On Monday, February 05, 2001, 1:54 PM -0600 LeAne Rutherford <lrutherf@d.umn.edu> wrote:

Hi, Tim,

I took a crack at the first segment of the article. I will run a

hardcopy up to you around 3. If you aren't there, I will just leave it

in your departmental mailbox or slip it under your door. Please feel

free to slice and dice, add or subtract.

I see the article as bipartite--Here's all the stuff (go to the Web site

and see for yourselves) and here's how to pick from it. Would you

write about 700 words on the picking part?

I am also sending this e-mail so you can cut and paste.

How Much Is Too Much?

Tips on Selecting the Right "Some" from among the Overwhelming "Many"

by

Tim Roufs, Department of Sociology/Anthropology

Editor's Note: Tim Roufs, veteran and expert in using technology as a

teaching tool, has been teaching a resource-rich course in Prehistoric

Cultures. If you are interested in his considerable experience in

making the right choices from among the many options, you may visit his

site on the topic of selecting materials that are available with texts

at http://www.d.umn.edu/~troufs/howmuch.html . The links in the site

will provide you with the actual resources which students can use and

will flesh out this skeletal article. Both Tim's site and his article

will provide insights into figuring out whether the myriad materials are

overkill or opportunity and guidance how to make choices.

Textbooks are increasingly being packaged with traditional and high-tech

support materials. In fact, occasionally too many materials are

available for practical use in the classroom. For example, the text and

text resources available for Prehistoric Cultures include a choice of

three versions of the textbook in addition to online Web text resources.

These resources include

Text Chapter Resources (hypercontents, flashcards, quizzes, internet

projects, study guide and the Thompson Learning Web Tutor. The Web

Tutor is a great study tool and course management tool with which to

take the physical anthropology course beyond classroom boundaries.

ANTHROPOLOGYonline from the Wadsworth Anthropology Resource Center

( news from the American Anthropological Association and the Texas A & M

site, text resources, anthropology surfing and surfing lessons, search

engines, career center, and forum)

Forum

Author! Author!

Infotracr College Edition-a virtual library accessing thousands of

searchable full-length articles

CD-ROM: Virtual Laboratories for Physical Anthropology with its own

set of online Web resources

Other Supplementary Materials including anthropology URLs, lab

manuals, videos, transparency acetates, slides, test items, CD-ROM in

PowerPoint, test creators and customizers, and delivery systems.

 

Wait! There's more. In addition to the text resources, hundreds of

pages tailor-made for the course may also be accessed from the top of

the page for which you have the URL. There items are alphabetized by

subject, A-Z. Each item and topic covered in the course has a separate

Web page. For example, Darwin, Goodall, Chimpanzees, Neanderthals,

Cro-Magnon, Piltdown...each

has a separate course Web page.

Furthermore, at the top of this same page, pop-down menus offer access

to main topics and areas of the course. Another frequently accessed

site for Prehistoric Cultures is the Class Site Map.

This is an abundance of riches, to say the least. But with blessings

there are burdens: picking some from among the overwhelming many.

......

LeAne Rutherford

Instructional Development Service

Bohannon 125

University of Minnesota Duluth

10 University Drive

Duluth, MN 55812

(218) 726-6207

The waste basket is a writer's best friend.

--Isaac Singer

The delete key is a writer's best friend.

--L. Rutherford