I am another individual who doesn?t use textbooks in my classes. Instead, I cobble together a reading list from professional primary and secondary literature, portions of textbooks (we pay the appropriate fees to the publishers), encyclopedia entries, IPCC reports, etc. Even then, I frequently find that I can?t find appropriate readings. Many times review papers are too advanced for my students, or focus on the recent literature to the exclusion of fundamental information that was obtained decades ago. Often, I think the latter is what undergraduates need the most.
I have often thought of filling the gap by writing my own materials. These would be like stand-alone textbook chapters, or like review papers written for an undergraduate audience. A good example would be the chapters in the Crawley Plant Ecology book (ISBN-10: 0632036397). The principal reason that I haven?t written any such chapters is that it would take a LOT of work to write one, and that work wouldn?t be recognized/rewarded by my University unless it was published. Since I don?t know of any places to publish papers of this kind, the need to publish makes me spend time on other sorts of projects instead. I am wondering if there are others like me who feel that if appropriate peer-reviewed venues existed for publication of textbook chapters that they would write them? I could imagine a sizable body of such becoming available for use on the internet, much as with TIEE. These could be used in a modular fashion to construct courses tailored to individual needs. Are there others out there who would be interested in this model of writing and course preparation? Max Taub Quoting Andrew Park <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>: > Hi Ecologgers, > > Responses are invited to the following thoughts, especially from > experienced teachers: > > I teach a 2nd year course in basic Ecology at an undergraduate > university. After four years of teaching this course, I am being > drawn to the following conclusions: > > [1] ? The textbook is awful. Not only that, but all the textbooks I have > looked at that are aimed at teaching an overview of Ecology seem to be > chronically faulted: > * There is simply too much stuff in them. My course is one semester > long, but > even if it were a full year course, I could probably cover less than 50% > of > this book. > > ** The books are grossly overpriced. Some students are unable to afford them, > and since the publisher is constantly coming out with slightly > altered ?new? > editions, the resale price is low. > > *** The material they cover and their overall emphasis, appears to be poorly > selected and framed given the tenor of current public discourse on > ecology > and environment. > > **** Finally, I believe that I can do this stuff better myself. > Although there > are commonalities among all universities, the sociocultural > backgrounds of > students and the bioregional contexts in which we work differ greatly. > How can a mass-produced textbook ever hope to capture that? > > [2] ? Students today are different. Numerous research studies and even more > anecdotal evidence suggest that numerical skills, basic literacy, the > ability to organize information into coherent arguments, and engagement > with the natural world are all worse than they were (even) a decade > ago. > And yet textbooks speak to students as though they know how to read a > graph, as though they are sophisticated reasoners, and perhaps most > importantly, as though they already understand the difference between > salamanders and lizards, spiders and insects. NEWSFLASH ? THEY DON?T. > > [3] Because of [1] and [2], I conclude that I need to take a radically > different approach to teaching this basic course: > > * The course needs to be longer, probably split into ?Basic? and ?Advanced? > Semesters > > ** A module on the basic variety of life needs to be built into the course. > > *** The course has to contain materials relevant to modern environmental > discourse. For example, discussions of energy transfer and primary > productivity cannot really be taught without reference to the human > appropriation of primary productivity. > > **** At the same time, the traditional technical basis for teaching ecology > cannot be abandoned. the question is, how to make it as > engaging as some > of the more sexy, issue-based stuff. > > ***** Finally I believe that I may throw away the textbook, along > with most of > the powerpoints, the WEB-CT site and a lot of the other technological > paraphernalia that often seems to distract as much as it informs. > > I WOULD LIKE TO GET SOME RESPONSE TO THESE THOUGHTS FROM TEACHERS. IN > PARTICULAR: > > * Have any of you decided to chuck the required text and simply use handouts > and readings? > > ** Have you changed the ways that you teach, either to reflect our current > environmental crisis, or to reflect the preparedness of students. > > *** What, in your opinion, are the ESSENTIAL things that we have to teach in > basic Ecology courses. > > Sincerely, > > Andy Park (Biology Department, University of Winnipeg) >
