how to create a post:

Create a title for your post and answer these questions in 250 words or less:

1. Reflecting back on our work this semester, in what ways are textbooks a challenge for students? It might be helpful to review The Textbook Manifesto and your initial discussion board post about it.
2. What is one way OER addresses these challenges? What is one way OER fails to address them?
3. Should students evaluate textbooks as part of their regular classwork/education? Why or why not?
4. Imagine your are a professor choosing a textbook for your class. What are three important ideas to consider when selecting a textbook for students?
5. What is the most important thing you learned from this seminar?