Customizing Content for Your Classroom
Ever feel like your course materials have you stuck in a square-peg-round-hole scenario?
You’re not alone. We’ve talked with thousands of professors who make endless accommodations to their current materials. One-size-fits-all often doesn’t fit all, causing extra work that consumes time and energy.
The solution would be customized materials…but that would also cost time and energy, right?
Actually, creating custom course materials is a lot easier than it sounds. These are a few of the most common questions we receive, and the answers to help you figure out if custom publishing is right for you.
“Is It Time-Consuming?”
No, it doesn’t have to be. In fact, customizing content is probably something you’re already doing.
If you find yourself straying from your textbook to present concepts in a way that works best for your students, you’re customizing! Custom publishing simply puts your current approach into published form.
This actually saves you time down the road, because it compiles all your materials in one place. No more need for lengthy course prep.
“What Technology Should I Use?”
Today’s students are social media savvy and accustomed to absorbing material in bite-size chunks. Since this is how they best retain information, in an ideal scenario, their course materials cater to this.
However, the educational landscape is filled with dense textbooks that don’t meet students where they’re at.
Customizing allows you to present material in the way your students like to learn. A simple and effective way to do this is by incorporating multimedia and bite-sized content.
By linking out to relevant videos, TED Talks, and other resources, you create an interactive learning experience that allows students to absorb content in numerous ways.
“What Does the Process Look Like?”
First things first: we provide you with a team.
You have a Publishing Specialist who creates a writing plan for you, checking in to guide you through the process.
A Permissions Specialist helps you navigate copyright clearance for images and other borrowed material.
A designer helps execute your vision for the cover…or provides a few options for you to choose from.
Throughout the process, you’re working 1:1 with an experienced editor. In addition, there is an entire community of Kendall Hunt authors who would love to share their experiences with you.
Long story short: you never have to navigate the process alone.
“Is customizing different from authoring?”
In customization, you don’t have to start from the ground up. You can borrow material from one of our classroom-tested publications and add your own content.
This means that even if your expertise is niche, you can still create a comprehensive title for your students.
For example, if you’re a Criminal Justice professor whose expertise is in policing and volunteering, you can write original content for those topics, and compile content from other titles to fill in the gaps.
“I’m on a time crunch…is customization still an option?”
Some customization projects can be mapped out in a single afternoon.
Here’s a sample process:
First, you might work with your editor and publishing specialist to establish a table of contents. Then, you could decide whether to include features unique to your student body. Finally, you could brainstorm which learning resources to include.
Ultimately, your timeline depends on your needs, but the process can be as simple or in-depth as you’d like it to be.
Conclusion:
If you feel like you’re stuck in a cycle of having to teach your course the “hard way,” know that the road to easier, more effective instruction is more accessible than you think.
Customization makes it possible for you to save time and provide your students with the personalized experience they need to excel.
Interested in customizing? Reach out to us! We’d love to empower you to create something amazing for your course.
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