Can a professor refuse to introduce any textbook for a course?

Question

In a technical course, our professor refused to introduce any textbook. He officially stated (included in the course syllabus) that all the course content will be discussed in the class, and cover all questions in the final exam.

I think this is a trick to bring the students to the class instead of relying on self-study.

I do not have problem with this method, as I regularly attend the class, but it would be easier to have a textbook.

My question: can a professor do this? Isn't it the essential right of students to have appropriate textbooks for each course?

Answer 1

There is no "right to have a textbook". Students do have a right to pick a different professor, or a different major, if they want. You should assume that the lack of a textbook for the course means that the instructor has evaluated existing texts as not appropriate.

Answer 2

This actually sounds good! Whenever I met professors like this, I'd look forward to his/her lectures. Most of the time, they have good confidence, experience, and mastery of the subject and can pull off very systematic lectures and discussions. I would perhaps try to see this as a very positive sign and start appreciate the professor.

As for "trick" to get students to attend. What most of us merely want is to have our teaching done in an effective manner (though "effectiveness" can be subjective, and would need to be optimized to fulfill both students and professor. But the professor is the driving force of the teaching process, as a student I'd respect the decision.) If coming to class is the most effective, then we'll make students come to class. There is no trick, for we don't get paid by how many show up in the class. We just want to see you and address your questions.

Think another way, this is a person who would rather deal with more potential questions and varied reactions in class than stuffing you a text and ask you to survive yourself. It's likely a good sign. (Or, he/she may have copied the whole text into the lecture and read each slide out loud, though I tend to think most people are good first.)

As for the text-deprived, they can always get their own text. The syllabus should have provided enough headlines for you to match with the book's contents page, allowing you to make an informed decision when buying or borrowing textbooks. Also, a search for syllabus with similar course title will also get you ample amounts of sample syllabi, most of which probably did suggest a text.

Additionally, just because there isn't an assigned textbook doesn't mean the professor will not recommend any reference book. Perhaps later into the semester you can ask if there are any desktop references or web resources he/she will recommend.

Lastly, some personal experience: good textbooks come by more often due to chance than effort. Sometimes the authors may use different terminology, have different inclusion or organization of the topics, use different software so the examples don't apply to the students, or everything is good but they haven't updated the book for 10+ years, etc. Sometimes there is just not a suitable text.

Answer 3

No, there is no mandate.

I taught an introductory course last semester and deliberately decided to not use any textbooks at all -- only journal articles that the students could download from the library database. This was because I wanted the students to learn what my field was through the most recent, cutting-edge materials available.

My university (I believe it is a federal rule) says that I must list all the required textbook titles and prices before the beginning of the term so that the students can shop classes based on price. But there is no requirement to have textbooks and the fact that my class was listed as $0 for required texts was a bonus.

Answer 4

I can't say I see how it is required that a Professor prescribes a text. I have had lots of classes where the only material was that given in lectures.

However, if you want some additional clarification, I would email the Professor and politely inquire if there are any references he considers relevant to the course. I cannot imagine a reasonable academic would be unwilling to advise you - his notes almost certainly draw from somewhere. In my experience, the biggest problem is that the course material is often concocted from many somewheres over many years. Still, I am sure the course leader could refer you to something, even if it is a list of chapters spread over multiple books.

The thing is, if the Professor has not a set a text, this a sign that focus of the course (read assessment) will be based on the class material only. Hence you risk going down a rabbit hole working off other material, and I would try and be sure that the stuff you look up is in the scope of the lectures.

Answer 5

As an extreme case, I'll mention the Moore method, developed for mathematics courses. In a class taught according to this method, students are given only basic information (definitions, etc) and are expected to derive all the standard results in the subject for themselves (either individually or collectively).

In the traditional version of this method, not only is there no assigned textbook, students are forbidden from referring to any textbooks or other resources on the subject, for the duration of the term.

This teaching method is certainly controversial (no need to post comments saying you think it sounds terrible) but I think most institutions would consider it a legitimate approach if a professor chose to adopt it.

As I've mentioned in a few recent answers, professors generally have wide latitude in making pedagogical decisions for the courses they teach, and institutions tend to avoid creating regulations that would constrain that latitude.

Answer 6

I don't see why should there be such a right. In most places, only things that have been presented on the lecture can be examined. If you are present at the lecture, you take your notes and study from them.

If you miss a lecture, then (first it's your problem and second) you either ask a mate to have his notes copied, or come to the professor, explain your reasons (should be something serious: illness or good family reasons, as always) and ask for references that cover the lecture you missed. The prof (in most places) need not give any, but usually they will.

Answer 7

I think this varies from one type of school to another, so I'll give the picture at my school, which is a community college in California. Every course is required to have extensive curriculum information that is approved by a curriculum committee, is maintained in a database, and is publicly available. This is important for us because our students transfer to four-year schools, and four-year schools need data so they can decide what courses to accept from us. Part of the required curriculum data is a list of one or more textbooks, and there are specific requirements, e.g., at least one of the texts listed must have been published within the last 5 years. This 5-year requirement is imposed on us by our accrediting body, which is very authoritarian and loves to micromanage. One can have a list like text A or B or C. It could be A and B and C. It could be A and (B or C).

However, this is only a requirement on the info that goes into the curriculum database. If I decide to use a different text, or no text, and nobody in my department has any objections, then nobody will know or care. When we change textbooks, for example, the change always happens first, and only later, when we get around to revising the curriculum data, is it reflected there. (This may be as much as 6 years later.)

I think the basic idea, which is reasonable, is that listing texts indicates very precisely what type of course it will be, including breadth, depth, audience, and level of intellectual sophistication.

Note that there is no wide consensus on whether textbook selection falls within the sphere of academic freedom. For example, the AAUP's 1940 statement on academic freedom is silent on textbooks. In a large department, for a course that is taught by a lot of people, textbook selection is usually a formal and somewhat political process. This is partly for practical and economic reasons (e.g., not wanting students to get stuck with a book that they can't sell back), but also often for reasons of control. E.g., tenured faculty may feel that part-timers should hew closely to a certain prescribed structure.

Answer 8

There is no such requirement that I know of, and there should not be. The professor's job is to teach the material. If they can do it without a book, great!

I taught intro to statistics as a graduate student, and I could not find a book that I really liked. They were too wordy with real life examples, and they provided formulas with little or no intuitive explanation. So, I knew that I was going to rely on my notes from intro to statistics class (which was very good and almost entirely lecture based) that I took myself as a student. Given, that my class would be entirely based on the class lecture and the notes, I felt bad requiring a $100+ book, which would hardly be used.

I "recommended" a book stating clearly that it is not required and I was not super impressed with it.

Many people thanked me for not using a book in their evaluations.

Answer 9

Damned if you do, damned if you don't. If you can't find a good text, and pick a mediocre one that doesn't help, the students won't like you wasting their money. If you don't specify a text in this case, the students think they're being tricked into attending class.

To answer your question, profs are generally free to do as they choose with respect to texts. In response to your feelings on the matter, if you work out the math, in the top US private schools, you're paying about $200/lecture that you choose to miss. The pedagogical approach the profs tend to take work best if you're in class. If you don't mind missing out on that, and don't mind paying for lectures you're not attending, and can accept that you might well grade lower than your class-attending peers, then your approach to class attendance works well for you.

Answer 10

I have taught at universities which did not require textbooks, universities which did require a textbook but did not prescribe which one, and universities which prescribed the textbook. Perhaps the concern is that instructors in future courses should be able to presume student who completed a specific course has been exposed to a specific curriculum. Ideally, this should be true independently of the university or the instructor. In practice, it is not always so.