Technology and the

College Experience
Some say the more it changes,
the more it stays the same.
BY GUSTAVO A. iVIELLANDER

From The Hispanic Outlook

in Higher Education

When I attended college, all

my professors lectured, even the
science and mathematics ones.
A few innovative ones used the
chalkboard, but sparingly. Few of
us dared ask a question, never contradicted a teacher for fear of being
humiliated. We survived by learning early to take copious notes and
regurgitate those "professor-given
pearls" on our exams.
The system workedat least
it did for those who followed the
routine. We learned what we had
to. Training was acquired; education would come laternormally
at the workplace.
Most faculty are thoughtful,
innovative, open to new ideas
except when it comes to changing

their teaching methods. Many

merely mimic their teachers for
years on end. Some even use old
college notes to teach their classes
throughout their careers. There
are exceptions but they are just
thatexceptions.
Single one-way oral communication still dominates most classrooms. Teachers pontificate, students regurgitate. Some changes
have filtered in. Inquisitive "kids"
have forced changes to the blind
lockstep methods of years gone
by.
For instance, students have
forced many faculty to become
computer literate. The role of
the teacher has changed in many
cases from the "sage on the stage"
to the coilaborator on the side. I
might add, with mixed academic
success.
I visit a variety of colleges ev-

Gustavo A. Mellander was a college president for 20 years. More recently,

he was a graduate dean at George Mason University. Condensed, with permission, from The Hispanic Outlook in Higher Education, posted online October
3, 2011. Published at 80 Route 4 East, Ste. 203, Paramus, NJ 07652.
September 2012

65

THE EDUCATION DIGEST

ery year. I still observe a lot of

faculty only lecturing, using antiquated notes and once in a while
strolling to the blackboard. That's
their level of technology. I fear the
classroom revolution so often ballyhooed has yet to arrive on many
campuses nationwide.
Before I go off supporting more
modern technology than chalk and
blackboards, let me pay homage to
those antiquated professors who.

I fear the classroom

revolution so often
ballyhooed has yet
to arrive on many
campuses nationwide.
armed with vast knowledge and
a love of their subjects, kept us
spellboundand learning. They
were great lecturers. In my case,
most were historians or literature
teachers, but I also recall that my
biology teacher was an effective
and inspirational teacher.
Let's face the future. We can be
optimistic for some faculty who
have adopted modern technology
to reach their students.
Some concerned faculty and
administrators have changed their
colleges by establishing a variety
of new teaching methods. Technology has led, if not forced, these
changes. Now more and more we
have three modes of teaching:

66

face-to-face lectures, online, and

hybrid learning.
Many students don't know
much about online classes when
they first arrive at college. Stereotypically, online students are
perceived to be older and more
career oriented. But teenage, social swinging freshmen get swept
up in online classes as well.
The result is that in many universities, students enroll in online
classes or blended classes every
semester. A good number take all
three modes at once.
At the beginning, online courses
were established to serve distant
learners living away from the university. Later, many institutions
were surprised to discover that
the majority of their long-distance
students were actually living on
campus. Frequently, more students
enrolled from their university dormitories than real distance learners did miles away.
An example: Central Florida
began experimenting with online
courses in the mid-1990s. The
target population has been potential students who lived far away. But
the university discovered that about
75% of online students were already
on campus or lived nearby. Why?
The university had a severe classroom crunch. It had grown from
a commuter campus with 21,000
students in 1991 to 56,000 today;
it remains 40% short on classroom
space. Thus its evolution to a hybrid institution is understandable.

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Technology and the College Experience

Some students prefer watching

lectures online to enduring a twoand-a-half-hour class in person.
Web courses also free up time for
more campus involvement.
In the future, most students
will have some online education.
Marc Parry from The Chronicle of
Higher Education reports that the
Maryland University System now
requires undergraduates to take
12 credits in "alternative learning
modes," including some online.
The Minnesota system is planning to have students earn 25% of
their credits online by 2015. The
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
has made "blended learning" a
cornerstone of a new $20-million
education-technology grant program.
State planners hope that Web
classes will expand access, reduce
the time spent earning a degree,
save money, manage classroom
needs, and more.
Those trends raise a number of
issues that could change the face
of higher education. For instance,
why pay to go away to college if
you're going to sit in your dorm
room taking online classes? Stay
home, complete your education
and save a lot of money.
Critics have raised issues about
academic standards and contend
that the lack of personal supervision with online courses has led to
increased cheating.
The Chronicle trailed students
to study how the shift is changing

the student experienceand how

students feel about their growing
digital freedom. It found that new
uses of technology have provided
good and not-so-good practices as
universities move "from bricks and
mortar to clicks and mortar."
Some Findings
It is now exceedingly rare for
all of one's classes to be face to
face. Most students shift between
classroom, online, and offline modalities.
Even in lecture classes, professors descend from their stage and
prowl the classroom. Aided by a
remote control device, they can
flash PowerPoint charts on the
screen regardless of their location
in the room.
Some courses are known as
"blended" or "mixed mode," meaning students meet their faculty face
to face only once a week; the rest
of the work is offered online.
Blended classes generate the
highest student evaluations of any
learning mode at Central Florida.
Students feel they get as much
from the online work as they would
from more time in class. Some
mixed-mode professors like the online component because it forces
students to grapple with material
before they meet for class. Others
worry that students view the reduced class schedule as time off.
Learning online can provide
an opportunity for distractions.
Some students, while watching

September 2012

67

THE EDUCATION DIGEST

a lecture, also have Facebook

open right behind it. A logical
question ishow much time does
one spend on each? Are students
paying attention, actively taking
notes, or are they surfing or chatting with their friends? There are a
lot of potential distractions when
pursuing courses on the Internet.
Professors have complained that
students are checking out their
Facebook accounts, tweeting, and
emailing their friends even while
in the classroom during a face-toface lecture.
Students who attend superior
high schools do not expect to
take classes on the Web. They are
accustomed to student-oriented
teachers, far more supervision,
and frequent classroom tests. Not
much chance to coast.
First experiences with an online
course can be a struggle. It is easier
to procrastinate, to skip a lecture,
to fall behind. Since there is less
personalized assistance, educators who prize human contact say
it's a poor development.
Some faculty aware of that possibility bird-dog their students.
They email students, call them,
tweet them, Facebook them, chat
with them. They create a variety
of safety nets.
That would seem helpful and
commendable. But some critics of
that approach call it inappropriate, they call it mothering. They
argue that such intense assistance
prolongs adolescence. Part of what

68

students should learn in college,

they contend, is self-discipline and
self-reliance.
Some students who have succeeded with the new modalities
have developed guidelines such as:
Establish a study schedule. Select
a quiet place, probably away from
your bedroom, to study. Never
socialize in person or on the Web
in that area. Create a serious workplace. Concentrate on that day's
assignment.
Not that different from what
previous generations were told to
do. As much as things change, as
much new technology we adapt
and adopt, the human element predominates. Education is a lonely
journey. A person's motivation and
Hpriiratinn on a Inna urptv

"We're being taught history today.

Instead of using computers,
we'll be using books."

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