A recent Drexel University graduate writes an opinion piece in the Philadelphia Inquirer:
… In a classroom, there is a person standing in the front of the room talking, and naively believing, or vainly hoping, that these portable-computer enthusiasts are listening to what he is saying.
To a person in the back of the room, it is plainly obvious that none of these keyboard assailants is paying any attention to the person in the front of the room. They are too involved with Facebook, AIM, Twitter, or the myriad other interactive-media outlets available to be aware of anything taking place in class. These students contribute no more to class than the corpse from Weekend at Bernie’s would have. Actually, that particular cadaver would have been much more engaged than the student with a laptop.
[These students] are vacant shells. Their presence is strictly corporeal. What’s more, their frequently furious typing is disruptive…
March 8th, 2010 at 5:22PM
I taught at Drexel for just over a year (Fall ’05 – Fall ’06). I was paid horribly little to do so ($2200 a section, usually only 1-2 sections of 30 students at a time). My students ranged from the very bright, very engaged, and very computer literate to the dull, disadvantaged, and the chronically computer illiterate (word processing seemed beyond them). At times, I seriously doubted there was anyone in the middle ground between the two.
During this time period, I had an ever-increasing number of laptop users. Some of them really did use them for notes! How could I tell? They looked up from their screens on occasion when I spoke. I saw their brows crinkle when I posed a question. They actually (God Forbid!) raised their hands and asked questions or otherwise participated in class. Also, the light blazing from the screen onto their faces was a crisp white.
But, that group was a fraction of the laptop users. I caught several watching videos in class (porn maybe?), usually when the light flickered on their faces from the shifting images rolling in front of them. I even kicked one kid out when he did it when I sat behind him during a video session. (Forgive me, UD…sometimes a well-chosen video can encapsulate an idea better than any lecture I can give or the book they didn’t read!) Not surprisingly, he also failed every exam and never submitted any of the 3 essays. Did he think his mere physical presence would somehow translate into a passing grade?
In classes where some students would thank me for discussing stuff they’d never thought to think about, I had cadavers (an excellent description!) who had an equal say on evaluations that factored into whether I would be rehired the next term. (P.S. I eventually wasn’t.)
Drexel is also HUGE in the online course thing. I was even asked to create a few online classes for that department where I was an adjunct! I sometimes wonder what would have happened if I had done it. Would I still be employed there? Or would the zombies have risen to revolt there too?
March 9th, 2010 at 12:30AM
Cadavers? Cadavers!
“Cadaver” is a perfect shorthand for “a student dead to the classroom, distracted by his computer.” Thank you, UD.