All Questions
25
questions
133
votes
16
answers
28k
views
Is it ethical to profit by having my students buy my textbook?
This question was suggested to me by How can I sell my text book to my students in e-book format? which asked about the practicalities but attracted many comments about the ethics. So this question is ...
- 134k
93
votes
22
answers
39k
views
What is the point of a lecture when you have a textbook?
I never really understood the point of having a course with lectures when the course has a textbook. Sometimes the subject is so high-level or specialized or so modern that the contents are changing ...
- 1,211
42
votes
12
answers
6k
views
What is the benefit of writing lecture notes for an introductory course vs using a textbook?
Background: I am a junior university staff member, and I will teach an introductory course in linear algebra for the first time in a few months.
I see that many teachers devote time to writing ...
- 47.1k
41
votes
12
answers
12k
views
Is it ethical to ask students to proofread a textbook?
I will have a draft of a new textbook ready for the fall semester. It is an engineering class.
I very much want feedback from the students concerning the quality and usefulness of the material.
What ...
- 2,172
27
votes
13
answers
10k
views
How can I encourage students to ask questions in class
In my field (as in many others), students are assigned articles or textbook chapters to be read as preparation for classes (i.e. the whole class has to read the same set of texts). I encourage my ...
- 1,676
24
votes
3
answers
3k
views
Is that a good idea to send an errata list to a professor whose class I'm currently enrolled in?
There is a professor at our school whose textbook I was using in class A (not taught by the professor). I've studied the textbook from cover to cover and have spotted about twenty typos (many of which ...
- 1,787
21
votes
10
answers
9k
views
Can a professor refuse to introduce any textbook for a course?
In a technical course, our professor refused to introduce any textbook. He officially stated (included in the course syllabus) that all the course content will be discussed in the class, and cover all ...
- 283
18
votes
2
answers
1k
views
What unforeseen dangers might exist when choosing an open access textbook for a new subject?
I must create a new module (first time to do from scratch). In the past, I've had either existing course descriptions, textbooks, etc. as a base on which to structure a module which is new for me. ...
- 23.2k
14
votes
6
answers
7k
views
My professor told us a previous version of our textbook would be okay, but has now decided that it isn't?
I currently have a class in which at the beginning of the semester, our entire class was told it would be okay to obtain a previous version of the textbook which I did because it was significantly ...
- 149
14
votes
4
answers
1k
views
Teaching with a textbook
In the past, I was only teaching graduate-level courses where I was creating the material myself. It was slides with material from various books, research papers, and my own work. Accompanied by ...
- 7,554
14
votes
3
answers
1k
views
How do you choose a textbook for a new class
I am teaching a new class next term and I need to choose a text book (or create a reading list) for it. The class is a hands on introduction to programming with MATLAB. A quick search of my library's ...
- 104k
13
votes
6
answers
8k
views
What is the purpose of textbooks?
I as a student have done various courses at my university and for each of these courses a textbook was prescribed. On the other hand, the instructor provided his notes as well. The textbook was huge (...
user62977
12
votes
4
answers
2k
views
How can I sell my text book to my students in e-book format?
I would like to be able to sell my text book to my students in e-book format. I know there is the kindle store that takes 65% of the sales price, which is in my eyes too much. Are there any e-book ...
- 253
11
votes
3
answers
985
views
Online vs hard copy, which texts are students more likely to read?
I am wondering if anyone knows of any studies that indicate whether students read online texts more or less than hard copy texts.
I am in the midst of trying to "reboot" the intro stats class I teach ...
- 331
11
votes
2
answers
620
views
Are there situations where taking an honorarium for trying a textbook on a class is acceptable behavior?
A publisher for an e-textbook is offering me an honorarium if I try it with a class. My own ethical take on this is that I would not entertain this regardless of the size of the honorarium (which I ...
- 32.5k