Material Detail

The Saylor textbook is a good stand in for my online general education World History courses. It offers a ten unit introduction of World History with thematic and chronological order from the Exchanges-1700- to Modernity. The ten unit thematization is then segmented into subsequent sections which would work well with 8-16 week courses. Some ancillaries include a free self enroll w/certificate, powerpoints, (where the images are located), and quizzes. Not all the units/chapters have active links to assessments or quizzes. The creative commons license is CC 3.0 but changes with attributes from other institutions. The reading portion is segmented or chunked but difficult to ascertain what is important, i.e., no headings or call outs, though there are focus outlines offered in the beginning sections. The online text has suggested readings and links, however, the sections within the chapters are not easily identifiable. There is a noticeable lack of vocabulary and key words. Another challenge is when students will need to cite a specific page or section, as it is not easily found. When reviewing this book, I used a Macbook Chrome and noticed no accessibility issues, though not all links function within the textbook. As an immediate transitional book to OER, I recommend it for college courses with instructors who are able to modify and/or supplement learning material as needed.