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GETTING STUDENTS EXCITED
ABOUT THEIR TEXTBOOKS
Posted February 4, 2003
SUMMARY
To avoid a student disconnect between their lectures and textbooks, professors can talk-up the textbook. Here, a veteran textbook author suggests ways to help students appreciate the value of their textbooks. The article is based on comments delivered on a panel at a meeting of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication. Later it appeared in the Community College Journalist, published by the Community College Journalism Association. |
By John Vivian
Unless we're excited, you and I talk about 140 words a minute. That's also the rate at which our brain can make sense of what we hear. How fast can even your slower students read? Probably 700 words a minute. Most read much faster.
I mention these numbers, 140 words a minute and 700-plus, to make a point. For learning, reading is more efficient than listening. This is not say that we should abandon lectures, but we need to recognize that our students can pick up far more from a textbook and other well-chosen readings than we can deliver in 50-minute stand-up sessions.
So how do w excite students about their textbooks?
Some years ago, Jim Lichtenberg, who was president of the Association of American Publishers' college division, issued some ideas worth repeating. Basically, Jim said we need to persuade the students from the beginning of the course that the textbook is essential. How to do this?
Explain your choice At the first class, talk about the textbook. Why did you choose it? What features do you like?
Discuss learning aids. If the textbook is a glossy college book, tell how the visuals underscore important points. If the book has boxes, explain how they fall into categories that are plainly labeled. Point to learning goals at the front of every chapter, also to review questions, in-chapter summaries, chapter wrap-ups. Sometimes a briefing on the index is helpful. Note the bibliographies, particularly if students are doing a research paper.
Talk about the author. If you know the author or have some anecdotal story about the book, share it. This helps personify the textbook for students who may see reading a "whole textbook" as a daunting -- if not overwhelming -- task. If the author has a home page, give students the web address. This helps too. Encourage students to communicate with the author. Provide a phone number or a postal or me-mail address if you have it.
Give an overview. If you chose the textbook because you like the presentation of material, the organization, tell that to the students. This helps them see an early overview that integrates the structure of your syllabus and the structure of the book. Be sure to tell students how you may be deviating from the textbook's organization and explain why.
Talk about teaching aids. If your textbook has accompanying teaching aids, tell the students so. Explain that many of their exam questions will be drawn from a nationally used text bank. This gets their attention in this age of national standards and outcome assessments -- something they come to college knowing a lot about and hold in some awe.
Preview the visuals. If the textbook has a package with PowerPoint images and perhaps a videotape with instructional support elements, explain that these are important elaborations on points that you and the textbook author will be making. Then show some visuals from the first chapter and elaborate on the points they make -- all this at the first class meeting. In short, the message is: "Listen up and also read."
Show the gee-whiz stuff. If the book has a web site, put the address in your course syllabus. Bring attention to it in class. If you use a laptop classroom or have a web-connected projector, take a few minutes to show how to get to the site and how itıs organized. This can help overcome a phobia that still hinder some students. The same with a CD-ROM. Walk the students through it.
Assign reading. Assign a chapter the first class and tell students they can expect a quiz next class. This will introduce the textbook-reading habit right away and pay dividends later.
Preview reading assignments. Devote a few minutes every class, just two or three minutes will do, to points the students will encounter in their next reading, This allows them to cast the reading in a context you find important.
Frequent quizzes. I do quizzes every class based on the previous lecture and the new reading. This keeps students focused on reviewing their notes and reading the text -- and making connections, It also paces their learning, which makes for better learning than cramming before a few big exams.
Be frank. Tell your students that you and the textbook author aren't in lockstep agreement. Promise students that you will bring their attention to places where you disagree with the author's emphasis or perspective. Don't bad-mouth the author, which only confuses students and raises questions about your judgment in choosing the text. Rather, share the rationale for your alternative views.
These bits of advice, then, are my recommendations. Please don't think of them as self-serving. Yes, I do write textbooks, but I do it because I think that they are important and that students have a lot to gain from them., albeit with gentle guidance. The message needs to be: "The book is your friend. Lean on it."
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The Society of Academic Authors invites members to comment on authoring issues:
editor@sa2.info. |
John Vivian
Vivian, a journalism professor at Winona State University, has written several college textbooks. Among them is the widely adopted Media of Mass Communication (Allyn & Bacon), now entering its seventh edition. |
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