Great examples and great points. It seems counterintuitive, but higher education really does seem to a place that is change-averse. You mentioned a number of reasons why that could be – which I can easily see as being at least a part of the issue. My question is why isn’t there more of a top-down push to make changes? That seems like a pretty easy “practice what you preach” move that institutions of higher education can make.

I think PowerPoint is an interesting example. It was around in the 1990s but didn’t really catch on until the mid to late 2000s. I remember making a PowerPoint for a marketing presentation around 2002. My group was the only one in the class who used PowerPoint. Today PowerPoint is the ONLY thing my students want to use when creating projects. I have to “outlaw” for some projects to force them to try other things even though they have so many options with current Web technologies. It takes time for a potential solution to catch hold which means we need the early adopters to also be evangelists for the benefits of the tools they find effective.

One simple solution I would suggest is making effective teaching a part of the tenure process. Encouraging people to do uncomfortable things takes incentives. I’d say – based on the research noted in the original post – that the focus of achieving tenure track (the system) makes taking the time to be innovative in the classroom a disincentive.

Meredith,
Thanks for the thoughtful post. It is disappointing to see situations like this occur. You start to mention this at the end of the post – and I’m curious to get more of your thoughts – do you think this is mostly about the flipped classroom model (in other words, is the teaching model the core issue) or do you think this would have happened under any number of different classroom models (and thus the underlying issue is something else – such as a lack of empathy to create an inclusive learning environment)? I tend to lean towards the latter, but wonder what you think is the more core issue.
Thanks!

Thanks for your comment Julie,

Knowing some tricks to get on the Internet – like the fact that the connection speed is faster is you connect to the network through a cable than it is over WiFi – really can make a difference (like not having any 8:00 AM classes). One thing you made me think of from your comment is the changing nature of social interaction and how that will impact college campuses. Kids are spending much less time outside together than they used to because they are inside on their devices interacting on social media. I wonder when a critical mass of students who are residents on a college campus will opt to only take online courses for the same reasons?

Thanks for your comment! I’ve seen research that shows taking notes by hand helps retention when compared to taking notes on the computer. While that’s generally true based on the research methodology, I wonder if there is a difference based on age, technology familiarity, or even the software you use for notetaking?

I certainly didn’t want to diminish the experience of students who don’t take online classes. Depending on how the online course is facilitated it can be very limited and/or ineffective. I think the most important thing about the technological advancements we’ve made is that it has made knowledge and education more attainable to a larger number of people. That matters; however, if you prefer in-person classes with textbooks – do you if you can.

First of all, let me whole-heartedly agree with your final statement! I work in K12 education. Teaching students how to be good researchers is one of the most important skills students can acquire and – in my opinion – more important than any single course’s breadth of content. We have to teach that skill and need to do a better job than we currently do.

Second, I’d caution about painting with too broad a brush when saying library stuff is accurate and Internet stuff is iffy. I won’t elaborate other than to provide this article: https://www.nature.com/articles/438900a which does the elaboration for me.

Ben,
Those are great points you make about the cost versus our perception of the necessity. I would look at it from a cost-benefit standpoint. If a school like Virginia Tech didn’t deliver Internet service that meets the expectations of students how would that impact the perception of school’s quality? I think the benefits have to go beyond just the cost but also to how the infrastructure supports the foundational work of the school. I think it would be an interesting research topic for someone in that field.

Thanks for your thoughts. In response to your K12 question, many schools – including the one I work in – provides laptops, Chromebooks, or tablets to students for use every day in class. Students are asked to be responsible for bringing their charged device with them to school every day. I believe there is an online college that runs a TV commercial saying that part of your tuition covers the cost of a laptop and/or tablet.

As you said, the expectation has changed in a pretty sudden way, but not explicitly in a top-down approach (at least in the majority of higher education). It will be interesting to see if the explicit expectation catches up with the reality seen in most classrooms and if that is an appropriate expectation placed on students by college policy.

Change does take more time for some people and institutions. I’m curious to know which fields are lagging behind and what you see that leads you to that conclusion? One example I can think of in my department is the residence requirement. When you had to have access to the university library that made a lot of sense. You don’t really need that now. Even meeting with your advisor and committee can be done really well through Zoom or another video conferencing tool. I think it’s a bit of an outdated idea we could do away with – at least in my discipline.