I am not sure if I should grab my belly and laugh, or slap my forehead and groan, at this article in the Deseret News.
From the article:
"The students thought they were getting everything because I was putting PowerPoint notes online, but they were missing all the discussion that was happening in the classroom," Wight said. "They were unwittingly fooled into thinking they could get by in the class without ever coming to the classroom."
So why throw away a technology just because it looks like adapting that technology may change the way we do things? I agree with the instructor, a student is probably not going to get what they need from a few slides. But why take away that avenue of instruction because some students will stay home? Chances are the students will quickly realize that notes aren't enough, and come back to class. Learning comes from interaction. But it seems silly to limit the ways students can access information, just because some students skip class.
"Now, Wight refuses to put his class notes online, revoking the luxury that had become just one more excuse for absenteeism."
1 comment:
When I was in my Business Law class at WSU the instructor had a website where he posted an outline of everything he talked about during class. I seemed to be the only one in the class who knew about it because the teacher never mentioned it. I found that I could miss about 25% of class because if I knew what he was going to talk about I could just study that in the book or just use common sense and figure it out. The class was graded on a curve. I received one of the only two A's he gave out.
I think that rather than getting the A in spite of the fact that I just studied his lecture notes online, I got the A BECAUSE I studied his lecture notes online. Missing a day of class where I already knew the material didn't put me behind the other students. Rather, having another online resource allowed me to actually stay ahead of the other students. I feel like the sphinx here with all my crazy formulaic sayings: "He who questions training only trains himself at asking questions."
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