Vignettes from the Field
Snapshot
Thomas & Michael |
Lecturers |
Discipline |
Life Sciences |
Delivery mode |
Mix of internal and external students |
Level |
Undergraduate |
Experience with WBLT |
Negative |
‘The (WBLT) technology encourages students to postpone their learning to a "more convenient" time. But then unfortunately for many of them, especially the weaker students and/or those with heavy paid employment commitments, that more convenient time turns out to be much less than an hour, or worse, it never occurs at all.’ Michael
Teaching Context
Thomas and Michael are experienced senior lecturers in the field of Life Sciences. They have been teaching for 20 and 12 years respectively at universities in Australia and overseas. Both are enthusiastic teachers and, according to Michael, enjoy ‘the performance’.
Both Thomas and Michael teach a range of unit sizes and levels, from large first year cohorts with a mix of internal and external students, to practical classes for approximately 25 third year, internal students.
Their faculty has been at the forefront of their university’s online presence and has introduced initiatives such as the online weather station. While both lecturers acknowledge the benefits of initiatives such as these, they have observed changes in student behaviour since the introduction of WebCT for lecture notes, forums and culminating with WBLT.
WBLT and teaching
Both Thomas and Michael have concerns about the changes they have noticed in student behaviour and results in recent years and they attribute these changes to WBLT:
‘We can see the obvious benefits of the flexibility that comes with the technology, but I think that flexibility is premised on the technology being used intelligently by students,…and sometimes that assumption is misplaced. Thomas
The drop in student attendance at lectures was a major concern for both Thomas and Michael: We’ve been (delivering online) for a long time…but we all agree that (attendance) took a nose dive when the (WBLT) came out. Michael
Because of the time spent during the fieldwork components of their units, Thomas and Michael have the opportunity to communicate with their students and to hear about how they use their time:
I come to that conclusion that a lot of students are comforted by the safety net of (WBLT). They know it’s there, they know they can get to it, when it suits them, anytime. But not right nowbecause they’ve got a bit of a hang-over from a party on the weekend, or they’ve got work or something, but they never seem to be able to find the time. They don’t have that self-discipline. Michael.
The reality is, the ones who aren’t there are the ones that really needed to be there. The ones who are there probably could’ve been somewhere else and been fine. Thomas
The loss of skills that lecture attendance encouraged, such as note taking and synthesis were also seen as aspects for concern when the technologies were used:
When I was an undergrad, we learnt how to take notes. People don’t seem to be able to take notes anymore; they are very reticent to take notes because that’s not part of their training. So note taking I think is probably a dying art, as a result of (WBLT and the provision of notes, online).
Both saw note taking as an important component in the learning process:
‘It does focus their attention on what you’re actually saying and putting it into their own words. Thomas
They don’t do that now, so they’re immediately less engaged. If they’re not fiddling around with their mobile phones, there are some other student distractions. They’re not focussed as intensely as they used to be. Michael
Both are concerned that their roles as teachers and ‘performers’ are less rewarding because of the drop in attendance. They both acknowledged that they reflected on possible reasons for the poor attendance, including the time of the lectures and their own proficiency at lecturers. Thomas recounted his experiences when reflecting on the turnout of 6 of the 26 students enrolled in week 4 of his course:
I quickly realised when I started to get a feedback across the group (of lecturers on the unit), that it wasn’t necessarily me. I hadn’t given a lecture yet, so I hadn’t buggered it up myself yet. And it could be partly 9 o’clock and 10 o’clock lectures, but I suspect it’s mostly (WBLT). Thomas
The difficulty of satisfying student expectations was raised as an issue and there was agreement that ‘the more we provide, the more they want’. Both Michael and Thomas recognised the changes in students’ circumstances, which in turn impacted on the learning environment:
And the problem isn’t what we’re doing at all, it’s (the students). They are the problem. They’ve got way too much paid employment. This is really the core of the problem. And why they’ve got way too much paid employment? Because the …cost of their university degrees are so horrific, and because the cost of living is horrific, and we can’t solve those things. It’s not our problem, but we cop it in the neck for all of the things that are wrong in their lives. Michael
Thomas and Michael both saw WBLT as adding to the flexibility of students, but were concerned that it reduces the flexibility of teachers:
We’re talking about flexible learning, but I think we’ve decreased our flexibility, at least as teachers. We’re now so hardwired into technology, and hard wired into the way that we teach and the lecture notes need to go up, so therefore how far are you allowed to deviate from the script? It’s a very difficult balance, because you’ve got to be equitable with the people off campus (and) on campus. They’re buying a product and you’re attached to that product. Michael
Impressions of using WBLT
Both Thomas and Michael described their experiences with WBLT as ‘rarely or never positive’ They both teach small third year groups this semester and have decided not to use WBLT at all due to their concerns.
Learning Futures
Thomas and Michael are convinced that the future of learning and teaching lies in encouraging more communication and participation among students:
I'm going to make a bold prediction. I think it's going to go backwards. I think the students are going to get really cynical about all this stuff. They'll want contact with people. I'm finding that they’re getting a bit cynical about the web now. When it first came out they just thought (the web) was fantastic. And we did something quite radical, back in the nineties, offering a unit with lectures only- with no tuts, no pracs- just lectures- two lectures a week, because all the rest of the learning was packaged up onto the web. We thought the students would really go for that and it would save us time and human resources. It worked for a couple of years, but now we'd be shot- ripped to shreds.
They want face-to-face contact. I think this i-lecture stuff is a bit of a fad. It doesn't enhance learning outcomes and sooner or later (the students) going to cotton-on. Thomas
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