Coming away from class Tuesday, I had a lot of abstract ideas in my head about education, leadership and technology, all of which will help me grow as an educator. But the one thing that stuck out as a practical lesson was the course syllabus. I like the idea of an interactive syllabus and think that it would work in my classes because I assign so many online readings. However, the problem of access quickly doused my enthusiasm: many of my classes don't have access to the web. Or if they do, they only have access in a particular place. Let me explain: my Hancock classes are held in "smart rooms," so I could introduce the syllabus to my class and navigate some of the links, similar to what Patrick did. Yet when my students went home, many of them would not have access to a "current" computer with a "usable" internet connection. I put those terms in quotation marks because many do have access to computers, but the computers are too old to perform specific tasks, and many of them are connected to the internet, but it is arduous to load pages. On the other hand, in my Poly classes, all of my classrooms are "stupid." You know what I mean, wooden desks and an overhead. So I couldn't really have an interactive syllabus because I couldn't navigate it with them. Nevertheless, these students have access to new computers and solid internet connections.
Technology seems like a great way to supplement instruction and increase learning opportunities, but the sad reality is that some of the students who need it the most, don't have access. And just as frustrating, those students who personally have the technology are limited in their use because of institutional deficiencies.
What a great opportunity for a leader...
That's a interesting paradox of sorts. To add one more complication, I hate "paperless" classes because it means I have to print everything our myself. Reading on the computer just doesn't work for me. I have to have a copy that I can write, comment, scribble, flip back and forth through, and hold side by side another document. It may be a processing problem that is rare or perhaps a sign of an undiagnosed condition, but either way I'd rather have a course reader with all the readings for the quarter in it. Professors could still add supplements in class, but they couldn't upload numerous pdfs with a simple click, which I'd then have to print before reading. What's your preference?
ReplyDelete