What happens when you ask students to write their own textbook? A lot! Four of them reflected on writing their chapter for the second edition of this book.
What thoughts to you want to share on the cost of textbooks, and OER?
Our class discussions on the reasons for creating our own textbook extended beyond “topics you can’t find elsewhere” or “peer-to-peer teaching,” and also touched on the financial issues. “The cost of textbooks are ridiculously high and it has become a burden to many students who cannot afford paying such prices,” says Jenny. Serena agrees: “It is bizarre how for one semester you have to pay an outrageous price and then never use the book again or sell it for a tenth of the price you paid for it.”
Yet students understand that authors need compensation for their labor. Eva says that “While I understand that authors have put their blood, sweat, and tears into their work so it’s fair to receive monetary compensation back, I don’t understand why the price of textbooks exceeds students’ income.”
What was it like to be part of this project as a student?
Of course you learn Korean history when you take a Korean history course, but “being able to choose our own topic made this project so fun,” says Serena. (Yes, you can have fun with a history course.)
Jenny feels the work “was rewarding as I felt accomplished for all work I had done.”
While Eva was initially intimidated by the prospect of writing a piece that would be published online, “I slowly warmed up to the idea, especially as I became more invested in my subject as the semester went on.” And now she is a published author!
Kaya, a first-year student, reflects on the process as “full of failed ideas and lots of revisions, but it was an overall huge learning experience…I was also encouraged to step out of my comfort zone and accept a challenge that, after hard work, led to a result even better than I could have imagined.”
What are your hopes for this textbook?
Kaya hopes “that the textbook can be used as an easily accessible and retainable resource to students and that they can learn something new and develop a different perspective.”
Jenny has similar thoughts: “My hopes is that people would find the textbook and my chapter useful or beneficial for anything, whether it’s for light reading or a starting place for their research.”
Eva hopes her chapter “sparks interest in the subject of religion in Korean history, opening up more narratives within the subject.”
Serena thinks back to using the first edition of the book as a student in the course: “Having the student textbook was so useful because it was made by a student so everything is understandable, unlike history books. They are also so much shorter and include so many pictures so the reader does not get bored.”
What topics would you like to see covered in future editions?
Eva “would like to see more narratives about historical figures in future editions, be it well-known individuals or hidden ones,” maybe one to add to her chapter on shamanism during the Japanese occupation?
“Other South Korean presidents, and more about the political system in Korea, which is different from the United States,” says Jenny, continuing on the theme of her chapter on Park Chung-hee.
Serena is still thinking about North Korea, and “would like to see maybe a about the Korean demilitarized zone and stories about people who have escaped North Korea.”
Anything else?
Eva has some final encouraging words for all you readers out there: “There’s so much more to uncover in Korean history, so don’t be afraid to question and do your own research on subjects.”
