Experimenting with No Textbook

Ditching a Textbook: An Update

The original: A Classroom Experiment: Ditching a Textbook

Conclusion?

In the future, I need to provide more guidance on evaluating and using sources (bearing in mind that the overwhelming majority of students in Political Issues are first-years). To accomplish that I may need to drop some of my own topic selections and make space for some additional workshop/consultation days, but it will be worth it.

That said, overall, the experiment was a great success. Students did indeed develop some skill in finding and using sources, and they put great effort into learning about their chosen topics. They also did a wonderful job of running class discussions focused around those topics.

Amy Cavender offers some suggestions on how to re-enact the experiment, based on what she did. I like the idea over all.

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