Q. 1 What is
the procedure of textbook development in Pakistan? Highlight some of the flaws
in the development of AIOU textbooks.
The Education 2030 agenda restates the significance of creating chances for students to acquire a
Global Citizenship Education, which encompasses both the creation of welcoming classroom settings and the teaching of civically engaged topics. The United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has extensive knowledge in the field of quality textbook development and education. UNESCO is particularly well-versed in the areas of sustainable textbook provision, textbook revision/development, and the development of common History textbooks through either a bilateral or multilateral approach. Several international documents, such as the 1974 International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, have been ratified by states to protect freedom, equality, and nondiscrimination. RecommendationToolkit on revision/adaptation of curriculum,
school textbooks, and other learning materials to eliminate cultural,
religious, and gender-biased stereotypes is a UNESCO initiative that grew out
of the organization's ongoing work to foster a culture of peace through
education. It will help Member States achieve SDG4 by encouraging them to
provide high-quality textbooks and other educational materials that celebrate
diversity and promote global understanding. Its goal is to provide those
responsible for creating, disseminating, and using educational materials with
the knowledge and resources they need to improve the quality and relevance of
textbooks and other learning resources.
UNESCO and the Government of the Kingdom of
Saudi Arabia signed a Memorandum of Understanding on Culture of peace and
dialogue, which led to the creation of the Toolkit.
Culture, religion, and sex were selected as
central subjects because they all deal with fundamental aspects of human
variation. These potentially divisive issues are crucial to an inclusive
education and have the power to change the way schools operate. English,
French, and Arabic editions of the toolkit are produced and made accessible
online.
It is important to remember that curriculum
creation is a multi-step process. The curriculum creation process is
simplified, for instance, by the committee charged with planning, implementing,
and assessing the programme.
In Pakistan, we confront a wide range of
challenges, from political meddling to economic perils. We are unable to create
a new curriculum due to a lack of resources or an absence of understanding of
national ideology.
If we are discussing curriculum creation, then
we must also include minority concerns.
Curriculum development refers to the actions
and processes involved in creating and preparing a curriculum for use in the
classroom and as a resource for educating students and achieving national
education objectives.
Curriculum specialists from the past and present
have developed a wide range of definitions for the word "curriculum."
The primary focus and the opinions of the experts who put out these
interpretations give rise to some notable differences among them.
A runner's curriculum refers to the required
distance, or "Curriculae" in Latin. The curriculum, in this view, is
not only the required time spent in school but also the whole of the resources
available to students in the form of classrooms, computers, libraries, books,
images, online resources, and so on.
It is important to remember that every method
used in the classroom has an end goal in mind. Knowledge, growth, social
skills, and occupational competence all fall under this category. Learning
materials and the instruments used to hone these skills must be delivered in a
certain way.
Since education is a procedure involving direct
connection between educators and their pupils, it stands to reason that those
involved in the field would stick to the curriculum. The physical,
environmental, social, cultural, economic, political, and religious settings
all contribute to the context in which this encounter takes place.
Concerning matters of curriculum construction,
we need to have frank discussions. Experts in the field must be able to tell us
what topics are most important. How can we include professionals in each field
in the process of curriculum creation? These issues need a national dialogue.
Afghanistan's curriculum creation process is
struggling badly. The intervention of bureaucrats, the indifference of
instructors and professors, etc., are all factors contributing to these
problems.
The experts that sit on MOE (Ministry of
Education) curriculum development boards do not make enough use of academic
resources while updating out-of-date chapters of textbooks. They need to get
advice from experts, who will no doubt come up with creative ways to help
Afghanistan's education system adapt to changing times.
Some people may wonder, "What is
curriculum?" If I had to choose one thing that springs to me when I think
of schools, it would be curriculum. Administrations at all levels of education
rely on curricula as a means through which to impart knowledge and practical
skills to their pupils.
Unfortunately, in the context of Afghanistan,
this principle is often misinterpreted, which has a negative impact on the
quality of education that students get at schools and colleges in the country.
In Afghanistan, academic programmes are static. When asked about the curriculum
creation process in Afghanistan, I would answer it is not a static process, but
rather a dynamic exercise that must alter to accommodate the evolving needs of
our community. Curriculum development in Afghanistan remains mostly unchanging.
There are a number of problems that have prevented effective curricula from
being created. Several of these will be covered in the following paragraphs.
Issues
in curriculum development
To begin, the curriculum is antiquated and
fails to address the actual needs of the people living in Afghanistan. Our
current generation is being taught the same information that two or even three
generations before were taught, highlighting a major flaw in the educational
system.
While children in other areas of the globe are
able to acquire complex mathematics and scientific information via
activity-based learning, here in the United States, pupils are made to memorise
scientific ideas rather than absorb them naturally.
Many scientific and factual errors, for
instance, may be found in commonly used textbooks. It is unfortunate that the
people responsible for creating secondary school science and mathematics
textbooks do not pay enough attention to getting the notion of science and
facts right.
Second, it is detrimental to our educational
system because government officials are involved in creating Afghani
curriculum.
It may be argued that the present curriculum
creation process is grounded in a national strategy with specific objectives
and goals, but I do not believe that this is viable to implement nationwide.
Many families in less prosperous parts of
Afghanistan, for instance, cannot afford to send their kids to school. Due to
financial constraints, many students drop out of school.
Therefore, government officials must craft a
new educational programme for low-income pupils so that their educational woes
may be addressed.
A good starting point would be to construct
schools where children have access to after-hours study time and are taught the
fundamentals of English, Math, Science, Pashto, Dari, Islam, and comparative
studies by qualified instructors.
The third issue with Afghanistan's curriculum
development process is subpar scholarly investigation of the creation of
textbooks. We may highlight the fact that curriculum development board members
are using instructional materials chosen at will.
Admittedly, I often find that the selected
material falls short of expectations. By looking at textbooks that have been
given the stamp of approval by a national board, it is evident that no adequate
research/evaluation mechanism has been established to make changes to the
country's curricula.
As a fourth observation, it is clear that the
pedagogical expertise of educators from various institutions is not taken into
account when creating or updating academic curricula. According to the authors
of "Curriculum Creation: Theory into Practice," Daniel and Laurel
Tanner, successful curriculum development is impossible without the thoughtful
input of educators.
Teachers who participate in implementing
educational reform are more likely to embrace and implement its tenets than
their counterparts who do not. There is evidence to show that well-educated
instructors are less likely to accept modifications to school textbooks in
nations where they were not included in the curriculum creation process.
When researchers tasked with creating school
curricula lack the necessary academic expertise, the curriculum's most vital
feature—its content—suffers. Because the material in their textbooks is too
advanced for them, students resort to memorization. My argument is that our
textbooks need to include questions about real-world issues if we want to
develop students' problem-solving skills. Learners will get experience in
problem-solving under pressure by responding to such inquiries.
To
ensure that students understand the relevance of the concepts they are
learning, it is important that, while studying the notion of speed in science,
they be asked questions about real-world instances of speed like the speed of
an automobile, etc. The Ministry of Education (MOE) in Afghanistan needs to
help fix the country's educational system. The Ministry of Education (MOE)
failed to establish a curriculum that engages students in meaningful activity
and teaches them to think critically and solve problems.
Q.2 Discuss the
role of textbook publisher in development of textbook.
Everything
is broken down into manageable chunks, such chapters, sections, and
subsections. This indicates that the text is structured around the overlap of
two criteria. The first is the 2006 standards for the field. Since a rule, this
need is met adequately, as textbooks are either created by or rely heavily on
the work of specialists in the field. The second criterion is limited only by
the student's intellect. Humans have the capacity to think, yet experts in any
field often fail to see the advantages of slowing down and acknowledging their
own limitations. Students' skills may be maximised by outlining guidelines for
organising and presenting information. In 2006, the following should be
implemented as rules:
In the
realm of frameworks, the following is the rule: Ensure that your structure
never changes. Learners may use the framework as a mental road map to help them
go around the topic area. The framework need to be apparent early on to
facilitate comprehension.
Definition
of the Meaningful Names Rule: Put together an uniform naming scheme and stick
to it. Make use of appropriate jargon from your field of study. Names have a
significant role in retrieval, or the act of recalling information we have
previously stored in memory.
Limiting
It to Reasonable Sizes Do not overwhelm your audience with too much data at
once. The number of novel components should be capped at about six. Most of us
have a finite capacity for learning. This number grows when we learn more about
a certain area of study.
Power in
Rank Order An individual's understanding of the world grows as they acquire new
information. Only make references to prior content when presenting new stuff
that builds upon that prior material. Before being taught to a new subject, the
learner must demonstrate mastery of the requisite prior information. There has
to be a clear bridge between any new ideas and the previous context when
introducing anything new.
It is
the golden rule to repeat yourself. Reiterate the most crucial ideas. Examples
include the repetition of frameworks and significant hierarchies as many as
five or six times, the repetition of commonly used parts as much as three or
four times, and the possible absence of repetition for elements of lower use.
There is a formula for transferring knowledge from working memory to long-term
storage.
If you
go around to different courses, you will undoubtedly discover that most of them
use the same textbooks. This might be due to a variety of factors, such as the
skill of instructors, administrative requirements, or gaps in the curriculum.
There
are several positive outcomes associated with using textbooks in the classroom:
It is
particularly true for first-year educators because textbooks are indispensable.
Both the content of each lesson and its structure are clearly laid out.
Textbooks provide manageable chunks of study material. A textbook provides an
educator with all the necessary lesson plans and information to teach a subject
in depth. The content in a textbook series is organised logically and presents
itself in a logical progression. Textbooks provide a step-by-step guide on how
to teach a subject and when to teach it. Everything is clearly laid out and
there are no hidden agendas. Curriculum outlines and lesson plans are all
included in textbooks for easy reference by educators. Typically, the series is
updated to reflect new findings and methods of instruction. High-quality
textbooks may be invaluable learning resources. The classroom and the classroom
library may benefit from them.
Consider
the textbook as a resource for students, but not the sole resource, when
planning how you will utilise textbooks. A textbook should be used as a
resource in the classroom, not as a requirement. Feel free to alter the
textbook in any way you see fit. Read extensively beyond the scope of the
textbook. Teacher reference materials, participation at regional or national conferences,
reading professional journals, and talks with seasoned educators may all
supplement the knowledge provided in a textbook.
The front matter of your textbook is the first
thing students and teachers look at. Using a system like Pressbooks to write
your book means that the system will automatically create parts like the
copyright page and the table of contents for you. The table below shows the
usual contents and arrangement of the front matter. There are several of these
features in open textbooks, but not all of them. Avoid include anything that is
not directly related to the material you are studying.
Q.3 Explain effectiveness of textbooks and its
advantages and disadvantages in today context.
If you go around to different courses, you will
undoubtedly discover that most of them use the same textbooks. This might be
due to a variety of factors, such as the skill of instructors, administrative
requirements, or gaps in the curriculum.
A textbook is a compendium of information and
ideas relevant to a particular field of study or set of classes. This kind of
work is often authored by a group of educators who are recognised as authority
in their respective fields. Supplemental teaching resources, ideas, and
activities are provided in the form of teacher guides that accompany the
majority of textbooks.
There are several benefits to using textbooks
in the classroom. It is particularly true for first-year educators because
textbooks are indispensable. Both the content of each lesson and its structure
are clearly laid out. Textbooks provide manageable chunks of study material. A
textbook provides an educator with all the necessary lesson plans and
information to teach a subject in depth. The content in a textbook series is
organised logically and presents itself in a logical progression. Textbooks
provide a step-by-step guide on how to teach a subject and when to teach it.
Everything is clearly laid out and there are no hidden agendas. Curriculum
outlines and lesson plans are all included in textbooks for easy reference by
educators. Typically, the series is updated to reflect new findings and methods
of instruction. High-quality textbooks may be invaluable learning resources.
The classroom and the classroom library may benefit from them.
There
are textbooks that just do not seem to have a way of capturing students'
attention. Books that compile a lot of information for a lot of people often do
not go down well with pupils. Because of the sheer volume of information
presented, some students may struggle to see its application to their own life.
Use
Textbooks Wisely
There is a direct correlation between the
quality of instruction and the quality of the textbook. And keep in mind that a
textbook is simply one tool—albeit a potentially crucial one—in your teaching
toolkit. There are times when educators place too much emphasis on text books
and fail to think creatively about other possible classroom resources. There
are some educators that do not believe in a textbook-based curriculum since
their experience has shown them that many textbooks are either out of current
or do not provide enough information.
The
textbook's intended purpose is only one of several choices you, the educator,
will have to make. It is easy to be fooled by a textbook's outward excellence,
yet they have their flaws. Some of the most prevalent flaws in textbooks and
suggestions for fixing them are included in the table below.
Think of
a Textbook as a Tool
My philosophy is that textbooks are like any
other tool: they are only as effective as the person using them. Any skilled
carpenter may use a hammer to fashion either a magnificent cathedral or a
beautiful piece of furniture. Depending on who gets their hands on it, the end
product may be anything from a dilapidated hut to a wobbly seat. There are a
lot of variables to consider while deciding how to use textbooks.
Keep in mind that there is no such thing as a
flawless or comprehensive textbook. It is only one tool in your toolbox. Make
use of it as a template, a guide, or an outline.
I would like to offer a word of warning: do not
make the same error I did and rely only on one textbook to teach the whole
class. Careful and strategic usage of the textbook is required. To create
something as beautiful as an oak chest, a carpenter needs more than just a
hammer. She is free to use whatever tool she likes to construct the work of art
she envisions. It takes a lot of different tools to build a well-rounded school
curriculum, much like a well-rounded piece of furniture.
Consider
the textbook as a resource for students, but not the sole resource, when
planning how you will utilise textbooks. A textbook should be used as a
resource in the classroom, not as a requirement. Feel free to alter the
textbook in any way you see fit. Read extensively beyond the scope of the
textbook. In addition to the material provided in the textbook, instructors
should consult teacher reference books, professional publications, articles
written by experienced teachers, and participation at local, regional, or
national conferences.
Q.4 Compare
AIOU's model of textbooks publishing to any other model of textbooks
publishing.
Rule of frameworks
A framework that is similar to how our brains retain information is
shown to be effective in fostering memory and comprehension. Having a mental
road map that enables us to move inside and across the domain of the topic is
necessary before we can utilise or master the subject. The content is most
helpful for comprehension if this structure is made clear right away inside
each section or subject. The level to which a learner internalises and applies
the supplied content depends on how well they grasp that they are utilising a
framework and what that framework is.
An index or title is attached to every piece of information we
have. Important for retrieving what we have learned and memorised, these
indexes let us go back to it quickly. With each new idea, method, and piece of
information, the learner should be able to better categorise it in his or her
own mind. These terms ideally would not have to be relearned at more advanced
levels of education. Names provided by the book should be valuable in the
future, aiding in things like communicating with other professionals, referring
back to previously learned content, and staying consistent with the topic's
underlying structure. There should be one and only one name for each distinct
component of the topic domain.
Rule of manageable numbers
Most of us can
only take in so much information when we are presented with it in the form of
an outline, illustration, or example. This increases when our knowledge of a
certain topic area grows, but for brand-new information, a manageable amount
would be no more than four to six key concepts. The learner will forget the
whole outline by the time they come to the final item in a chapter outline with
twelve points. Without this rule's support in the text, even the most
conscientious student will be forced to waste time revising previously covered
content.
Rule of hierarchy
The ways in which we organise our thoughts in our heads have
hierarchical structures. The student's capacity to couple or connect fresh
stuff with that which is previously learned is used to enhance learning. The
requirements for meaningful names and controllable numbers become increasingly
important and have narrower applicability when introducing additional areas for
hierarchical comprehension. There should not be more than three tiers of
hierarchy shown at once. Lower layers should be presented just insofar as they
assist the learner grasp the breadth or relevance of the current element, the
root should already be learned, and the current element under discussion should
be clearly studied. Two more rules, Connectivity and Cohesion, are included
here to enhance this one. For there to be any kind of connection, it is
necessary to take into account what the learner already knows. The more
familiar concepts one can associate with a new one, the more chance they have
of remembering both. For a system to be cohesive, the features of newly
included components must be closely related to one another.
Rule of repetition
Only few with
exceptional innate talent are able to grasp a subject without much practise.
There is a formula for transferring knowledge from working memory to long-term
storage. This rule's application might result in as many as five or six
repetitions of frameworks and significant hierarchies, three or four
repetitions of frequently used components, and no repetitions at all for
elements of lower use. Once the first presentation has been made, it should be
repeated the next day, and then at progressively further apart intervals after
that. In a perfect world, the review questions and practise problems would be
contributing to a well planned cycle of revision.
Rules of Textbook
Development long description
To abide
by the law of frameworks, one must always keep the same basic outline. By
making this structure clear from the outset, the literature may greatly improve
its ability to enhance comprehension. Using meaningful names requires that you
develop and stick to standard titles and terminology. The names are essential
for retrieving the information we have stored in our memories. Stick to the
"law of manageable numbers," which states that new information should
be delivered in little chunks. According to the principle of hierarchy, one's
understanding of the world must continually expand upon their prior understanding.
Before being taught to a new subject, the learner must demonstrate mastery of
the requisite prior information. It is important to make clear connections
between new ideas and previous discussions when introducing them.
As a
general rule, it is a good idea to stress the same ideas over and over again.
There is a formula for transferring knowledge from working memory to long-term
storage. There are several benefits to using textbooks in the classroom. It is
particularly true for first-year educators because textbooks are indispensable.
Both the content of each lesson and its structure are clearly laid out.
Textbooks provide manageable chunks of study material. A textbook provides an
educator with all the necessary lesson plans and information to teach a subject
in depth. The content in a textbook series is organised logically and presents
itself in a logical progression.
Textbooks provide a step-by-step guide on how
to teach a subject and when to teach it. Everything is clearly laid out and
there are no hidden agendas. Curriculum outlines and lesson plans are all
included in textbooks for easy reference by educators. Typically, the series is
updated to reflect new findings and methods of instruction. High-quality
textbooks may be invaluable learning resources. The classroom and the classroom
library may benefit from them.
Q.5 Explain the
concept of structure writing. Discuss the system of textbook analysis.
Selecting
instructional goals that are both student-centered and feasible within the
confines of the classroom is a crucial component of quality education.
Educators are under a lot of pressure to use the same kinds of visual and
auditory cues, like TV, computers, and electronic games, that their pupils are
used to from their own entertainment. Due to the rapid development of personal
computers and the accessibility of authoring tools, educators are now able to
create interactive, multimedia lessons for their pupils that take advantage of
both. Since the velocity of information transmission, availability of the
Internet, and the dissemination of goals through the World Wide Web have all
increased dramatically, educators and their students now have access to an
almost inexhaustible reservoir of resource material. Furthermore, the
convenience of electronic interactions between a professor and students, and
among students, opens up new possibilities for the exchange of questions,
replies, and debates during a course. However, textbooks and other pedagogical
media such as films, videos, slides, and overhead transparencies still play a
significant role in today's classrooms.
Presentations
and exercises that have been well planned run the danger of centering on the
teacher's delivery rather than the students' learning. There is a danger that
teachers would try to cram in too much material because of the well prepared
materials they have at their disposal. Students may be tempted to take a mental
backseat due to the rapid fire lectures and the abundance of visual and aural
aids. Activities that check for comprehension and encourage students to think
critically and reflectively may help prevent this from happening too often.
Slowing down the lesson by halting at regular intervals to take questions is
another option.
Materials
for education are often divided into two types: those geared toward students
and those geared toward teachers. Tutorials, problem-solving, exploration, and
review are just some of the ways in which the student-centered approach puts
instructional resources to use. The teacher-centered approach emphasises the
use of materials for the purpose of presenting either supplemental or main
content to students. Communication and information retrieval are further
applications of IT.
The
lecture-based, textbook-based, exam-based model of education that is still
widely used today is a relic of centuries of European pedagogy. Before the
widespread availability of the printing press, a professor's principal responsibility
was to deliver a lesson based on material gleaned from a single, fragile copy
of an obscure, sometimes old book. Although some professors at Salamanca
University in the sixteenth century were concerned that textbooks might
supplant lectures, they quickly found that this was not the case. Nowadays,
practically every college-level scientific course has a corresponding textbook.
"... my years of trying to analyse teaching efficacy have led me to assume
that the textbook, more than any other part of the course, impacts student
learning," writes McKeachie (1994).
Books
are a convenient and portable way to learn about a topic since they can be read
anywhere, whenever, and at whatever pace and depth the reader choose. According
to studies, many individuals learn more effectively when they read than when
they listen to lectures, making textbooks an invaluable tool for education
(McKeachie, 1994). The pace at which you read is up to you; you may take
comprehensive notes while reading leisurely, or you can read quickly by
skimming and not reading anything that is not immediately relevant to your
goals. You may find it helpful to explain the benefits of both approaches with
your pupils.
Making
sense of the overwhelming amount of material and concepts in a scientific topic
is an essential part of every science course. Educators may help students
achieve this goal by demonstrating how to create a logical hierarchy of key
ideas and supporting details from which to draw when analysing and interpreting
data. Selecting appropriate textbooks may aid a student's comprehension of how
data and concepts might be structured.
There
are several severe constraints posed by textbooks. A well-written book may
capture and keep the attention of students, but it lacks the intrinsic
interactivity of a video or game. Students will become active readers and get
the most out of their textbook if they are encouraged to ask questions, look
for solutions within the text, and locate alternative sources to explore themes
that are not covered in the book. Texts written for a wide audience tend to be
dense, making it difficult for individual students to find the information they
need. Rarely do texts convey the finding challenges and information disarray
that current researchers face, and when they do, they often depend on
out-of-date or historical instances.
Before
World War II, science textbooks tended to be more descriptive and historical.
Modern writings are far more complicated than those of the past; they are less
historically focused, but more factually dense (Bailar, 1993). Most of the
time, we use pictures or formulas to convey ourselves. A more theoretical and
principle-based approach has emerged. Process concerns, in addition to content
or factual difficulties, are addressed in today's literature. The books are
packed with articles, sidebars, diagrams, pictures, working examples, puzzles,
and questions across a wide range of difficulty levels. As a consequence of
these shifts, book lengths have expanded by a factor of two to four during the
last several decades.
Some
writers are reverting back to descriptive and historical techniques to writing
scientific textbooks in order to meet the needs of a wide range of students,
not only those majoring in the sciences. Books written for science literacy
classes often focus on explaining important scientific concepts, introducing
readers to a manageable number of them, and drawing attention to the
interconnections between various pieces of information. Other works (such as
Trefil and Hazen, 1995) use an interdisciplinary strategy, providing a
comprehensive overview of a wide variety of scientific fields while maintaining
a consistent, cohesive structure.
The
usefulness of textbooks has been studied primarily from two perspectives: text
organisation and layout. Understanding how a reader constructs meaning from
text has been a primary focus of text structure research. The most up-to-date
research classifies the structure of scientific texts as either a proof-first
or a principle-first arrangement (Dee-Lucas and Larkin, 1990). The proof-first
methodology entails the creation of an argument or evidence that ultimately
proves a basic idea, principle, or law. A principle-first structure begins with
a clear statement of a central idea or principle, followed by the presentation
of supporting evidence. Most college scientific textbooks are authored by
scientists with limited background in teaching, which may explain the
popularity of the proof-first format in modern textbooks. They show science as
it is really done by professionals. Dee-Lucas and Larkin (1990) found, however,
that the principle-first format aids beginner readers' long-term retention and
comprehension.
The efficacy of a text may be gauged in large
part by its layout and accompanying visuals. Students with limited verbal
ability might benefit much from even the most basic multicolor line sketching.
Realistic drawings or images, although more aesthetically attractive and more
common in today's textbook market, are less effective in enhancing student
learning. Students' comprehension is also impacted by how text is laid up on a
page.