The new textual universe
The first thing I thought when I watched these videos was, "Thank god I went to Weber." I thought this because of the small class sizes taught by people with (mostly) PhDs. It was fascinating to see how out of touch most university classrooms are with their students. I know that all of the signs they help up are true. I have personally witnesses most of them and in the case of not showing up to class, been them (I often drank too much as an undergrad, but that is neither here nor there). I also saw the lack of understanding of what students are reading.
Everyone seems to complain that students don't read; however, this is a misconception. Students read--they just don't read books. They read texts, emails, Facebook pages, Tweets and web pages. They don't read traditional media.
The other aspect is that even traditional media is changing with the advent of the Kindle and B&R reader. Most of students today are more comfortable reading text online than they are reading hard copy. Unfortunately, most college, and lower, programs ignore this fact and continue to teach in the exact same way. We are losing students, not because the information we have is unusable, but because the delivery mechanism is.
Hybrid or online classes enable larger enrollment and more flexible time for students already burdened with full-time jobs and families.
I recently tutored someone using track-changes and comments in word. These items offer flexibility in tutoring because they can print them out and they can just accept them. I also used both of these features while copy-editing a book. I sent it back to the author by email. The whole transaction took 2 hours instead of the time it would have taken with traditional proofreading and "snail" mail.
The need for understanding new technologies is obvious. This year for Christmas, my husband and I purchased 90% of our presents online. I shop online more than I do in stores. I even window shop online. The cruise I am taking this winter required sign-up online and had a PDF to print out boarding passes and luggage tags. So why is Weber only using online payment this year?
There is going to continue to be a gap between students and professors as long as professors are allowed to not change their techniques. A professor recently recommended that all teachers over the age of 66 should retire. I am inclined to agree. The technology gap will only remain as long as we let it. We may have to drag some kicking and screaming, but the benefits outweigh this.
In the end, technology is not going away. We need to adapt and learn to use it to our benefit. Just as the world was convinced of the cell phone they will have to be convinced about new styles of education (I think Joel in particular). I know that I would rather be online than be one of 200 in a lecture hall. I would rather be able to email my professor with a question than be afraid of personal rejection.
Everyone seems to complain that students don't read; however, this is a misconception. Students read--they just don't read books. They read texts, emails, Facebook pages, Tweets and web pages. They don't read traditional media.
The other aspect is that even traditional media is changing with the advent of the Kindle and B&R reader. Most of students today are more comfortable reading text online than they are reading hard copy. Unfortunately, most college, and lower, programs ignore this fact and continue to teach in the exact same way. We are losing students, not because the information we have is unusable, but because the delivery mechanism is.
Hybrid or online classes enable larger enrollment and more flexible time for students already burdened with full-time jobs and families.
I recently tutored someone using track-changes and comments in word. These items offer flexibility in tutoring because they can print them out and they can just accept them. I also used both of these features while copy-editing a book. I sent it back to the author by email. The whole transaction took 2 hours instead of the time it would have taken with traditional proofreading and "snail" mail.
The need for understanding new technologies is obvious. This year for Christmas, my husband and I purchased 90% of our presents online. I shop online more than I do in stores. I even window shop online. The cruise I am taking this winter required sign-up online and had a PDF to print out boarding passes and luggage tags. So why is Weber only using online payment this year?
There is going to continue to be a gap between students and professors as long as professors are allowed to not change their techniques. A professor recently recommended that all teachers over the age of 66 should retire. I am inclined to agree. The technology gap will only remain as long as we let it. We may have to drag some kicking and screaming, but the benefits outweigh this.
In the end, technology is not going away. We need to adapt and learn to use it to our benefit. Just as the world was convinced of the cell phone they will have to be convinced about new styles of education (I think Joel in particular). I know that I would rather be online than be one of 200 in a lecture hall. I would rather be able to email my professor with a question than be afraid of personal rejection.
posted by Unknown at 4:45 PM
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