Difficult resource materials or assigned textbook?
How do you deal with a textbook or resource information that is required for the class, but is not the greatest resource for the level of student you are serving?
You can also always add information to your course. I use lecture outlines that I prepare myself and correlate the content in the outline to chapters in the textbook. This way, I can present material in a way that is conducive to learning and still use the textbook as a learning tool. While I go through the lectures, I show powerpoint slides with figures from the text to illustrate course topics.
Also, while I agree that you should be careful not to bash a textbook, every textbook has errors and occasionally misinformation. I point these out to the students so that they do not get the wrong information and so that they realize that a textbook is considered secondary literature and is not the most reliable source of information.
Hi Rachel,
This is exactly how to handle this situation, and always remember, NEVER bash a textbook in front of students.
Patricia Scales
I have dealt with this issue before. Since the students pay for the textbook, I use them during that term and make the best of it. But then I have communicated with our textbook provider to seek out other possible textbook options and in future terms was able to use a different, more effective resource.
