Whether students love them, hate them or use them as door-stoppers, course packets along with other supplemental materials provide a way for teachers to instruct their classes and enhance student education.
Having a semester's worth of reading and information neatly bound up into one booklet makes a student's load much lighter when heading off to the library or walking from class to class. For many, having the single book makes schoolwork more manageable than having to juggle various textbooks and individual print outs.
"I actually like them more," first-year College student Jon Borror said. "They're more convenient and when studying, everything is right there to look at."
Although prices for what appear to be copied pages with a flimsy plastic binding seem steep, students must weigh the alternative of having to purchase an expensive textbook in place of their current academic materials.
"They are expensive, but if that is the only book for a class that I have to purchase then it isn't that bad," first-year College student Mollie Evans said.
When it comes down to countless hours and dollars to pay for printing, having the work already compiled is a plus.
"I feel like these books are expensive, but I don't know if it is worth it to print everything out on your own," first-year College student Emily Thomas said.
While the decision to create a course packet lies with the instructor, History Prof. Tico Braun said in his experience, he has not handled any of the technicalities of copying and incorporating royalties into the prices. The University handles the compilation of course packets upon the request of the professor, and the local printing services deal with charging students an adequate price to cover gratuities and materials.
When asked about the specific formula for pricing course packets at the beginning of the semester, the manager of The Copy Shop store manager declined to comment.
For some professors, course packets are not just assigned to a class as a primary reading source but rather as an addition to the previously assigned booklist. French Linguistics Prof. Gladys Saunders assigns extra material in a booklet due to a lack of material that lies within the small number of textbooks tailored for her less-mainstream classes.
"The text itself doesn't give enough information," Saunders said," so I made a supplement for the students."
Finding few applicable published pieces appropriate to assign students, Saunders makes a substantial compilation of excerpts for students to read.
"There are often no published books on the subject," Saunders said. "If there were books made tailored to my class, I would use them, but this works too. I have a preference for real books."
On the other hand, several professors have jumped on the technological bandwagon in communicating with students. Many have begun using Toolkit to provide their students with necessary reading materials for class instead of offering a course packet each semester.
"The last course packet I used was 10 years ago," Biology Prof. Michael Wormington said. "Everything I put in there I now just post on Toolkit, and students can print and read as they like. It is easier to update with corrections or revisions, and I can change things whenever I want."
Using the University's online resources gives professors the advantage of reviving stagnant material as the semester goes on rather than constantly having to make announcements about changes to the readings.
"I think it is important to be able to make revisions," Wormington said. "It is an issue for certain departments here to do this on Toolkit. You can progressively incorporate revisions after the course begins. Once you make a course packet before the course begins, you are locked."
Wormington also pointed out the duality of Toolkit's services: students have the choice of printing an item off and reading a hardcopy or they can view an assignment from their computers conveniently at any time.
Toolkit is not the only technological avenue professors take to provide materials to their students. Some, like Braun, also utilize e-mails to send insightful articles that will enhance the subject matter of the next discussion or lecture.
Many professors use the Internet to make supplemental information available to students that is not necessarily required for class but useful to look over nonetheless.
Wormington posts links to relevant science-related Web sites even if he does not expect students to read them before the next time his class meets.
As with any great feat of technology, there are always imperfections in the distribution of materials to students.
"The only issue I have with Toolkit is formatting -- I have to convert everything to PDF so students can print it," Wormington said. "Many professors will put stuff up as a PowerPoint and that creates problems with using Macs."
Despite the proliferation of technological tools, some professors, like Saunders, prefer to rely on the bounded pages of books in teaching their students.
"I wouldn't want to go through putting everything I use in class online," Saunders said. "My students like books better."
Even though reading material is made readily available to students in a variety of different media, it is still impossible to guarantee students will read all of the assignments.
"As a rule of thumb, you don't have to read everything because it is so dense," second-year Education student Megan Hidy said.
Regardless, chances are the material assigned in course packets or online will always be read by some students.
"I believe there is one student in a class who will always do all of the reading," second-year College student Theresa Nguyen said. "That is one student out of the entire class though."
Whether students prefer to get their material from course packets, textbooks or Toolkit, or choose not to read it at all, these supplements serve as methods for professors to educate and spark the interest of their students.
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