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I wondered what you learn at those IT seminars faculty’s always being invited to attend.

From the University of Oklahoma newspaper:

… When Kieran Mullen, OU physics professor, noticed that students’ laptop usage was a distraction during his lectures, he planned a scene to get students to pay attention. During a general physics for engineering majors class Monday, Mullen placed a student’s decoy, non-functioning laptop into a plastic container and poured liquid nitrogen on it.

“He said: ‘this is just liquid nitrogen, so it alone won’t hurt the computer. But this will’,” said Lindsey Brinkworth, University College freshman. “Then he threw it to the ground and told him to have IT fix it.”

Most students usually find Mullen to be considerate of students and attentive to their needs, said Jonathan Scranton, University College freshman.

“He is one of those quirky kind of professors but to actually break someone’s laptop seems a little harsh,” Scranton said.

… “I was a little concerned at first, but I thought later that it was a little too convenient that he would have liquid nitrogen and a Styrofoam box in a back room like that,” said Brinkworth. “Either way, he got his point across.” …

Margaret Soltan, February 18, 2010 6:05AM
Posted in: technolust

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5 Responses to “I wondered what you learn at those IT seminars faculty’s always being invited to attend.”

  1. John Murray Says:
    February 18th, 2010 at 10:34AM

    There’s something about “attentive to their needs” that sounds like a job description for Jeeves, not a physics prof.

  2. Margaret Soltan Says:
    February 18th, 2010 at 10:54AM

    John: LOL. I saw that too, and thought it was odd…. Isn’t there a line with “attentive to their needs” in it in HMS Pinafore? I’ll check.

    ——————–

    No. I was remembering “attentive to our duty.”

  3. Townsend Harris Says:
    February 18th, 2010 at 11:14AM

    If universities are businesses, if universities sell training designed to improve students’ future incomes, if students are customers, if customers are always right … then yes, young Bertie Wooster’s language is blunt in its expectation.

  4. Chris Mallory Says:
    February 22nd, 2010 at 5:46AM

    What exactly was the point he was trying to make? That he plans to destroy any laptops that are brought into the classroom?

  5. Margaret Soltan Says:
    February 22nd, 2010 at 7:29AM

    Their misuse enrages him to such an extent that if he sees you doing it, he’ll destroy yours?

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