The power of technology knows no bounds... at least not yet. Teachers use technology in the classroom all the time, and I am recalling all the experiences I had as an undergrad with power points that put me to sleep, making me wish I had stayed in bed that extra hour rather than coming to class. Then there were the days we spent in the library learning how to navigate scholarly journals online. I always sat there thinking to myself, "how on earth are people confused? don't they ever come to the library?" The short answer: No. They don't come to the library. Unfortunately, I was left sitting there bored and irritated while the professor tried in vain to educate the scholarly journal slackers in the class. I'm not sure they ever really learned how to use the library's system. And I silently thought to myself, "This is an easy way out for a professor. S/he doesn't have to teach this week because we're sitting in the library's lab wasting our time." I don't honestly think the professor was intentionally wasting class time...anymore. But I did back then. And this spurs another thought I have now, as I look around at colleagues and classmates making instructional choices in their own classrooms.
I believe there are many different ways that students learn in a classroom. Tests tell us one thing, essays another, and presentations demonstrate still further skills and knowledge gained. I don't think giving quizzes or assigning class presentations is a way for professors to "get out of doing work." It can certainly look this way, and I present this disclaimer up front, because I want to be clear that I perceive many methods and choices in the classroom as valuable in their own right. With that out of the way, I'd like to discuss what I see as a lazy teaching styles... which is spurred on by the power of technology. First, making power points that regurgitate the text book are boring, they provide nothing new for the students and are often created poorly. This could be a selection effect: teachers who choose to create power points based on re-stating the text book are likely to be lazy and "bad power point makers," for lack of a better phrase. Yes, that's probably a blanket statement.
Second, and more important, are the teachers who use movies to teach their classes. Movies are one of the technologies that students usually enjoy and will not complain about their use in a classroom. Showing a movie once a week seems like a bad way to run a class to me, but maybe I'm being close minded? I'd happily entertain comments about this idea. I recall a conversation with another instructor who said to me (after I asked about the syllabus), "I like to use movies to teach because they do a better job than I can..." The conversation continued (on my part with stun and disbelief..and very few words) and I was left thinking later that this seemed like something we should think about in our teaching classes. Technology can go too far and professors can rely too much on technology when they always use the same boring power point formats or a different blockbuster every week to explain a point in class. How many movies is too many? I used two last semester in my Gender and Work class... one of them I showed in its entirety (for 2 days during the week I was taking comps) and another I only showed a part, in order to jam it into 50 minutes. Unless a class is "Analysis of Movies" it seems like a movie/week is a bad ratio to use in a class. Professors are unique in their teaching, as they are rarely evaluated (because they are professionals and because no one seems to care in large college/university settings) and when they are it is infrequent so it's hard to really gauge what is occurring in the classroom. So, maybe it doesn't matter - because no one will ever comment or complain about this teaching tactic. But, we are still responsible and accountable to ourselves. And I think it's important we make "good" decisions in our classrooms, particularly when it comes to [over]using technology.
This was much more of a rant than anything else. My apologies.
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I agree!! And, it is a rant on my part too, but I hate that when people are lazy teachers- in part because they get paid the same as me (or a lot more) and do less than half the work. Don't get me wrong, I think that there are certain movies that do tell a story that I can't tell; for example, I use a video in my race class that shows hundreds of examples of racist artifacts from the history of our country, and these images are very powerful- but I don't have access to these artifacts in any other way. One video a week though? Even one every other week? Maybe I'm not looking hard enough, but I can't come up with more than maybe two per class that I think are irreplaceable teaching tools.
ReplyDeleteSo, I think that you are right. Maybe people use technology as a time-saver and a way to make teaching prep go more quickly- but I think that this is problematic on many levels, not the least of which is the fact that students see right through it.
The PowerPoint regurge of material in the textbook is a big pet peeve of mine, too. This teaches students one of two things: I don't have to read, because it will all be said in class OR I don't have to go to class because I can read everything I need to know. Ugh.
ReplyDeleteRegarding movies, I think what's important is what happens before and after the movie. If nothing is ever said about the content, it could be a complete waste of time. The value comes in facilitating a discussion before and/or afterwards. What scenes did students find relevant? What scenes do you think are relevant. If time is an issue, part or all of the discussion can be in eLC.