Okay, I'm really liking the Omrod textbook. Tiffany picks great texts. In each of her classes -- 631, the distance ed class, and now 621 -- the texts have excellently communicated potentially complex and easily confounding material. Furthermore, these texts afford rapid (more or less) reading of the material they present. In other words, I can read them relatively rapidly and understand them.
What makes Omrod's text work?
- Formatting.
The text size, the use of white space, the occasional use of graphics, all work together to motive my eyes and brain to want to read the material. Format can be a big deal for me. Use of tiny print is hard for me to read, not simply because of the size, but I have a problem with my eye muscles that make it hard for me see a single line of text (I see two rows and use glasses to fuse them into one row). Paragraphs of small text make it hard to fuse rows of sentences into single rows, which means more brain work is require to manage the physical act of reading.
White space, combined with effective use of breaking concepts into smaller, succinct paragraphs help reduce the overwhelming nature of the content. When texts try to pack too much info on a page, my brain screams, and I have to "force" myself to read. Once I get started, I'm okay, but each time I have to restart the reading of such textbooks, I have a struggle with my brain.
The use of lines to separate modules within a chapter is appreciated. It's reinforces that "we're moving on to another module". - Motivation.
Omrod's use of personal anecdotes at the beginning of the chapter motivates me to want to read the chapter. She picks excellent anecdotes that clearly introduce the concepts that will be introduced in that chapter. And she refers to them as makes sense in the chapter or in the book.
Whenever possible, she uses examples that use people -- specifically students -- to help explain or serve as evidence of concepts or principles. Use of people examples over scientific lab examples makes the material more approachable, thus inducing motivation to continue reading. - Writing Style.
Omrod's writing style is professional, yet causal enough to facilitate understanding. There's another book I'm reading "Foundations of Program Evaluation" by Shaddish, Cook and Leviton, that use the writing styles of each of the authors, and none of these authors write in an easy to understand way. It could be that the subject matter is simply so complex and multidimensional that there IS NO WAY to simplify writing about it. Or it could be that these authors are academics and have an academic writing style that uses specific evaluation vocabulary. Their writing style, combined with the 8 point font, making reading the book an excruciating experience. And a de-motivating one because I never know if I "got it". Even after we discuss in class, I still don't know if I "got" it. Moving on....
Her organization of chapter content facilitates understanding as well. The summary presents the key concepts presented in the chapter. The introductory sections clearly explain what will be presented. Listing the concepts at the top of the chapter indicates what will be learned. Each concept is introduced, explained, and has at least one example to clarify the point. She knows how to introduce concepts in a way that builds so that by the end of the module or chapter, she has successfully explained very complex ideas. Her level of detail is excellent; it does not overwhelm.
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