Scott Freeman describes why he wrote Codon’s new introductory biology textbook replacement
By Scott Freeman (University of Washington)
When I started working on textbooks in 1996, my goal was to help change the way introductory biology is taught. But after 20,000 hours and 14 years of working on that project, I walked away. I’d given up on the idea that textbooks can be agents of change.
The reason is simple: Textbooks are written for faculty, not for students, and I was tired of trying to change that. I started to devote all of my time and energy to teaching and doing research on student learning instead.
Now, so many years later, I’ve just written a digital textbook replacement. Why did I wade back into this type of work? The Codon Learning platform.
It only took about 15 minutes with the platform to convince me that Codon really is radically different. Its design is guided by:
Research in the cognitive sciences on the importance of spaced studying, metacognition, and self-testing. Using Codon teaches students how to learn effectively.
Discipline-based education research showing that high-structure courses lead to strong performance gains.
Backward course design, which is considered best-practice by most experts, including the National Academies. Specifically, every reading, assessment item, and exercise in Codon is aligned to a lesson-level learning objective (LO). With LOs as guideposts, students don’t have to struggle to understand what they’re supposed to learn. Codon’s learning objectives are derived from the NSF consensus study Nationally endorsed learning objectives to improve course design in introductory biology recently published in PLOS One.
When I was introduced to Codon, the only missing piece of the platform was a content resource. So I led the development of Readiness Readings. Readiness Readings complete the Codon ecosystem: an evidence-based introductory biology courseware that enhances student study skills and approachable readings to help underprepared students to prepare effectively and participate actively in class. I’m so proud to be a part of this team.
Sincerely,
Scott