Textbook

Draft

Textbook writing

Firstly, textbook writing is related to instructional design and therefore you should think in terms of some instructional design models and methods.

However, textbook writing is a specific activity and we will try to figure out a few fundamental principles here.

Objectives

There are several ways to manage objectives (each ISD model or extensions like the Kemp will tell you more). Often, advise on writing textbooks suggests to plan book chapters in terms of desired learning level outcomes.

For example, the IOWA writing assistant identifies 6 levels of emphasis based on Bloom's taxonomy of learning that we reproduce here exactly as defined in Applying your results (retrieved 17:33, 27 July 2007 (MEST)):

1. Knowledge: rote memorization, recognition, or recall of facts.
2. Comprehension: understanding what the facts mean.
3. Application: correct use of the facts, rules, or ideas.
4. Analysis: breaking down information into component parts.
5. Synthesis: combination parts to make a new whole.
6. Evaluation: judging the value or worth of information or ideas.

Depending on your objectives you may put different emphasis on each level. You then can then define objectives, activities, assessment for the book as a whole but also for each chapter.

Here is an example for Synthesis. Target students are students in educational technology. They have to prepare an e-Text about e-learning standards as an activity.

• Objective: "By the end of this section, you (as a student) will be able to design a learning object that introduces key components of e-learning standards, and in particular modeling languages.
• Activities: Make your own summary of the most important concepts you can find in articles on educational modeling languages and then design of a course module with eXe
• Assessment: The course module
• Key Words: Design, formulate, build, invent, create, compose, generate, derive, modify, develop.

Objectives then can written out at the start of chapters and/or sections and activities inserted where appropriate. Hints for self-assessment can added too.

Links

• Richard Felder's resources in scence and engineering education.

Software

See various writing tools for a longer list of tools and a discussion of various writing tool categories.

• IOWA, Instructional Objective Writing Assistant

Textbook understanding

• Conderman, Greg; Elf, Nanci (2007), What's in This Book? Engaging Students through a Textbook Exploration Activity, Reading & Writing Quarterly, v23 n1 p111-116 Jan-Mar 2007.

Textbook writing

• Mary Ellen Lepionka (2003), Writing and Developing Your College Textbook, ISBN 0-9728164-0-2
• Franklin H. Silverman (2004), Self-Publishing Textbooks and Instructional Materials, ISBN 0-9728164-3-7
• Mary Ellen Lepionka (2005), Writing and Developing College Textbook Supplements ISBN 0-9728164-1-0

Instructional objectives

• Felder, Richard M. and Rebecca Brent (1997). Objectively Speaking, Chemical Engineering Education, 31(3), 178-179 (1997). HTML reprint

• Gronlund, N.E. (1991)- How to write and use instructional objectives (4th ed.) New York, Macmillan.

An instructional design method defines how to organize the whole design process. Frequently such methods are tied to specific instructional design models who in turn are based on learning and teaching theory.