Table of Contents

Section 3: Instructional Materials and Resources Utilized

Section 3 Instructional Materials and Resources ObjectivesSection 3 Instructional Materials and Resources Examples
3.1 The instructor provides students with adequate time, notice, and options (when possible) to acquire course materials, including textbooks ordered through campus processes per federal guidelines.

The instructor provides instructions in the syllabus or elsewhere in the course to acquire course materials including textbooks, and other types of external resources. This information is released to students, as appropriate, through emails/notifications using class rosters available to faculty or announcements via Canvas to help in effective preparation for the classes.

  • Are course materials provided in the course catalog or registration system in advance?
  • Do course materials include both Open Educational Resources (e.g., MERLOT) and external materials?
  • Are “last minute” material changes and/or auxiliary materials communicated with enough lead time before instruction begins?
3.2 Syllabus lists whether textbooks and materials are required or recommended.

The instructor separates the materials and labels them as either required or recommended. Supplemental resources and optional content are clearly labeled and placed at the bottom of course pages.

  • Does the instructor state the specific edition of the textbook that is required?
  • Are students able to clearly identify what materials are required and what are recommended?
3.3 (CORE) The instructor articulates the purpose of all materials as to how they are related to the course and module learning objectives.

For required and recommended materials, there are brief statements as to the value/purpose in meeting student learning objectives/outcome(s). If external links/websites are used, the links should be self-evident, or a short description of the specific link needs to be provided instead of posting a general link for students to explore. Consider using the “Transparent Assignment Design ” template as it makes learning more explicit for students.

  • Are all links in the course clearly labeled and self-evident?
  • Does the instructor explain how the readings will support the SLOs/course topics?
3.4 (CORE) There is a variety of instructional materials that include diverse perspectives.

Materials may include diverse racial, cultural, social, and/or global perspectives, providing for discussion and appreciation of diversity, equity, and inclusion goals at CSU campus.

  • Is there diversity in authors' backgrounds, as appropriate?
  • Are there multiple perspectives represented from scholars in the field?
3.5 (CORE) There is a variety of instructional material types that lead to more UDL/access and student engagement, while not overly relying on one content type such as text.

Material types include PowerPoint, videos, audio, text, and/or websites.

  • Are there journal articles and external websites?
  • Are there podcasts or any other audio files?
  • Does the instructor use visuals such as infographics or images?
3.6 Modeling academic integrity, the instructor appropriately cites all resources and materials used throughout the course.

Course resources and materials include text, images, tables, videos, audio, and websites. In addition to including the citation, when possible, include a direct link to the source.

  • Does the instructor cite all course resources that are not instructor developed by including a link when appropriate and/or the citation?
  • Does the instructor include a citation for images?