Do I need to use a textbook?
As an instructor of a course, you have the academic freedom to choose what form of materials you want use to introduce and/ or reinforce your class content. It could be a textbook, online resources, a collection of journal articles, etc. If you are teaching a multi-section course, you should check with your department head to see if there is a recommended textbook or readings associated with the course.
In case you decide on a textbook, you might want to consider negotiating price terms with the publisher so that you can make your choice with your students in mind. You can contact your department administration and/ or the U of L Bookstore to learn about deadlines and arrange for the commercial texts of your choice.
If you wish to adopt an Open Textbook or another openly licensed resource, you might find high-quality material in one of the growing reputed OER repositories. The increasing global as well as national interest and support of Open Educational Resources (OER) has led to an astonishing growth in high-quality resources in all academic disciplines.
OER not only grant free access and redistribution rights, but also give you permission to modify the materials according to your specific teaching needs. The University of Lethbridge supports the adoption and/ or adaptations of OER. Feel free to contact the Teaching Centre for more information.
If you are interesting in curating a number of different resources from multiple sources, you might want to build your own course pack. The University Copyright Office is more than happy to assist you in that.
Interesting in Adapting or Creating your own Textbook for Teaching?
Both the Library and the Teaching Centre can support you in the adoption, adaptation or creation of a Pressbooks, an open source content management system designed for creating books. It is based on WordPress, and can export content in many formats for ebooks, webbooks or print. U of L educators can request an educational version by contacting Rumi Graham and Joerdis Weilandt.
