GOING BEYOND
THE TEXTBOOK
Why Use a Textbook
- The textbook
gives a sense of direction to both the teacher and the student
- It gives
parents an idea about what content students learn and are exposed to
- It is rather
difficult for teachers to prepare materials for all the classes they teach
- It saves the
teacher time and money as well
- It protects
students from unskillful or untrained teachers’ deficiencies
- It guarantees
equity between students throughout the nation
- It reflects
education standards set forth by the ministry and policy makers
- It
standardizes the teaching practices regardless of the teachers’ training
backgrounds
- It constitutes
a helpful aid when designing tests
- It can serve as a tool for professional
development and as data for small-scale research projects
Negative Effects of Heavy Reliance on the Textbook
- Ritual and
mechanical teaching
- Fossilized and
static knowledge
- Teacher
parrots textbook instructions
- Inability to
develop professionally
- Teacher loses
confidence in his/her teaching capacities
- Teacher
becomes irresponsible
How to
Go Beyond the Textbook Using Open Educational Resources
The
textbooks are useful tools for teaching and learning, but if they show
inadequate materials, procedures, activities or tasks, teachers need to adapt
them. Teachers
are, thus, called upon to create alternative educational resources for
students, which can be time-consuming and potentially expensive. Open
Educational Resources (OER) are free resources that can supplement teaching
and learning needs.
Once you have
found a potential open educational resource for your course, evaluate it
carefully before sharing it with students. First, be sure that it aligns with
learning objectives and, then, determine if the copyright / license allows the
resource to be modified or shared. When in doubt, ask colleagues for their
opinion of the resource.
Here are
some tips for introducing active learning activities to your students by using
Open Educational Resources (OER) in your courses.
- Keep your course
objectives in mind
- Identify activities and
resources you currently use to create key learning moments
- Look for activities or
resources that will enhance the learning experience
- Provide clear guidelines
for students on assigned resources and activities
- Help students realize why
resources and assigned activities are not just “busy work”
- Whenever possible select
resources and activities that all of your students can access
- If multiple resources or
activities are available, let students choose the option that fits them
best
- Consider incorporating
student-generated content for future classes
How to Go
Beyond the Textbook
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1. SIMPLIFY: Make material more
accessible
1.1. Select chunks rather than do every page and
every word on every page
1.2. Shorten compositions/dialogues or break them into processes to work on in a number of stages
1.3. Separate activities embedded into ne another
1.4. Demonstrate and give examples instead of
complex instructions
2. REPLACE AND REORGANIZE: Substitute task/exercise with another to promote integration of skills and smooth
progression of skill development
2.1. Substitute “straight” texts with a “Jigsaw”
2.2. Replace individual composition topic writing by
guided process writing with definable stages
2.3. Change drills into open-ended interactive
tasks, role-play, problem- solving, information gap…
2.4. Integrate new ideas, moving from controlled to
creative activities
3. SUPPLEMENT: Add material from other sources or of your own
3.1. Include games and fun activities to stimulate
social competence in English
3.2. Design pre-reading warm-ups and other
preparatory activities
3.3. Use realia and visuals to furnish
content background
3.4. Provide and add activities that target a
problem ignored in the text
4. EXTEND/ Enrich the exercise/task by exploring students’
background and resources and by exploiting content related to their realities
4.1. Focus on content before going into the
linguistic aspects of a dialogue/reading/listening passage
4.2. Use culture specific information as
a springboard for considering native country custom
4.3. Present some grammar points inductively before
turning to explanations
5. OMIT: Quit the exercise in question when it lacks relevance or is otherwise inappropriate
5.1. Quit exercises with little relevance to the
skill being practiced
5.2. Omit exercises which can be completed mechanically
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Evaluating
Open Education Resources
The following rubrics represent an evaluation system for objects found
within Open Education Resources. An
object could include images, applets, lessons, units, assessments and more. For
the purpose of this evaluation, any component that can exist as a stand-alone
qualifies as an object.
TASK
Score each rubric using the following five scores that describe levels of potential
quality, usefulness, or alignment to the syllabus:
3: Superior
2: Strong
1: Limited
0: Very Weak/None
N/A: Rubric
Not Applicable
RUBRIC
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3
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2
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1
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0
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N/A
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Degree of
Alignment to Syllabus
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Quality of
Explanation of the Subject Matter
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Utility of
Materials Designed to Support Teaching
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Quality of Assessment
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Quality of Technological Interactivity
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Quality of
Instructional and Practice Exercises
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Opportunities for Deeper Learning
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Rubrics for Evaluating Open Education Resource (OER) Objects
Open
Educational Resources
