Bad Feelings in Latin American Literature & Culture/6652

Purpose: to help other instructors teaching the same course

Common Course ID:   SPAN 6652
CSU Instructor Open Textbook Adoption Portrait

Abstract: These open texts are being utilized in a literature course for undergraduate or graduate students by Dr. Esteban Córdoba at CSUSB. These open texts provide students with a greater understanding of affect theory,  which can then be used in examining Latin American literature and culture. The main motivation to adopt open texts was to save students money. Most student access the open texts directly on the Canvas page or via hyperlinks on the course syllabus.  

Course Title and Number:  Bad Feelings in Latin American Literature & Culture  SPAN 6652
Brief Description of course highlights:  Advanced study of important contemporary aspects of Spanish-American culture and literature. May be taken two times for six units as topics change. Formerly 652A. Materials fee required.

Student population:  As this is an graduate seminar course, all the students were Spanish graduate students.

Learning or student outcomes:
1. Identify and discuss major authors, themes, theoretical frameworks in affect theory, as well as recognize the aesthetic, political, and ethical issues that arise in relation to it.
2. Illustrate and examine the affective dimension in twentieth and twenty- first century Latin American literature and film.
3. Develop critical and analytical readings skills through close reading and analysis of the texts, as well as visual and audiovisual materials, and communication skills in contribution to group discussion.
4. Provide argumentative analyses and interpretations of the works studied.
5.  Produce an interdisciplinary final research paper/video essay which demonstrates a deep and critical understanding of the course’s subject matter. 

Key challenges faced and how resolved:  Maintaining active student engagement as this was an online syncrhonous course. The way I resolved this was by being hands-on and available throughout the semester. 

Textbook or OER/Low cost Title: 

Brief Description: These are theoretical essays

Please provide a link to the resource
Ceciel Meiborg, Deleuze and the Passions -  https://tile.loc.gov/storage-services/master/gdc/gdcebookspublic/20/20/39/48/15/2020394815/2020394815.pdf

Scott Bede, Affective disorders: emotion in colonial and postcolonial literature
https://tile.loc.gov/storage-services/master/gdc/gdcebookspublic/20/20/71/86/20/2020718620/2020718620.pdf

Herman Westernik, A dark trace: Sigmund Freud on the sense of guilt https://tile.loc.gov/storage-services/master/gdc/gdcebookspublic/20/20/71/81/19/2020718119/2020718119.pdf

Authors:  Lauren Berlant; Teresa Brennan; Sara Ahmed

Student access:  Course management system (CANVAS),

Provide the cost savings from that of a traditional textbook.  These texts on average would have cost anywhere from $20.00 to $40.00 (each one).

License:  CC BY-NC-ND.

OER/Low Cost Adoption Process

Provide an explanation or what motivated you to use this textbook or OER/Low Cost option.  I wanted to save students money and improve their retention and success in the course, for the cost of books/textbooks is a rather big financial burden on them.

How did you find and select the open textbook for this course? I spent hours browsing a myriad of websites until I found ones that I thought would be an ideal fit for my class. Having identified an OER text, I continued to search for other versions of it until I found the one with the best quality.

Sharing Best Practices: I think that patience and flexibility are necessary when embarking on OER texts or Low-Cost materials. Dedicate the time to do the necessary research of these materials and be willing to adapt your planned/perspective readings based on what you were able to find.  

Describe any key challenges you experienced, how they were resolved  and lessons learned. Besides the time spent searching for the texts online, I didn’t really experience other challenges. Sometimes an OER text would not have a properly legible font but that was easily fixable.  

Instructor Name:  Esteban Córdoba
Assistant Professor,  World Languages and Literatures at California State University, San Bernardino.  

Please provide a link to your university page.
https://www.csusb.edu/profile/esteban.cordobaThis

Please describe the courses you teach.  I usually teach the following course:
SPAN 3302, SPAN 3303, SPAN 3309, SPAN 3310
SPAN 4409,
SPAN 5503, SPAN 5507
SPAN 6630, SPAN 6653

Describe your teaching philosophy and any research interests related to your discipline or teaching.  My teaching philosophy is based on two principles: create an atmosphere propitious and safe to learning, in which critical thinking is the cornerstone, and understand the needs and goals of the students, as well as their learning styles, in order to craft relevant ways of introducing content. In this regard, I am convinced the communicative approach to language teaching, which facilitates the creation of learning environments where culture and language are mutually embedded, is an effective and empowering method that proves to be successful in non-language classes too.