Jan 30 2008
Choosing class (online) texts
One of the many enjoyable aspects of a new semester is selecting texts to study with my classes. I have my favourites that usually find their way into specific courses I’m teaching (I can’t imagine missing the opportunity to study Hamlet with Gr. 12 students), but otherwise I try to mix it up a bit to keep courses fresh for me and, I hope, more interesting for my students. I have some terrific people to work with who indulge this passion of mine, and so there are brand new copies of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime on their way to me for my Modified Essential students. It will be a challenging text for us, but I can’t wait.
As I was carefully choosing the combination of novels, short stories, and plays that would work for each course, I realized that I have not been bringing the same depth of experience and thought to selecting online texts for students. Part of this is due to the ephemeral nature of many online texts — they are so quickly dated that I feel that I need to make my selection the day before class, rather than at the beginning of the semester. Still, it’s no excuse for selecting a text without thinking about why I’m selecting it for a particular situation.
So I’m going to work on a set of criteria for choosing an online text for students to read and interact with — say a blog. I wonder if anyone else has already created something like this? I know that there’s lots out there on finding credible information, but I’m looking for something a bit more … pedagogical here.
Here’s my first try; I imagine I’ll come back and work on this more.
- Obviously — no objectionable content.
- Is the text’s date going to be a barrier to learning? (If it’s “so ten minutes ago”, then students may not engage.)
- If it’s a website or blog — does it have the reputation of producing only quality articles?
- Is it a good example of online writing? Are hyperlinks used judiciously to enhance content? Is it easily navigated?
- Is this type of text best for what I want to teach, or am I just using it because it’s cool?
- Will it provide students a launch point for their own thinking and writing?
- Am I mindful of giving space for a diversity of voices in the class? Does the text give an interesting, perhaps overlooked perspective?
- Can I actually access it, or will the school filter block it?
- And … how could I change this so that students would select the text rather than me?
Let’s see where this takes me for now.
