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“In an IS textbook you probably want something that is non-technical that has abusiness focus.”“As a lawyer a good textbook should cover pretty well the material that you want todeal with in class. It shouldn’t be too easy…”Some lecturers paid attention to the content, but the requisites were different. Someof them liked up-to-date materials; one said, “Well a good textbook hascontemporary material in it, up to date, which covers the current material and thediscipline”. Some of them like theories: “… a good general overview of all thetheories associated with the subject …” and “I think a good textbook has a strongcombination of sound theoretical basis and also one that isn’t Australian centric”.Some of them liked both theories and practice “… theory of the subject that has tobe given primary place, then of course the methods of solving the problems andapplying the theory …” Some paid attention to the language issues: “I like a textbookthat is consistent with its language, so if it repeats a concept (term) in more than onechapter”.(6) What do you expect your students to get out of reading the textbook?All the lecturers expected students to use textbooks to support their understandingof the subject, but they explained it in different ways. The following are somecomments:“Perhaps a little bit of back up to the lecture notes, filling in the blanks.”“The basic theory of the topic. The classes are very much about practical applicationof the theory.”“Understanding!”“I expect them to use the textbook as a way to increase their learning and theireducational experience.”“ A student coming to class having read the textbook is going to get more out of thelecture because they will have a basic understanding and will be in a better positionto discuss and question during the class.”(7) If you do choose a textbook, do you often choose a textbook that emphasisestheory?Lecturers had different opinions on this issue and differed mainly due to theirparticular area of study. Five lecturers gave negative answers; for example, one ofthem said, “Not generally because the theory in my subject area tends to beextremely mathematical and students can't be assumed to have that kind ofbackground”. Some lecturers believe it depends on the situation: “In someinstances” and “It depends on the complexity of the theory”. Only one lecturer gavea positive answer, which was, “Yes, yes! Of course… It’s got to have a soundtheoretical base in it but it also has to be very readable”.5.2.2 Teaching and Learning Methods(1) What teaching methods do you use in your teaching?The lecturers mostly used a combination of different teaching methods. Here aresome of their comments:“I do use a combination of… inviting questions, a small amount of discussion and…”“Everything; lectures, talking, asking questions, inviting students to speak to me anda few little jokes here and there.”“… I generally break it down into parts and so, the first section is probably about anhour of the lecture… and after that we will do some tutorial exercises and casestudies. I might have the students do presentations. It varies from week to weekdepending …”Some lecturers just gave definite answers of focusing on one method; for exampleone of the comments was, “Experiential, a lot about work, a lot of discussion work”,and another, “Certainly in terms of the amount of time they spend, most of it islaboratory based”.79