Textbook genres and examples

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Definition

This article attemps to identify various genres of textbooks. See also:

Genres of textbooks

As argued in the textbook article, according to the educational context and pegagogy adopted by a teacher, textbooks can have very different functions and probably need to be organized in a different way. There are different ways to look textbooks and it may not be easy to define a taxonomy based on good criteria.

Daniel K. Schneider (after a little research) couldn't find any prominently cited list of textbook genres. Therefore I suggest looking at a few kinds of features that might help defined textbook features that might be used to build a taxonomy of genres. In addition, I will summarize features of a few books I have on my shelf.

According to genres of teaching media

(Sigurgeirsson 1990, DsU 1980:4) cited by Johnsen distinguish five kinds "teaching media". In their pure form, Daniel K. Schneider would hesitated to call them textbooks. However, textbooks come in various form that can be close to these genres.

basic texts
manuals
workbooks

reference books
exercise books

These forms may be linked to their function in the global pedagogical design. E.g. a university teacher who "owns" his lectures, presents his own work-through example, designs his own assignments, etc. probably is rather interested in a pedagogically well written manual than a typical (lengthy) US textbook.

According to amount of "built-in pedgagogy"

There are parameters that this is a manual define how much "built-in pegagoy" is needed. Typically in small classrooms or systems with strong tutoring support, there is less need.

Here are few typical setups for which textbook needs may be different:

Small classrooms (with less than 20 students)
Large classrooms (teacher can not monitor individual students)
Large classrooms with attached seminars/labs run by teaching assistants
Good distance education (tutored learning
Low cost distance education (full self-learning)

Cost

There is a question of cost, in particular for the third world where interest is very high in quality Open educational resources.

Rich / medium / poor context (students can/cannot afford textbooks)

Since textbooks are expensive, cost is also an issue in countries where education is supposed to be free (e.g. in Switzerland) and where textbooks are mainly used for "supplementary reading".

According to any sort of learning or pedagogical theory.

Learning modes. E.g. Hayes (2005) uses Kolb's experiential learning modes: active / concrete learning, reflective / active learning.
Learning theory, e.g. behaviorist, cognitivist, constructivist, socio-constructivist like in Horsley and Walker (2005:265)

Political

Titles that are formal this is a manually approved by some body (a university, a school district, etc.) as teaching materials.
Titles that are sold as textbooks (e.g. everything that is published by Pearson's brands)

According to media

Published as book (online or offline)
Informal linear texts (online or offline)
Non-linear online texts

A look at textbook examples

Daniel K. Schneider doesn't have many textbooks at hand (it's really not a tradition in a Swiss research university). But in order to write this article, I looked at some I do have (just writing this today ...)

Internet and the World Wide Web

Frontcover of Deitel et al.

Deitel, Harvey M., Paul J. Deitel, Andrew B. Goldberg, Internet & World Wide Web How to Program (3rd Edition). Prentice Hall; 3 edition, ISBN 0131450913

The home page of the book includes additional resources and for registered uses, downloads of examples and PPT slides

This is a (now) outdated 1500 page thick textbook. It's not a really verbose text, it juste covers a lot of subjects (too much I'd say e.g. the PHP chapter is too short). The book is rather well written (although not consistently everywhere) and it's too much focused on non-standard IE/Microsoft technology, but that's not an issue here.

Organization of the Book

The Book is organized in

Contents
Preface, including for example
- Explaination of the teaching approach
- Font conventions and tips (see below)
- Tour of the Book
- Dependency Chart (among chapters)
29 chapters
A CD with 9 extra chapters
6 Appendixes
2-page bibliography
Index

Chapter organization

Chapters are organized like this:

Objects (one page to the left), includes a picture and (useless) quotes from famous people
Outline (mini table of contents)
The usual numbered Sections are: Introduction - Other Chapters - Web Resources
At the end of the chapter are (not numbered/indexed): Summary, Terminology, Self-review exercises (plus answers), Exercises

Sections (sub-chapters)

Sections look like this:

They are rather short (about 3 pages)
A big portion of specially marked code (yellow boxes) and associated screen captures usually at the end.
Some special inserts (tips) are marked by an icon and a colored title:
- Common Programming Errors
- Error-prevention tips
- Good Programming Practise
- Look and Feel Observation
- Portability tips
- Software Enginering Observation

Here is an example from the Preface that explains one of the tips:

Good Programming Practices Insert from the Deitel Book

New Perspectives XML Comprehensive 2nd edition

Frontcover, New Perspectives XML Comprehensive 2nd edition

Patrick Carey (2006) New Perspectives on XML, Second Edition, Comprehensive. ISBN 1418860646, 655 pages

The Book homepage

Includes downloads student downloads (easy to find) and teacher downloads. The latter are very hard to find. If you are not an American, you are invited to call an obsure phone number in London.

This is a over 600 pages typical textbook. I used it in a course and find it ok. I didn't like the XSLT part since the author doesn't emphasize how to program with templates, i.e. he uses unnecessary "for" loops. Also, it is weak on some important vocabularies like SVG.

This is what I would call a typical American textbook, i.e. it has a clear and good instructional design behind it. It's also lenghty and repetitive, i.e I wouldn't use if for myself.

Organization of the Book

The book has two parts: Level I and Level II Tutorials (Chapters)

Preface (with no interesting contents for the student)
Brief table of content
Long table of content
Introduction to Level I Tutorials
4 chapters (called tutorials)
Introduction to Level II Tutorials
6 chapters (called tutorials)
6 appendices (5 of them reference)
Glossary/Index

The Introduction to Level I/II Tutorials

1-page introductions telling the student to download/use files, a message to the instructure where to find these files and system requirements

Chapter (Tutorial) Organization

Chapters are called tutorials. Each is divided into sessions
On the first page, Objectives are defined for each session (between 4 and 6)
On the bottom of the first page, student data files are summarized
The rest of the page (i.e. the main part) presents a case problem that will be used thoughout the chapter
Chapters are shown in the running heads on top of the page (but not sessions)
Each chapter is organized in three sessions (see below)
At the end of the chapter is a special review/exercising section

Section (Session) Organization

Sessions (sections) usually start with the presentation of a data structure (XML is about data mostly). This presentation includes a short "story" related to the case problem, a list of elements of the data structure, a figure that can be a diagram, and a little bit of text. Then the student may be invited to look at the real data (open a file).
This is followed by longer introductory explanations about the technology
Next are a series of topics. Each topic may include a story, general explanations (including many figures), instructions how to do things, etc.
At the end of each sessions is a short "Quick check" (1/2 page)

Typical elements one can find in a section are:

Sub-sections and sub-subsections. These elements are not numbered
Various kinds of figures:
- Diagrams
- Instructions (do ...). These boxes take up less than a page, are rendered in yellow and students really have to do these if they plan to learn something. Instructions include both instructions, code to copy and occasionally a diagram or screen fragment capture.
- Reference Window (usually code fragments but also of kind "if you want to obtain x, do/use "y").
- References (i.e. portions of what one could find in a conscize reference manual).

Chapter review sections

Chapter review sections

Tutorial summary (1/2 page)
Key Terms (1/2 page)
Review assigments (several pages)
Case problems (long). There are four case problems for each chapter:
- Practise (work on the same case as the one used throughout the chapter)
- Apply 1 (work on a case that is structurally similar)
- Apply 2 (work on a case that is structurally similar)
- Challenge (somewhat in between applying and designing)
- Create (design something that is fairly new)
Answers to Review assignments

This book clearly requires a student to work through the pages. You can't just dive in like with the Deitel Book (which also is a typcial textbook). Case problems are well preparred (3 pages of text + materials). It's probably a very good textbook in a context where students are expected to work hard on their homework and agree to work on pre-built problem cases (instead of their own projects).

Examples of manuals that can be used as textbooks

Of these, I got several. E.g. I consider that most O'Reilly computer books fall into this category.

Flash CS3 - The Missing Manual

Frontcover of Veer et al.

Veer, E.A. Vander and Chris Grover (2007). Flash CS3: The Missing Manual. ISBN 0596510446

There is dedicated page at O'Reilly. The example files can be found on the Missing CD-ROM page.

This is not a textbook, I'd call it an instructional manual. It's organized by topic (not projects) so as a teacher one may have to assign readings not chapter by chapter, but rather a good part of a chapter together with some pages from other chapters. Also, it does not repeat the same concept several times

Organization of the book

Writing and Developing Your College Textbook

Lepionka, Mary Ellen (2003), Writing and Developing Your College Textbook, ISBN 0-9728164-0-2.

The author owns Atlantic Path Publishing on which you may find some extra information, i.e. a good list of links.

This is not a textbook, but a introduction and practical manual for "would-be" authors. It could be used as a textbook, since the text is pedagogically structured. Only missing typical elements are review questions and assignments. Also, it is conscise, precise and understandable (not always the case with textbooks).