I think I agree with Ed too! The textbooks today seem to be in a competition to make every word a delightful, colorful, visual extravaganza with indestructible binding, archival ink and acid free waxed pages that will last several lifetimes. OK I am stretching it.
But it seems, that instead of the classroom experience teaching students how to extract the main points, how to reorganize the material to make effective notes, etc., the textbook people are trying to do it for them. And we all know about feeding someone fish or teaching them how to fish... Are there good textbooks (well written, up-to-date, etc) that haven't gone wild with the latest pedagogical devices? Or is it mostly intro books that suffer from this? Are there good electronic books (well written, up-to-date, and enable you to search for terms, click on hyperlinks which take you to different but related parts of the text, take notes, highlight, etc) that would be good to use? At least some textbooks include a CD/DVD with example experiments the student can run, example neurons the students can fire etc). It seems to me that an electronic book with those things built right into the pages (so one could run them if one wants) would be better (and kill less trees). In an age where we are encouraged to use multimedia, the web, smart whiteboards, clicker systems, online course management systems, and even online courses, why are textbooks still textbooks? Are the publishers dragging their feet on this one? --Mike On Mon, Mar 30, 2009 at 8:51 AM, <tay...@sandiego.edu> wrote: > I agree with Ed, does that make me a curmudgeonette? > > However, you dressing down anyone except an author won't make anything > happen. Trust me. Been there done that as a reviewer and ancillary writer. > > Annette > > Annette Kujawski Taylor, Ph.D. > Professor of Psychology > University of San Diego > 5998 Alcala Park > San Diego, CA 92110 > 619-260-4006 > tay...@sandiego.edu > > > ---- Original message ---- > >Date: Mon, 30 Mar 2009 09:42:56 -0400 > >From: "Pollak, Edward" <epol...@wcupa.edu> > >Subject: Re:[tips] Learning Styles interview > >To: "Teaching in the Psychological Sciences (TIPS)" < > tips@acsun.frostburg.edu> > > > > Michael Smith wrote, " I have heard many instances > > of (learning styles) being promoted by educators or > > those selling products (such as concept diagrams for > > visual learners). Not that concept diagrams are not > > useful, but it seems only "visual learners" can get > > the most from them by definition." > > > > I just finished dressing down a publisher's rep for > > all the boxes, concept charts, glossaries, critical > > discussions, etc., that pollute their text books. > > IMO all these things do is convince the student that > > there are gimmicks........... alternatives to > > actually studying the textbook. At the risk of > > sounding like a pedagogical Luddite, I vote to get > > rid of all that nonsense and go back to bare bones > > textbooks (like we had in the 60s)! > > > > Ed (The Aging Curmudgeon) > > > > Edward I. Pollak, Ph.D. > > Department of Psychology > > West Chester University of Pennsylvania > > http://home.comcast.net/~epollak > > Office hours: Mondays noon-2 and 3-4p.m.; Tuesdays & > > Thursdays 8-9:15a.m. & 12:30-2p.m. > > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ > > Husband, father, grandfather, biopsychologist, > > bluegrass fiddler and herpetoculturist...... in > > approximate order of importance. > > > > --- > > To make changes to your subscription contact: > > > > Bill Southerly (bsouthe...@frostburg.edu) > > --- > To make changes to your subscription contact: > > Bill Southerly (bsouthe...@frostburg.edu) > --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly (bsouthe...@frostburg.edu)
