inaccurate course title

[ajs1976a]

I'm in a class where the title of the class seems to be inaccurate borderline deceptive.  The class title is physical security but the book used in the class is Introduction to Security.  Its kind of like taking Molecular Bio or Organic Chem and finding your class using a Gen Bio or Gen Chem book.  I will wait to see what direction the projects take the class.  I have had others where there wasn't a book that was a good fit and they made it work.  I was just looking forward to covering new material and not a rehash of general concepts that have been covered in my other classes.

[jsd]

Is it "Introduction to Security" by Robert Fischer, Edward Halibozek? Isn't that a physical security book?

[ajs1976a]

Different book. One chapter is called Physical Security. There are also chapters on Information Security and Homeland Security.

[cookderosa]

I'm in a class where the title of the class seems to be inaccurate borderline deceptive.  The class title is physical security but the book used in the class is Introduction to Security.  Its kind of like taking Molecular Bio or Organic Chem and finding your class using a Gen Bio or Gen Chem book.  I will wait to see what direction the projects take the class.  I have had others where there wasn't a book that was a good fit and they made it work.  I was just looking forward to covering new material and not a rehash of general concepts that have been covered in my other classes.

So is the class title deceptive, or does the text simply not line up well?

I'm wondering if this teacher picked the book title or if it was ordered by someone else for the class? If the teacher wasn't hired when the book order needed to be made, it's possible that this was ordered as opposed to being selected by this teacher.

I suggest this because back when I chaired a dept, book orders were due well in advance- I've ordered texts and assigned them to sections LONG before teachers were hired. Sometimes 6-8 months before.

[sanantone]

I got to choose my books, and I was informed that I would be teaching the class less than two months in advance. If it's a canned course, then the instructor doesn't have a choice.

[bluebooger]

is there not a syllabus ?

[cookderosa]

I got to choose my books, and I was informed that I would be teaching the class less than two months in advance. If it's a canned course, then the instructor doesn't have a choice.

Did your school have a bookstore where the students could use financial aid or were they responsible for obtaining the book themselves from wherever they like?

[sanantone]

I got to choose my books, and I was informed that I would be teaching the class less than two months in advance. If it's a canned course, then the instructor doesn't have a choice.

Did your school have a bookstore where the students could use financial aid or were they responsible for obtaining the book themselves from wherever they like?

Students were expected to use their refund checks to purchase books. That's the way I purchased most of my books. I was never able to use financial aid directly unless the course materials were included in the tuition.

[cookderosa]

I got to choose my books, and I was informed that I would be teaching the class less than two months in advance. If it's a canned course, then the instructor doesn't have a choice.

Did your school have a bookstore where the students could use financial aid or were they responsible for obtaining the book themselves from wherever they like?

Students were expected to use their refund checks to purchase books. That's the way I purchased most of my books. I was never able to use financial aid directly unless the course materials were included in the tuition.

It doesn't matter- but I was just curious and asked because when I had to place my bookstore orders, it was based around the access of federal financial aid funds - not the start date of a course.
In a college that participates in federal financial aid (like a community college or state university) purchases of textbooks and course codes often happen BEFORE class begins and before distribution of funds, because a refund isn't processed until the FA census date- which is always after classes have started. It would be impossible to use a refund for books in that system.

I'm sure the reason you could select your student's book title so close to the start date is that you were selecting the "titles" vs the bookstore making a physical purchase for shelving. (thus they could buy their book from anyone)

[sanantone]

I got to choose my books, and I was informed that I would be teaching the class less than two months in advance. If it's a canned course, then the instructor doesn't have a choice.

Did your school have a bookstore where the students could use financial aid or were they responsible for obtaining the book themselves from wherever they like?

Students were expected to use their refund checks to purchase books. That's the way I purchased most of my books. I was never able to use financial aid directly unless the course materials were included in the tuition.

It doesn't matter- but I was just curious and asked because when I had to place my bookstore orders, it was based around the access of federal financial aid funds - not the start date of a course.  
In a college that participates in federal financial aid (like a community college or state university)  purchases of textbooks and course codes often happen BEFORE class begins and before distribution of funds, because a refund isn't processed until the FA census date- which is always after classes have started.  It would be impossible to use a refund for books in that system.

I'm sure the reason you could select your student's book title so close to the start date is that you were selecting the "titles" vs the bookstore making a physical purchase for shelving.  (thus they could buy their book from anyone)

I've learned that schools operate differently. I attended several colleges that disbursed financial aid 10 days before classes started, so I had my refund direct deposited before the beginning of the semester. I also had one school that didn't disburse financial aid until a couple of weeks after classes started. 

This was an upper level penology course, so it wasn't going to have generic textbooks anyway. Most corrections books are written for introductory classes. Physical security is not a course that's offered at a lot of colleges, and there aren't going to be many students taking it. I'd expect that there aren't many college textbooks out there, and a professor would likely have to assign a professional book for reading.