Scott Freeman reflects on Codon’s Learning’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, it’s 2024 and I’ve just written a digital textbook replacement. Why did I wade back into this type of work? It started when I heard Codon’s co-founder and CEO say something radical about the company: “We don’t just focus on faculty. We focus on students.”
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. This is true for all students, but disproportionately improves learning outcomes for marginalized students. High-structure does DEI, and Codon does high structure. Supporting equity in student outcomes is possibly the most important thing we can do as educators.
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.
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 — a novel, fully customizable digital textbook replacement. Readiness Readings complete the Codon ecosystem: a unique introductory biology courseware that improves student learning outcomes and has the power to reduce inequities. I’m so proud to be a part of this team.
Over the coming months, I’ll be on a tour around the country with the team to kick off a workshop series to help faculty design high-structure courses. We’ll discuss some pivotal research studies alongside fun DIY (do-it-yourself) sessions building a course module in the Codon Learning platform. Join us if you can.
Sincerely,
Scott