Textbooks

[HigherEd7]

Students who come to college now do not like to read or understand what they are reading. The textbooks that the publisher produces assume that college students are at a higher reading level. What do you do when students don't want to read or can't comprehend what they are reading?

[FishProf]

Quizzes on assigned reading.

[Puget]

Thought questions (short reading responses to a prompt) due in a forum before each class -- low stakes, but incentivizes reading and critical thinking about the reading.

[HigherEd7]

Thank you for the responses. I used to do quizzes at the start of the class. The students in that course hammered me pretty hard on my evaluations because they said it created anxiety issues. Depending on where you are, evaluations are very important for PNT!

[aside]

We use Canvas here.  When we had to pivot online during the pandemic I moved all my beginning-of-class reading quizzes to Canvas and allowed multiple attempts with only the highest grade counting.  This allowed the quizzes to be more formative and the effects have been significant enough to retain the practice post-pandemic.  Some students will gain the system, of course, but ultimately that's their loss.

[kaysixteen]

Cry?

[Parasaurolophus]

I only have a textbook for logic, and that's an open-source effort. I only really assign it because it has a lot of practice problems. For the rest, I assign real articles/chapters.

The reading level is one thing I just don't compromise on. Down that road, I think, madness lies. When I took over a dying colleague's courses, I discovered she was using a textbook composed of three-page excerpts from books and articles. It was awful. The students didn't really do much more of the reading, when they did they didn't understand any better (because all the context was missing), and those who were interested or keen got nothing in return for their interest and effort. So: I don't compromise on the reading.

Where I do compromise, however, is in my lectures (which focus more on explaining the reading intelligibly) and in my assessments (as in, I adjusted my baseline expectations downwards).

[Zeus Bird]

Thank you for the responses. I used to do quizzes at the start of the class. The students in that course hammered me pretty hard on my evaluations because they said it created anxiety issues. Depending on where you are, evaluations are very important for PNT!

Each professor will have to determine, based upon their level of job security, how to deal with student complaints and corresponding academic standards.  But making "anxiety" the dominant criterion for pedagogy and learning outcomes is a one-way ticket to nowhere, at least in required core classes.  Just sayin'.

[bio-nonymous]

A little anecdote:

At faculty orientation when I started my current job, the undergraduate student body president addressed all the assembled new professors. In her speech she noted (paraphrased),"We don't want to read textbooks, so don't assign readings because we won't do them. We want to learn from you-tube videos, for example, so that we can multitask and study while we are on the treadmill at the gym or listen while we are driving."

I was astonished and sad, as were some others at my table.

[Parasaurolophus]

A little anecdote:

At faculty orientation when I started my current job, the undergraduate student body president addressed all the assembled new professors. In her speech she noted (paraphrased),"We don't want to read textbooks, so don't assign readings because we won't do them. We want to learn from you-tube videos, for example, so that we can multitask and study while we are on the treadmill at the gym or listen while we are driving."

I was astonished and sad, as were some others at my table.

Oof.

[waterboy]

It's good to want.

[Ruralguy]

Some YouTube videos are pretty good, and in fact, I wish they'd watch more of them (especially for spread sheet tasks). But you generally have to be paying attention to them, especially if they are describing a specific task, or you will have to go over it 100 time when once will do.

However, I don't believe in YouTube replacing the reading in most courses. However, I do like online textbooks. 

[the_geneticist]

My thought is that if you are going to require a book, then it needs to be used substantially.  Assign readings, quizzes, problem sets, videos, etc.  Teach them how to use it to find information.

None of this "buy the big book of [baskets]" and read it on your own. 

I'm also a fan of short videos.  They are great for introducing a new concept, but most are way too superficial to really get into the materials.