In the beginning....

Hello everyone!  I hope that summer is treating everyone well and that you are all finding some time to relax.

The primary purpose of this blog is to document and detail the process of turning my American Government and Politics course into a textbook free course.  Hopefully we can create a trail of breadcrumbs that future dare devils who choose to try this path can use to save some time and learn some tricks early on to help in their journey.  I am not yet sure if I will be able to provide you with anything useful but here's hoping.  ; )

It is the beginning of July now and I have to be honest and say that I have had very little time to get prepped for the course.  I would say that I'm in the planning stages at this point.  I have been reading a bit on what other instructors have done in their classrooms when going textbook free and have been making notes about what I feel might work for me.  One thing that I keep reminding myself of is that not only do the information, activities and assessments need to be a good fit for me and my teaching style, they also need to be a good fit for our students here at Sandburg.  Things began to become more clear for me when I started working with that in mind.

In terms of researching how to construct the course I found it very helpful to use some of the resources that Linda Lee and the FTLC folks have been sending out, many of them are resources I'm not sure I would have found without them.  I have also been following a blog- http://www.changinghighereducation.com/ that I find both helpful and interesting. 

One thing I would caution people about is information overload.  I think that we are all passionate about our disciplines and therefore we want to create the best courses with the best materials possible for our students.  In pursuit of that goal we can easily get bogged down in searching for "the perfect" activity or film or resource.  As with any course I think we need to remember that there will be trial and error when going to a new method of delivery.  With this in mind I have been trying to focus on taking things that I already use in the classroom and adding to them when necessary and subtracting when it is clear that the material or activity is not something that will work with the new pedagogy. There is no need to totally reinvent the wheel.  : )

I am fortunate enough to teach in a discipline that has an endless variety of up to the minute information. I use a variety of different online tools for my students normally which makes getting rid of my textbook a bit easier.  Sites like Merlot also help a great deal by providing a place where you can quickly search for discipline and topic specific tools that can easily be incorporated.  I have also found that the professional organizations attached to my discipline areas have been helpful as well.  The American Political Science Association has a great deal of materials designed by professionals in the discipline that are geared toward helping with the creation of new and innovative teaching approaches.  My guess is that many of you would have the same experience with the professional organizations attached to your discipline area.

In addition to making sure I have the semester planned out in advance I am also creating what I am calling a resource book that will be available in the classroom for students to use anytime.  It will include various pieces of helpful information, including tip on how to research topics and where to find solid information.

One thing that I am extra excited about it the opportunity to teach students not just about my discipline areas but also about what good information is and how to find it.  I think that by going textbook free we have an exciting opportunity to foster critical thinking skills in newer and deeper ways. 

That's all for now.  The next blog will detail more of the specific steps I have taken to put things together and I am sure will also detail the troubles I've had along the way. 

Thanks for stopping in!

Lara