Thanks to all who replied to last weeks topic. "What do you think about phasing out textbooks in an online course." Though the sample size was small and perhaps biased toward the online environment it was helpful to read your ideas, with most commenting that is was a good idea. At each of our monthly teacher meeting the subject comes up in some way or another. Many teachers are comfortable with the conversion, citing economics and efficiency as reasons. Others argue on the behalf of our students parents who have communicated a desire for having textbooks for the classes we teach. This could be a response from their own personal educational experiences or their tactile relationship to the written word. The discussion often becomes one of marketing, how do we make the parents comfortable with the decision to move away from textbooks. We did actually make some headway in this matter during the meeting as several promising strategies were discussed.
Producing and displaying reference materials that can be acquired by parents if desired. In addition the text in most cases can be printed and then read. Programs are also available that will read the text which can be helpful to certain students.
I have worked hard over the last several weeks to expand my findings and resources on the web by utilizing more diverse search engines and have been rewarded with a greater depth and variety of supplemental information for my students. This week I added net Trekker to my repertoire and immediately put it to work for me. While putting together a presentation for my biology class I use net Trekker to search for information on simple animals and the evolutionary trends in animals. It was very helpful in providing interesting and valuable links. This will be a tremendous asset for my science classes.
Once again I would like to thank you all for your input and I hope your finding these tools and useful and applicable as I am.
A cool, simple bio app of spreadsheets is population dynamics. I used it in my land ecology classes. The students were able to be a more visual sense of how an unmanaged population (albiet saved from any disease and starvation, etc.) can grow. I had put and appropriate exponential equation in with a small initial population (we varied that, too) and then just increased the number of years in the initial column. It also tickled the fancy of a few students to see the corresponding graph. It was a great lead in to our wildlife management unit.
ReplyDeleteI was also impressed with NetTrekker. In regards to your question about moving away from an actual textbook... I think that given our current economy this idea may start to take hold in more school districts. I think it makes more sense for a school district to invest in technology than a very expensive textbook that will become outdated in a few years. The same can be said for some technology, but the schools and district need to do appropriate research to be sure that they are purchasing the right technology that will have longevity in their district. My World Languages boss for my district is considering not buying textbooks next year when we are up for textbook adoption. She has considered putting the money towards a laptop and lcd projector for all language teachers. It will be interesting to see how schools and other administrators in our district react to this plan.
ReplyDeleteI'm sorry I missed out on your textbook discussion, Terry. I have lots of opinions myself, regarding the issue. When Louie put our first two chapters online, I really struggled. I am one of those pathetics who has to have the highlighter in one hand and the text in the other. I simply had a hell of a time comprehending the flow of Chapter 1 and 2 when it was online. I much prefer having it in my hands now. Of course, if it's a question of whether or not to have a textbook at all, then I'd say heck no. There are many more ways to teach material and make it relevant. Again, I like our textbook just fine, but like Melissa said, it will be completely outdated, including the numerous websites mentioned.
ReplyDeleteI, too, am trying to include NetTrekker on a regular basis. I hate spending a ton of time searching endlessly for teaching resources. I haven't worked enough with the search engines - too overwhelming and time consuming for me - but I hope to.
I think some ideas like the Kindle will assist in this as well - and allow for highlighting etc. Also Diigo will let you highlight.
ReplyDeleteSo many good things going on.