6 Textbook adoptions and desk copies
How did you decide on whether or not to include a required course text? What’s the procedure/timeline for textbook adoptions and desk copies?
ES: Primarily, we need to ask whether the course material is accessible — will students be able to understand the language, the concepts? Or will they require a supplemental text to help them understand the primary material for the week? In all honesty, I approach choosing course texts as I approach choosing primary and secondary sources for an essay. Each week has a topic, from which I present a thesis. The texts for that week should support the thesis for that lecture, and offer students an opportunity to expand their knowledge on their topic.
EG: My course text decision was Roland Barthes’ Mythologies, and it was largely based on the desire to have a semiotic analysis assignment. The assignment was mostly a success, but I think “Rhetoric of the Image” would have done the work. In the future, I would either avoid textbooks altogether, or aim for an explanatory handbook or overview, as Emily says, that I could assign at multiple points.
Ordering Textbooks: Procedure for ECS Instructors as of 2020-2021
You will need to work with the Campus Bookstore to submit a course adoption request. These are technically due mid-summer, but given the lateness of fellowship placements can be made later, particularly for easily locatable texts (like Mythologies).
Email the course materials buyer with the info for your course (i.e., code, number of sections, term, projected, enrolment), and text (i.e., full title, ISBN, publisher, URL, recommended/required status).
Let Angie know when you place your order, so she can plan desk copies for you and the TAs!
EG: You may also want to think about copyright and fair dealing policies when deciding on textbooks and selected PDF readings. McMaster’s policy, based on the Canadian Copyright Act, allows “short excerpts” to be included in syllabi and distributed to students.