How Do We Choose Effective Course Materials?

Once we are clear on our objectives, the process of gathering course materials often involves searching for and selecting textbooks, primary sources, guides, and other supplementary materials. McKeachie’s Teaching Tips offers the following suggestions for busy faculty members in the process of gathering and assessing the effectiveness of potential course materials (McKeachie, 1999, p. 13). We can:

  1. Select three to five primary materials/texts to review. Select on the basis of what colleagues have chosen in the past for this or similar courses. Also consult reviews in professional journals.
  2. Select two or three of your learning objectives and review these materials/texts to evaluate whether it will help students achieve these learning objectives.
  3. Read a chapter covering content that you know well and another chapter covering content you are less familiar with. Evaluate how well the material/text communicates key concepts and ideas in each of these chapters.

Besides conventional textbooks there are a range of other resources that we can choose from both at DePaul and externally. In this section we can find information on obtaining materials, course reserves, and creating course packs. You can review many of these materials using the same techniques that McKeachie suggests above.

Throughout and at the end of the quarter, offer students the chance to give feedback on the materials. Use that feedback to refine your selections for the next time you teach the course.


References

McKeachie, W. (1999). McKeachie's Teaching Tips: Strategies, Research, and Theory for College and University Teachers (10th ed.). Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company.


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