Friday, September 19, 2008
Should You Live Blog/Twitter A College Class?
Techdirt: "It's quite common these days for people to 'live blog' or 'live Twitter' different conferences or events they're attending, filling in others what's happening in near real time. However, what happens when someone does that in a college class? Already, there are some professors struggling with the fact that students use the internet during class, but they're not at all happy about the idea that they might not just be using the internet to surf around -- but to report to others what's happening inside the classroom. The issue is discussed in detail by Mark Glaser in his latest MediaShift column after an NYU professor told her students to stop blogging or Twittering things about her class."
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11 comments:
If you are allowed to live blog and twitter other places, why not in a classroom? Sure people including professors do not want to be quoted without knowledge but that is going to happen regardless of it being done in or out of class. Everyone is quoted without their knowledge when stories of past events are retold. Theses stories are just turning into blogs and twitters!
I don't believe there is any real way to stop this becuase technology is all around us and there is no way it is going away. THe professor in this article is just going to have to accpet the fact that they will be quoted and that blogging and twittering is probably going to continue!
I think that the professor's objections to the livebloging and the twittering might stem more from the fact that it's distracting, rather than the actual medium itself. Although I think that the idea of not being able to quote a professor is stupid, I can understand not wanting students to be really distracted in class, whether by facebook or twitter.
Not only is liveblogging and twittering distracting in a class, but it is illegal. If the person receiving the feed isn't paying for the class, they are stealing information. And if they are a part of the class, then they aren't getting the full experience and really just punishing themselves.
It strikes me that the most concerning issue is spending time and focus on twitter than on understanding the material, not the sharing of information. While etiquette would dictate that some things are said off-the-record, short of making the whole class sign an NDA, the 'no quoting' blanket rule seems pretty unfounded. Isn't taking notes already quoting somebody in a way? Especially so if I lend my notes to somebody else.
The article runs into two issues in my view. The first being, I have yet to have a class where we are allowed to use computers in, so atleast at CMU I don't think of this being a big issue. Secondly, people would really blog about a class? When I'm taking notes in class I don't have time to think about what might make a good blog story.
A solution that a lot of schools don't seem to consider is a device called the WiFi jamer. Its a $30 device that blocks makes it impossible for WiFi within a certain area to be used. If you don't want people having access to the internet, don't give them access to it at all.
You really can solve this issue by just not allowing students to have computers out during a lecture. This may have been surprising, but I discovered that most of the professors throughout the university do not allow computers in the first place because this causes such a disruption in class. I just can't see this catching on because I don't think students will really want to take the time to liveblog a class even if the internet is allowed.
As many have said, live blogging during class is not only obnoxious, but stupid. If you are paying $52,000 a year (fall 08 CMU Tuition) then why are you giving others the chance to access the information for free? Additionally, it distracts you from the learning environment and the participation that it requires.
The quoting without permission is a little strange. The world in which we live is a digital one. The speed at which info can travel has increase exponentially in the past decade. Why stifle that growth?
I've heard this topic come up on campus quite a bit especially after last year's youtube incident with a class on campus. It seems that there could be a generational gap here that makes us feel that we should be able to use this sort of technology during class but really when I think about it, it is restricted with good reason. Laptops and cell phones are very distracting in a classroom environment. I suppose that blogging about a class is the equivalent of sharing your notes for that day but I think the real issue here is exchanging these things in real time.
Also the issue is why they hell are you taking a class that you know your just going to twitter, etc... in? I think there is a focus issue present in that people are trying to focus on the outside world at the same time as when they should be a little selfish and horde the time in the classroom with the professor's.
I seem to recall an issue a year or two ago at CMU regarding recording or quoting professors without permission. OK people ask permission. I think the real problem is students using the internet in class in the first place. Shouldn't students be paying attention in class? I realize that's difficult sometimes, but you're paying to learn. You don't have to check your email every 5 minutes, and you don't have to be constantly connected and blogging people. It's ok to turn off your computer.
Freedom of information is essential to our growth as a society. Exchange of ideas is what always leads to the most revolutionary inventions, like the steam engine or rock and roll. Trying to control what is vaguely termed "intellectual property" is naive and ultimately futile. "Stealing" information from a professor is a fallacy; universities don't charge for the information they impart, they charge for the degrees. I've sat in at classes at UNM before because I've been interested in the subject. MIT gives their lectures away free online and iTunes has started distributing videos of university lectures with iTunesU.
Twittering or liveblogging during class is incredibly distracting and a professor is completely entitled to not allow laptops or internet access during her lecture. However, limiting the exchange of information imparted outside of the classroom is ridiculous.
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