How Technology Is Killing (or Saving) the Lecture
PowerPoint is boring. Today, professors are letting students pass virtual notes in class on Twitter. They're trying "clickers" that turn classrooms into game shows. They're videotaping classes to let students watch lecture reruns to cram for the test, or to share the knowledge with the world on YouTube. They're monitoring how many minutes students spend reading online textbooks to see who needs help.This session will explore some surprising ways tech is changing classroom dynamics and leading to the end of the lecture as we know it. While enthusiasts see the high-tech changes as a needed upgrade to a model that is hundreds of years old, others see dangers ahead. Is all that gear a distraction? Is academic freedom threatened when Web tools and video make public the once-sacred space of the classroom?Participants are asked to watch a 5-minute video (chronicle.com/lecturefail) before attending the talk, which will serve as a starting for an interactive presentation and discussion.
Presenters
Jeffrey R. Young leads The Chronicle of Higher Education’s coverage of technology and its impact on teaching, research, and student life. He also contributes to and oversees content for the Wired Campus blog, and is co-host of the monthly Tech Therapy podcast.
In College 2.0, his regular news-analysis column, he tracks game-changing technology ideas at colleges and the often thorny questions they raise. Past installments have looked at redefining textbooks, split personalities on social media, and how technology is challenging the lecture model.
Young has written for national publications including The New York Times and New Scientist. An article he wrote appeared in the anthology The Best of Technology Writing 2007.
Young is a frequent speaker at conferences across the country, discussing technology trends, computer security, and technology journalism. He received a bachelor’s degree in English from Princeton University in 1995, focusing on hypertext literature, and a master's in communication, culture, and technology from Georgetown University in 2001.
Tuesday, March 13
