I just finished an interesting book that addresses these questions (except for technology related ones, and in fact technology is conspicuously absent, which is one of several possible flaws, but nevertheless the book provides some interesting insights). It's title is "My Freshman Year," and it's by Rebekah Nathan, a pseudonym for an anthropologist who spent a year as an undergraduate student doing fieldwork. It's a very quick read, and would probably be of interest to anyone teaching undergraduates in the U.S. (or teaching U.S. undergraduates elsewhere, I suspect). Sj On May 19, 2007, at 11:31 PM, 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.
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?
Did they feel differently about our classes before the laptop?
Steve Eskow ----- Original Message ----- From: "Mark D. Johns" <mjohns@luther.edu> To: <air-l@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 _______________________________________________ The air-l@listserv.aoir.org mailing list is provided by the Association of Internet Researchers http:// aoir.org Subscribe, change options or unsubscribe at: http://listserv.aoir.org/listinfo.cgi/air-l-aoir.org
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