Rachel McClurg
Editor-in-Chief
The English department recently completed its very own textbook that is now available for use in the EG 101 classes. The textbook is inexpensive when compared to the previous EG 101 book “Writing Matters”, and it is specifically tailored to contain the exact information that the professors cover without having any unnecessary content.
The writers of the new 101 book include English faculty: Andrea McCaffree-Wallace, Xavia Dryden, Andy Jones and Sheryl LeSage.
“The content is specific to what we teach in our English classes,” Associate Professor of English Andrea McCaffree-Wallace said. “Most textbooks are just made for a subject in general, but with our textbook we actually surveyed our faculty on what they use the textbook for, so we were able to cater the textbook to our specific curriculum.”
Textbooks can be a very costly part of being a college student, so offering a class where the textbook is inexpensive can help ease the financial strain.
“Before the [Open Education Resource] OER textbook, our English students paid almost $200 a semester for their textbooks, now students only pay $40 a semester for their textbooks, so cost was actually our number one issue in making the OER,” McCaffree-Wallace said.
Not only is the textbook more cost-effective, it also provides an opportunity for the students to really engage in the material they are being taught.
“They made it so we would be able to mark up the papers [and] they made bigger margins for us to write in them,” freshman Kylee Breon said.
Availability is another benefit of the textbook that was discussed. The professors are able to make sure that each of their students have the book, because of how available it is at the Butler bookstore.
“Our faculty and our students have been overwhelmingly very happy with it because it means that students have their textbooks from day 1,” McCaffree-Wallace said. “I’ve had students that don’t have their books until like week 8 or week 9, so I think the students are happy because they have their textbooks and then the teachers are happy because the students have their books.”
Some students also feel that the textbook can be more beneficial than the previous one because of how much they are able to write notes and highlight in them.
“We read and annotate from it almost everyday,” Breon said. “I do feel like I am benefiting from this textbook. I am able to mark it up without having the fear of not getting my money back, [and] I am able to understand what I am reading through annotating.”
In addition to the 101 textbook, a 102 textbook is in the works and should be available to use in the EG 102 classes in spring 2019.