Section A·Page 6
The University Daily Kansan
Friday, April 10, 1998
Instructors yearn for technology of yore
Greg Shepherd, associate professor of communication studies, teaches class without the use of multimedia technology. The class was held in Bueler Library in Wescoe Hall on Tuesday. Photo by Lizz Weber / KANSAN.
Ted Johnson, professor of French and Italian, goes through facts in a textbook. Johnson is one of the many professors who does not use technology in his class. Photo by Eileen Bakri/KANSAN
Continued from page 1A
In an age of computer-savvy students, however, these professors face increasing pressure to incorporate multimedia technology.
"If students only download information and do not synthesize the experience, it's going to be a problem," Johnson assures. "You might as well have a virtual wife or a virtual husband, a virtual Big Mac downloaded, a virtual French dinner."
Johnson points to a CD player sitting on his desk, which is, like the computer, obscured by papers and other materials. Conceding to technology, Johnson says that in the past he has brought the CD player into
one of his classes to play some music but that he does not like how the device changes the mood.
"Every time I bring a machine into my class like this, it kills the intellectual discourse," Johnson says. The students become passive, he says, rather than engaging in discussion.
through space." he says
Johnson says he provides experiences instead of audio-video presentations. For a lesson about Renaissance music and dance, Johnson takes his students to the campus dance studio.
During these lessons, everyone including Johnson — removes their shoes and learns some dances.
"The students actually experience with their own body what it is like to deal with other bodies moving
In another class, Johnson has his students sketch an 18th century table that the University owns. "Even though we can, through computation, produce wonderful three-dimensional holograms, it's not the same thing as looking at the cast of lights on a gilded surface." Johnson savs.
Johnson recognizes that other technologies have been used for a long time in teaching. But sometimes, Johnson says, it is not necessary to use the latest inventions. He does not teach in classrooms that have replaced chalkboards with marker boards. "The gray — the very deep, lovely, soft gray — of the blackboard and the white chalk is wonderful," he says. "It is already
the maximum of a certain kind of technology."
Erasing old methods
Chalk is about as fancy as Greg Shepherd gets, too. Shepherd, 41, associate professor of communications studies, has taught for 15 years in a department known for its promotion of online courses. But Shepherd describes himself as the yellow light of caution when it comes to using multimedia technology in education.
"In the classroom ... I am about as close as you can get to being technology-free," Shepherd says. "I teach a large lecture class in which I never use a microphone. I never use an overhead. The highest form of technology I use is a piece of chalk."
Shepherd believes that multimedia technology creates distance between students and teachers, and he thinks distance is counteractive to effective instruction.
"Good teaching is all about creating closeness," Shepherd says. "Good teaching is all very personal. It's all about treating students uniquely."
Shepherd worries about the day that online courses replace classroom teaching. "You can kind of see it coming; the day in which I teach a class from my office to students who are in the same building. It seems insane." he says.
But Shepherd concedes that no matter how anyone feels about online technology, it is here. And he knows that he will have to start using it in his courses.
direction we're going to keep moving. So it becomes my job, as somebody who's very cautious about this, to do this so that I can understand what are the pitfalls, what are the dangers." Shepherd's goal is to make the technology serve good teaching and learning rather than to have those functions serve the technology. Making it all work.
Making it all click
"There's no sense fighting this," Shepherd says. "This is clearly the
Annette Stanton, 42, associate professor of psychology, also admits to not using much multimedia technology in her teaching.
"I'm still sort of a dinosaur," she says. But, Stanton adds, "Next fall I'll definitely be on the technology bandwagon."
In the fall, Stanton expects to use PowerPoint, a computer software package for presentations, when she teaches a lecture class in Budig Hall.
She has never used PowerPoint before. Right now, Stanton leads her lecture classes by writing information on transparencies displayed by an overhead projector, a method that won't work as well in high-tech Budig Hall, she says.
Stanton does not believe that technology is pressuring her to change her teaching. "It's something I've been interested in and would like to try," she explains. "So I'd say it's more a catalyst than pressure."
She will watch closely to make sure that PowerPoint does not keep her from imparting all of the necessary information to her students. "If I want to go off on a side path that's relevant to the topic, but I don't have Power Point slides on it, I don't want to be constrained because I'm tied to my slides," Stanton says.
Nor does she want her students to stop paying attention when she discusses a topic for which she has not created a PowerPoint slide. "These are not magic words." Stanton says of the images on a computer screen. She says she will have to remind students that they will have to learn the material, regardless of whether she presents it in PowerPoint or extemporaneously.
Wiring for life
To some professors, the debate about whether to use multimedia and computer technology in teaching is pointless.
"We can have many opinions about this," says Ron Ausch, associate professor of education. "But if students begin to opt for online delivery of instruction, and corporations find that people who are trained this way work just as well, then what we all think doesn't make any difference."
Aust, co-director of South Central Regional Technology in Education Consortium, believes that some types of classes work best online.
"When classroom learning becomes less social, then the viability of online learning increases," he says. Liberal arts classes, such as those taught by Johnson, are difficult to teach online at this point. Aust admits. But he also thinks that technological advances will make online humanities classes possible.
"For the most part, we can see on the horizon new technology that will be able to emulate many of the interactions that occur in the classroom," Aux says.
He also believes that looking at new ways of teaching courses, such as incorporating multimedia elements or putting them online, is valuable for teaching. "The fact that we are exploring the value of this new approach to teaching will let us know what's best about the traditional approach." Aust says.
But Ted Johnson believes that the traditional approach already works best. In fact, he says it has worked since the time of the ancient Greeks, so he sees no reason to use online and multimedia approaches just because they are the current trends.
His perception of the University holds true to the ancient ideal
Johnson says, "Why not look at the University of Kansas and Mount Oread as a classical university, just like the University of Athens? A place where people can actually exploit the possibilities of a real environment, of discussing real ideas, walking around and disserting about them."
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