Introduction to Psychology: The Full Noba Collection
I am planning to use this text for an Introduction to Psychology as a Natural Science course and feel that it is comparatively thorough to the major topics I would normally cover to a more traditional text. For example, the major units/chapters are Psychology as a Science, Biological Bases to Behavior, Sensation and Perception, Development, Cognition and Language, Learning and Memory, Personality, Psychological Disorders, Motivation, and Well-being. You'll notice that there is no unit on Stress and Coping but these topics are covered under Well-being. The units are then divided into subtopics that you can see before reading the chapter which I find is really convenient because it serves as an outline to the reader instead of in a traditional text where there are subheadings but you may not get an overview of the subheadings. You may find that some of the subtopics may not go into as much detail as a traditional text and provide more of an overview though the introductory concepts that are most relevant are clear and won't overwhelm the reader with information overload. That being said, I felt like the content will be sufficient and workable in addition to lecture material outside of the text or additional readings you can use to supplement some of the topics you may want to go more in depth with. There are sometimes videos embedded in the reading that clarify concepts (i.e. animations of action potentials and neurotransmitter activity at the synapse) and that are also currently relevant instead of appearing to be outdated. Starting with the full collection is beneficial because you can customize the text to take out topics you may not have time for. After each section, there is a convenient glossary of terms, list of references, quiz, and outside resources which sometimes includes videos. You can also 'search' for terms if the reader would like to look up a term not covered or highlighted in the glossary. I also find the search box very useful when trying to look up Author references within the text.
In my reading, I did not find anything that was inaccurate.
The content seems up to date though I would like to see even more current research published within the last 5 years. This is a challenge with all texts. All of the topics are authored by experts in the field that provide at least a handful of references published within the last decade. I do not find this text behind in terms of using relevant research when compared to other traditional texts though I feel like there could be some improvement on this end. There are also references that are historic and supported well within the field.
The terminology and accessible prose is a strength for the text. The clarity also seems consistent across the chapters.
The text does not seem to have any issues in terms of general framework and organization or terminology.
The text does not need overwhelming meaning that there are enormous blocks of texts without subheadings. You have the option and flexibility to organize any of the major modules in the order you prefer to teach them. You also have the option of deleting any of the modules although you do not have the option of deleting or reorganizing some of the subtopics within the module. I would find this useful though you can always choose to assign specific subtopics as readings and skip over others.
The subtopics within each module are fixed. When you read each major module, there is a column to the right which shows the subtopics and authors within each module which I find is very helpful to the reader so they know what is coming next as they are reading. However, I wish I had the option of reorganizing some of the subtopics to different modules (i.e. putting eyewitness testimony and memory biases under 'Learning and Memory' instead of Sensation and Perception, or taking 'Social Neuroscience' from 'Learning and Memory' and putting it under 'Social Psychology' or even 'Psychology as a Science')
I did not find any issues with the interface or navigation problems. The reader does need to be prompted that the text is presented in an 'online blog fashion' so that when they click on a module/chapter, they will be sent to that module/chapter and it's subtopics and will need to click the 'back' button to get to the other chapters if needed. There were no distortion in images or graphs and they appeared clearly on an online format.
I did not find any glaring grammatical errors.
Some of the modules attempted to take a culturally relevant perspective with the way information was presented (Time and Culture under 'Sensation and Perception) but like with all texts, I think there could be improvement especially in the beginning modules (for example, the History of Psychology module: presenting Psychologists of Color and Psychologists that are Women that have made significant impacts in the field) or at least attempting cultural relevance with every subtopic. I would've also liked to see a more updated and thorough discussion within the Gender chapter of diverse gender identities.
The full NOBA collection is a great place to start and the way it is displayed on the screen to the reader doesn't seem as overwhelming as a traditional text. My only concerns are ones that I have of printed texts already- cultural relevancy and revisions to include current research in the field that will be interesting and applicable to students. Otherwise, I feel prepared with integrate it into my course. I would recommend this to instructors that are willing to also put in the work to supplement the text with lecture material or other readings if they feel that some of the topics do not go into as much depth as they prefer. However, I do not feel like this text is lacking in the major topics that are covered in an Introductory Psychology course.