[Air-l] laptops and Internet access in class

[Darren Purcell]

Dr. Steve Eskow wrote:

>Dr. Johns,
>
>I can't imagine someone paying for concert tickets and then choosing not to 
>attend the concerts.
>
>But students pay their money for our courses, and if we didn't compel them 
>to come, they would not.
>
>  
>
It depends on what kind of attendance you expect, what you are doing in 
the class to make things relevant, make it worth their while in terms of 
a cost benefit analysis (do I go to class at 8 AM after only getting 5 
hours of sleep?) I teach large sections of general education courses and 
never have required attendance at the lecture, and discussion sections 
have assignments in the class that account for 25% of the grade. Tests 
are drawn from a mixture of electronic and good ol' book materials, with 
lectures.



>But we--and they--spend much time communicating with each othe 
>voluntarily--online.
>
>What does all this mean, if anything?
>
>Don't they find value in our face-to-face classroom encounters?
>
>  
>
Are the encounters relevant to their learning? Do we pose questions that 
a bright undergraduate can't think up on their own? Do we communicate in 
such a way that it is worth their time to show up, and I don't mean 
entertainment? If we as faculty/ practitioners perceive no value to 
something, do we attend it? Not that I am saying we provide no value. I 
am concerned about the perceptions that students have of our education 
processes in general, and what the future of the university will be in 
20 years. What will out students' children's perceptions be?



>Did they feel differently about our classes before the laptop?
>
>  
>

Doubtful, students have been skipping classes since I was a freshman 
(Fall 1986) and it won't change unless we deliver something solid when 
we are face to face. We should use technology as our aid, but without of 
quality at the core of what we teach, in those face-to-face settings, we 
are wasting our time.

Darren Purcell



>Steve Eskow
>----- Original Message ----- 
>From: "Mark D. Johns" <mjohns at luther.edu>
>To: <air-l at listserv.aoir.org>
>Sent: Saturday, May 19, 2007 7:45 PM
>Subject: Re: [Air-l] laptops and Internet access in class
>
>
>  
>
>>Dr. Steve Eskow wrote:
>>    
>>
>>>...
>>>Do most faculty members here require class attendance?
>>>      
>>>
>>Yes, absolutely. I take attendance and take away points for unexcused
>>absences. But once in awhile I will declare that our class will have a
>>"silent discussion." Everyone sitting in the classroom is told to log
>>into a Moodle chat session, and I pose a question by typing it into the
>>chat. It's an interesting dynamic. And sometimes instead of typing "LOL"
>>they really *DO* laugh out loud.
>>
>>The classroom IS an information environment, just as the chat room is.
>>Both spaces have different characteristics that can be exploited for
>>learning. It's always fun to talk about the differences between what
>>kind of interaction takes place online and how it differs from F2F.
>>-- 
>>Mark D. Johns, Ph.D.
>>Associate Professor and Head of the
>> Department of Communication Studies
>>Luther College, Decorah, Iowa USA
>>http://academic.luther.edu/~johnsmar/
>>-----------------------------------------------
>>"Get the facts first. You can distort them later."
>>    ---Mark Twain
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>>    
>>
>
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>  
>