Mark Pesce is a Sydney based consultant, writer and lecturer. His consultancy, FutureSt, advises media companies in publishing and broadcasting on strategies for forward movement in an ever more fragmented and converged media marketplace.
Please read this blog post regarding Fluid Learning. Do you agree with Pesce's reccomendations of Fluidity and Flexibility? What are the advantages? What are the dangers? Is it even feasible?
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Wow! I'm not sure where to even begin. I never quite saw the benefits of a site like ratemyprofessors.com, but rather, had viewed such sites as an opportunity for irresponsible and unmotivated students to potentially destroy an educator's reputation. After reading, I am not sure that my view has necessarily changed, although I certainly can understand the point Pesce is making.
ReplyDeleteNevertheless, I worry about how individuals can have preconceived notions of others, such as teachers, before having had an opportunity to actually participate in one of their courses. While there clearly seems to be an opportunity for students to shape their own learning and steer the direction of that learning, I can't help but feel afraid that this reality can potentially prevent students from participating in a well respect professor's course, simply because several students found the course to be unpleasant.
I have said this to colleagues before, as I have long believed, and the article seems to subtlely suggest, that education has increasingly become entertainment. The most effective teachers are not merely the ones with the most knowledge, but rather are the ones who can steer students to the proper information and provide clarity and contextualization, all while entertaining an audience of students whose ability to focus in a traditional classroom setting seems to be ever more fleeting.
I do, however, agree with Pesce that essentially we cannot stop a train from moving forward. Debating the merits or evils of our world seems fruitless, as the realities are clear and regardless of one's view, the opportunities are abundant. I often think individuals tend to get lost in the nostalgia of the past, as if the world had been a perfect place when they were growing up. That's hogwash and merely paralyzes an institution into refusing to adapt to changes that have the best interests of the student in mind.
Finally, I'm not sure I agree with Pesce's assertion that we should essentially relinquish control, and allow unlimited access and move toward open source. The backend work to maintain an open-source platform at this point, at least in our district, is an overwhelming undertaking and requires even greater professional development resources that our district does not have.
In addition, I think that in general having appropriate parameters and limits are a source of comfort in a world that often feel overwhelming. I think students in particular need and even want appropriate limits. With the advent and proliferation of Web 2.0 tools these limits have clearly changed, and many adults are unwilling to alter and understand these new limits and parameters, but I do believe that there has to be some sense of organizational control. As educators we have a responsiblity to point our students in the right direction and develop their abilities to think critically, innovate and create. I do believe that this is best achieved when there is at least a modcum of oversight and accountability.
I'd first like to say that I DID know about www.ratemyteacher.com and www.ratemyprofessor.com I can see the pro's and con's of both. If I were a student I would like to know what the opinion of other students are before I took the course but at the same time I know that not all students learn the same way and what one thinks is not necessarily the way I think. I remember when I first heard about ratemyteacher.com hoping that my name was not up there (an thankfully it still is not) because students (especially in the high school) will say whatever they feel at that particular moment. I do agree with Pesce, it is about the best "entertainer" not the best "teacher" even the features that the sites have does not signify something of true importance. For example: there is a smiley face with glasses for the "cool" teacher and a sad face for the "non-cool" teacher. Its even worse on the ratemyprofessor.com site it actually has this "HOT" feature which I think is...sick. Why does it matter to your education whether a teacher is attractive or not this clearly presenting itself as a NON-Serious site. Fortunately this feature is not on the ratemyteachers.com site. That would probably open up a lot of attention and potential lawsuits.
ReplyDeleteMy fellow math colleague was the one that let me be aware of this site, and I checked his ratings/comments and found that he had many many comments above any other teacher in my district... he admitted to me that he told students to go on that site and rate him and I wouldn't be surprised if some of those votes were conducted by himself.
Obviously this is getting to far that teachers are using this site as a popularity contest. It is kind of ridiculous and says a lot about the insecurities that some present day teachers have.
Having said all of this if this was a much different world and people/students actually took the site seriously for what its suppose to be (true 'informational' purposes) then I wouldn't have such a problem against it.
Whether we should just accept it like Pesce suggests... I don't know about that. I do agree that we can not control what is being done on these sites but what can we do... its out of our hands
I think the article is using ratemyteacher.com as a good example of crowd sourcing, but I am not sure I agree with the suggestion that students will use it or something similar as leverage for their education. Information has been at students finger tips for about 10 years now. I have seen and read about few students who ON THEIR OWN use the internet for transformative learning or action. Don't get me wrong there are cases out there but I am surprised more students (secondary and university level) don't demand more relevant educations. Kids still need to be inspired by teachers. They don't know what they don't know.
ReplyDeleteWith that being said teachers should still embrace tools similar to ratemyteacher.com. It doesn't have to be a vain survey but rather formative assessments on their teaching and learning. Too many teachers can't take criticisms from their customers (students). I see this issue as a divide among "old" and "new" teachers. The old guard is against students driving instruction. The "old" teachers are also against another trait of this new disruptive classroom, sharing classroom material online creating a 24/7 classroom. Teachers will give extra help after school but over IM, that is crossing the line. "My materials are for MY classroom. Why should I do all of the work for another teacher?" There is little open source, sharing to create the best product mindset.
I think we have a lot further to go with bending our educational system towards our students and our students toward it. There is still much untapped potential out there. Part of me fears I will build a 24/7 21st century classroom and the biggest visitor will be a child from another country and not the students in my own class.
Personally, I too have known about ratemyteacher.com and ratemyprofessor.com. I remember in college, a few of my fellow students logged on to the rate my professor site several times to view the comments for their professors. And to be honest, a few comments are very obvious to be just a student ranting about what he/she feels at that particular moment, mostly for the negative. I do think having students give feedback is a good evaluative model for teachers. I do not necessarily think it will hinder students taking a certain course because of a professor, because from experience, most people can see when a posting is “out of the ordinary.”
ReplyDeleteGoing off Chris’s comment about a 24/7 classroom, and how some teachers think that helping students over IM is “crossing the line.” I can’t help but think of my mother who is a college professor. She has a screen name that her students can access, and I’m not exaggerating when she gets a least 10 IMs per night with students asking various questions about assignments. Some background… I went to Dominican College where my mom is a professor and a bunch of my friends had her as a teacher. Anyway, they loved the instant gratification of getting help from my mom whenever needed. With her computer and Blackberry constantly on, she gives them that instant feedback. On the flipside, I have heard students say, “Wow, I would NEVER IM my teacher!” and other students saying, “Why can’t EVERY teacher be like this in this new world of technology!” Now, this is college students- a little different than the adolescents we deal with. But I can’t help but think if this instant, 24/7 classroom will start to become the norm and will start to be expected by our students.