The iPod Took My Seat – Los Angeles Times

These articles drive me crazy. They say that students don’t come to class, because they are getting what they need online. Do they even hear themselves? If the students are getting what they need online, who cares if they come to class.

GOOD professors should either ask what they can do to add value to face-to-face interactions OR whether they can just move their entire class online. Why waste valuable classroom space if it’s not necessary?

These are the most dangerous professors. Those who either have the technological savvy to put materials online or have tech support to do so. They fool themselves and others into believing that cutting edge technology is synonymous with cutting edge teaching. They then represent themselves as “in the know” and crusade again these very same technologies when they “don’t work.”

It’s their methods that don’t work. The technology works fine. None of those students in the article complained about the technology. However, more than a few complained about their instructors.

I would love it if once, just once, a news article like this one would try to get a balanced perspective.