Course Materials

1. Define the purpose of your text or course materials
2. Search for course materials
3. Evaluate and choose your course materials
4. Identify types of content & select option(s) for providing access
5. Assess

Weimer (2013) suggests we ask ourselves the following questions. Although she wrote about textbooks, the questions can be applied to all course materials.

Exploring the role of texts in courses begins with a clear understanding of the relationship between the content presented in class and that covered in the textbook.

• If what’s presented in class is also covered in the book, do students need both? Why?
• Do we present the concepts and use the book to support them with examples? Or is it the reverse?
• Do we hold students responsible for mastering the basics presented in the textbook and use class time to explore topics more deeply or to work on knowledge application?
• What do we, as teachers, do better than the book? Where does the book trump our efforts?
• How does the relationship change when the course is online?
• Should students understand the relationship between the material presented in class and the content covered in the textbook?

Whenever possible, communicate that purpose to your students. Here's a brief cautionary tale from James Lang (2009), who used The Seagull Readers, edited by Joseph Kelly, in his introductory literature classes.

Each poem, story, or play is introduced with a brief note written by Kelly....I found the notes so useful, I assumed my students had, too. Then one day in class this semester, I mentioned a biographical fact that was included in one of Kelly's notes before an assigned reading, and I received blank stares from students in return.

"You guys do read the italicized headnotes at the beginning of each work, right?" I asked.

Long pause, and then this response from a puzzled student:

"Were we supposed to?"

McKee (2014) notes that it's often difficult to find texts that align exactly with your course objectives. If you choose to use a textbook as your primary course reading, consider what supplementary resources you might use.

Some suggestions on how to find course materials:

• Look for open educational resources (OER) - OASIS is a good place to start
• Search the library for books, articles, and videos
• Ask colleagues (at Oswego and elsewhere) for ideas (McKee, 2014)
• Consider asking on social media to reach colleagues you may not know personally (McKee, 2014)
• Search for syllabi for similar courses (McKee, 2014) ^*
• Ask publishers for review copies or temporary online access (McKee, 2014)

^* OER courses (like this one on Ancient Rome, from MIT) are a great place to look for syllabi! The readings themselves are not necessarily OER.

A wide variety of evaluation criteria exists, and there may be specific criteria recommended in your discipline (see below). Here are a few ideas that apply to every discipline:

Content

• Does the textbook, article, film, etc. meet your needs?
  • To what extent does the item meet your needs? What complementary or supplementary materials will you need if you adopt this item?
  • What is the cost-benefit ratio for your students? If you plan to use 90% of a $100 textbook, students will receive more value from the book than if you only plan to use 20% of the book.
• Does the material reinforce and build upon prior knowledge? What assumptions does the material make about what students already know? 
• Does the material use the same or standard language that is used in your discipline?
• Does the material provide a unique cultural perspective, or multiple cultural perspectives?

Design & physical considerations

• Is the text accessible, or is the publisher willing to produce alternate versions for students with disabilities?
  • Check the Accessible Text Network to see if alternate (Braille, audio, etc.) versions of the textbook exist. 
  • Try searching for the publisher name and the word "accessibility" - W.W. Norton's accessibility page is a good example.
• If you're looking at a textbook, how much does it weigh? Students may have to carry several books across some distance.
• Visually, is the material logically organized? Are sections clearly and consistently labeled?
• How does the text use color and white space? Is the color contrast reasonable?
  • If you're reviewing a print book, is there room for students to write in the margins?
• Do the illustrations, graphs, pictures, etc. make sense? Are they a good supplement to the text?

Discipline-specific criteria

Does your discipline have any guidelines or checklists for textbook / course material evaluation? Here's an example from modern languages.

Guilloteaux, M. J. (2013). Language textbook selection: Using materials analysis from the perspective of SLA principles. The Asia-Pacific Education Researcher, 22(3), 231-239.

Abstract: This paper outlines a procedure for language textbook analysis from the perspective of second language acquisition (SLA) principles as a preliminary procedure to evaluation for selection. The aim is to provide a tool that allows comparison of the potential of textbooks for supporting students’ language learning [emphasis added]. To this end, ten general principles representing a spectrum of SLA theories were drawn from the literature. Then five EFL textbooks produced in South Korea were analyzed using a minimally modified version of Littlejohn’s (Materials development in language tea, 1998, 2011) task analysis schedule. The low-to-medium inference instrument enabled the analysis of all the activities contained in the sampled units, yielding frequency tallies. Final rankings indicated that the procedure did discriminate between the sampled textbooks, revealing a clear cluster of three books that reflected SLA principles more closely. Although only in-use evaluation can determine the extent to which these textbooks actually support language acquisition, the evidence suggests that they are potentially more supportive than the lower scoring books. The procedure outlined in this paper could be of use to language educators, those involved in language materials publishing, and government officials involved in the approval of language materials.

Consider formal or informal ways to assess your choices both during and after the course.

What do you think?

• Are the materials meeting your needs?
• Do students seem to be using the course materials in the way you intended?
• Have you noticed any changes in student performance as opposed to previous semesters?

What do your students think?

• Do the students understand the materials you're using? Do they believe they're overly simple or overly complex?
• Do the students feel there is too much reading? (See Are You Assigning Too Much Reading? Or Just Too Much Boring Reading?)
• Do students want the course materials in another format? (Ex. if you're using a print book, do they want an ebook? Or vice versa)

Lang, J.M. (2009, April 30). Choosing and using textbooks. Retrieved from https://www.chronicle.com/article/ChoosingUsing-Textbooks/44820

MacPhail, T. (2019, January 28). Are you assigning too much reading? Or just too much boring reading? Retrieved from https://chroniclevitae.com/news/2156-are-you-assigning-too-much-reading-or-just-too-much-boring-reading?cid=VTEVPMSED1

McKee, D. (2014, May 30). Choosing the right textbooks for a class [Blog post]. Retrieved from http://teachbetter.co/blog/2014/05/30/choosing-textbooks/

Mukundan, J. & Ahour, T. (2010). A Review of Textbook Evaluation Checklists across Four Decades (1970 – 2008). In B. Tomlinson & H. Masuhara (Eds.), Research for materials development in language learning: Evidence for best practice (pp. 336-352). London, UK: Continuum International Publishing Group. [Link to ebook chapter]

Weimer, M. (2013, July 24). Choosing and using textbooks [Blog post]. Retrieved from https://www.facultyfocus.com/articles/teaching-professor-blog/choosing-and-using-textbooks/