When I was young I had a Kodak "Brownie" camera. http://www.photo.net/history/timeline tells me that it was one of the first cameras with roll type film launched in 1900. With the advent of cameras the world of graphic art changed completely. Artists found their mission threatened. If the objective of an artist was to faithfully represent art, then the photographer beat the painter hollow. Art is NOT about reproducing reality on an AS-IS-WHERE-IS basis, its about changing reality to represent things differently. A photographer is not known for the accuracy of his reproduction (such reputations belonged to the Carl Ziess and other equipment manufacturer's of the world), the photographer is known, above all for perspective. For being in the right place at the right time (Say press or documentaries) or for being able to tell a story through the picture.
Now GOOGLE is doing it to us educators ( http://news.ft.com/cms/s/3675c1d8-5e43-11da-a9e8-0000779e2340.html ). For years educational institutions were repositories of knowledge, books were expensive to reproduce, hence a few libraries came up where books were stored and maintained. Reading was not a widespread skill, hence along with the libraries were a few researchers who could also tell you what was in the books. To get a feel of such institutions, you could read "The Name of the Rose" By Umberto Eco. Its also interesting to note that the Bible and the Service itself was in latin, a language that was considered to be the "lingua franca" of the educated classes.
I myself came to academics when after my Ph.D. I found that it was hard to get access to information where I could learn new things. Those were the days when I used a dialup line over the long distance (STD) connection to use a text based (Lynx) browser. Today I go into a class filled with 60 or more of the brightest minds in the country. They have information available at their finger tips. What is worse I have given them a session by session outline which means they know what they are going to learn in the classroom. Its hard to think of something refreshingly new to say!
Students do all sorts of horrible things when they are given internet access. Ofcourse they swap digital music and video. That goes against the very grain of the Knowledge Society, which sees most revenues from Knowledge Products like patents, software, music, etc. that can be lisenced. Students are dumb, so its not surprising. Perhaps they werent so dumb after all? When Google challenged copyright, it was completely different from a kaazaa or filesharing systems.
Now they threaten education. In a world where information is available at the click of a button, where there is wifi in class and everyone has laptops, what happens?
1. Students don't listen to lectures, they would rather chat.
2. They use SMS to exchange answers for tests.
3. They don't write their own answers, they only cut and paste
4. They dont memorize enough, they know its easily available on the net
5. They are oversmart and sometimes they think they know more than the teachers.
The problem is that I believe they are all......NOT NECESSARILY BAD. The real problem is that all this threatens us, teachers. What would we do if students had access to information? The same question that raised its head when Martin Luther said that individual believers should be able to interpret the bible for themselves.
So if a student can read the "facts", what does it leave us teachers to do? I think we have become dinosaurs. We have two E's in front of us. Evolve or become Extinct. I wonder what is the next step?
Saturday, November 26, 2005
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7 comments:
"They dont memorize enough, they know its easily available on the net"
This is true. I realized that I am no more rememberring anything. well, those days are gone and now I am trying to rememember everything from phone numbers to links. And Google is no more my primary search engine. Its Yahoo!
Im afraid of Google. So much afraid that I won't even put my name here.
Mathai, the better teachers are those that can present ideas convincingly and with conviction, possess the ability to get their students interested in various topics by underlining their beauty and practicality. NOT because they have a monopoly over information. Even in pre-google days teachers used to teach from the same text books that the students had, and had access to the same libraries and books. Going by your argument teachers should have become obsolete when the printing press was invented!!
It is quite evident Mathai that you have no idea of what teaching means. But having witnessed your style of teaching, which itself involves downloading from google something straightforward and simple to begin with, and converting it into some disconnected trash to be fed to your students, I can understand your feeling threatened.
Mathai...I think that there will always be a need for teachers. Each student learns differently...some need one on one help from a person who is knowledgeable in the subject which they are studying while others can just pass by the skin of their teeth from tidbits they get online. I don't think you should feel threatened at all. I think the students who are honest are worth sticking with the teaching program...I mean the ones who do listen in lecture, who don't exchange answers for tests via sms or any other way, who don't just cut and paste, who do take the time to master the material, and who are humble... I know it's probably difficult to discern who is who at first, but if you get to know your students or they get to know you...you'll realize who's who. Ok...enough of my B.S....I'll shut up and leave you somewhat in peace...or pieces...whichever it may be:P...love ya, man!
True, but we live in a world where search engines are sacrosanct. Also, one cannot forget the depth to which a search engine can provide info. as compared to a analog library (read books).
I fully agree with you that teachers have to evolve but some of the people who have commented seem to have missed the point thinking you feel threatened. The role of teachers should be not to be a conduit for information but a guide who leads the pupil to a point where the student carries forward the quest for information himself.
Unfortunately many teachers are clueless on how to do this and instead butress their self worth by forcing students to attend their classes using heavy handed tactics like compulsary attendance or surprise quizzes.
I too have attended your classes and applaud your constant striving to capture the attention of your students and add value to the course. Ok, thats enough CP for today :-)
Google is just a window to the world.
Teacher is like a guide, and is a source for enlightenment. When I say those words, I mean every single word of it. He is for giving the motivation to perform. Not to mention that he is a facilitator, Without whose exisitence, where is the all that real fun of learning. "There is information on the net, but it is the teacher whose guidance is required for addressing it as a common forum."whats the concept? How much? Can you think of out of the Box? How differnet things have changed over time? why this? why not this ? etc etc etc. The bottom line , to mould this piece of clay into a beautiful sculptor. Thats what the teacher is for.
Thanks for your comment. I just dont see a student as a piece of clay, or a white paper to write on. My students are human beings with their own views of the world and their own directions as you can read from the comments on this blog.
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