Full disclosure — I am wayyyyy behind. That being said, I am going to catch up because I love this class.

The reading this week (ch 4 and 5) got me thinking a lot about books. Wornock says to use books and being that this week is also all about being student centered, I am struggling with these two things as I design my online summer class. Here’s why…

In noncredit programs we cannot require students to purchase books. We provide everything, whether that is a loaned paper book while in class or free online resources. I love that, but it does take a little bit more creativity on my end if I want to use a book for an online class. Now, of course there are fully online books, but students cannot write in them and annotate and so on. Research shows that students comprehend more from printed books than they do reading online and, frankly, so do I. So, then I think about the free novel I could give them. We purchased many new books with a grant last year and we have the ability to give away books to students. Maybe I should do that. But the books are 300 pages and the class is 6 weeks long and online. Is that asking too much? It feels like it. I do not want my students to be completely overwhelmed and I don’t want to be overwhelmed by their overwhelm and I don’t want to be the one overwhelming them. You get my drift.

So, maybe articles. But, then it’s not books. Do I short-change them by not assigning a book? I don’t think so, at least in this particular scenario. If I am thinking about my average student who may not yet have strong digital literacy, and I am asking that person to complete an advanced English class online in 6 weeks…maybe I need to be okay with articles and recognize that will be the best for them in this particular case. And, maybe I let go of books for now. 

There was much more going on in the readings this week, but this is what I thought most about, and still feel like I need to consider more before making a final decision!