On the topic of course materials
All of the materials except for lecture handouts and any supplemental instruction aids I use for the course are typically assigned by corporate office here at my institution. On one occasion they have eliminated a perfectly decent textbook for a class that requires one and decided that a chapter of another textbook would suffice for a 6 week course. As a result student had no source of information to rely on outside of my lecture handouts and their own notes. Textbooks are necessary for an integration of textual with visual information that facilitates learning. I cannot imagine how a course as complex as pharmacology can survive without a good quality textbook. So, while having academic freedom in selecting topics is nice, in reality you are bound by constraints of the learning materials the corporate office deems appropriate, even though in your professional judgment they are inadequate.
Helen,
This is a common problem in this field. The central office or corporate makes decisions about instructional resources and the professional in the field is not consulted. In situations like this I try to prepare handouts that will support my students along with internet resources but they do not replace a well done text as you say. Make our job even harder for sure.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
