In response to Dan Brown's Open Letter to Educators

Dan Brown (pogobat on YouTube) posted a video where he discusses the problems he sees with institutionalized education, especially at the university level.  I disagree with some of what he said, and that's good.  Few YouTube videos make me think about their content enough to write a full-out blog post.  Here's Dan's video and my response below it.



As a second-semester college junior, I understand some of Dan's frustrations.  I've sat in classes where professors lecture endless facts that we're expected to regurgitate on the exam.  I hate lesson plans that rely on PowerPoint slides.  Most of those classes, though, are introductory courses.  They lay the groundwork for more in-depth studying.  You have to get through the boring, mindless notetaking before you can get to the more interesting parts of your discipline.  I've had many more classes that are discussion-based, where the 15 to 25 students in the class are expected to contribute as much as the professor.

A big difference with the classes I've taken is that I attend a small liberal arts college.  By small, I mean 2,500 undergraduate students--not anywhere near the 18,500 undergrads at the University of Nebraska (Lincoln, where I assume Dan went).  Smaller size means smaller classes.  More interaction with professors and other students.  Your major matters too.  I imagine I would have much thicker, fuller notebooks thanks to hours of lecture if I were a biology or chemistry major.  I study media and communication, however, so we read and watch a lot and then talk about it.  My class materials are stacks of scholarly articles with my scribbled notes and comments in the margins.

I agree that colleges and universities do need to change in some respects.  Dan talks about the availability of so much information via the internet.  He says it's no longer necessary to test students on memorized information because all of it is readily available online.  In some ways, he's right.  There's really no reason for me to know every nation's capital city when I can Google them if need be.  It's one thing, however, to look up specific information and another to look up everything.  Looking up some information all the time instead of memorizing it isn't practical.  I can look up the first 20 digits of pi if necessary, but there's no reason for me not to know pi equals 3.14 for everyday mathematics. Many people in Dan's video comments have said that there's no way doctors can operate without memorizing facts and procedures, and they're absolutely correct.  YouTube tutorials are good for learning how to play a song on the guitar but not for performing surgery.

I don't see memorization vs. the availability of information as the most important issue when compared to other aspects of the university system.  Publishing companies continue to raise the prices of textbooks without making significant changes to new editions.  Grade inflation in the U.S. encourages mediocre qualities of work.  Engaged, interested students can get as much out of their college education as they put in, but many students drift through, doing the minimum amount of work required to receive a degree.  There are problems on both sides:  how universities are structured as well as students' attitudes toward their education.  I agree that changes need to be made, but what, specifically, needs to happen?

Dan says educational institutions today need to reinvent themselves or the world will move on without them.  Education needs to fundamentally change and go beyond simply using e-mail, online databases, and Blackboard.  But he doesn't say what should be done.  Online courses? Already in session.  Using YouTube for class demonstrations and examples?  Happening.  I'm all for new teaching strategies, but what other way is there to learn information than to study it?  There are different learning styles, yes, like visual, auditory, tactile...but how do you reinvent those?  Or where do you go instead?  Scenes from The Matrix come to mind, directly uploading knowledge into human brains...

I agree that change is necessary, but I don't envision an overhaul of the system.  Change will be gradual because despite its problems, a college education is still worth the time and effort.

Assuming you live on campus, college offers you a unique time to learn.  You don't have the distractions of home and family.  You've moved past high school drama (hopefully).  You have new sources of intellectual stimulation all over campus, both in and out of the classroom.  You dedicate as much time as you want to your studies and choose how much you get involved with other aspects of campus life such as sports, clubs, and organizations.

College is a time to grow as a person, not only as a student.  Nothing on the internet can simulate four years of living with thousands of your peers.  Besides classes, you're in charge of your entire schedule:  when you do your work, sleep, eat, do laundry, and hang out with friends. You learn to interact with people from all kinds of backgrounds.  You use your time as you see fit and with any luck, still love learning after graduation.

There's room for improvement, obviously, but we don't need to (and shouldn't) scrap the university system.

Walk in the Shadows

UPDATE: WitS is on indefinite hiatus but we're playing on the Supernatural.tv forums here.

My friend and I have started a new forum, Walk in the Shadows, to play Mafia (aka Wolf). Not the Mafia game on Facebook, but this one. It's a game of logic. You know only your own role. If you're a good guy, you find the bad guys and get rid of them. If you're a bad guy, you want to stay alive.

The main difference playing the game online is that you have only text to go on. You can't read people's facial expressions to see if they're lying...and you don't have to worry about your face or voice giving away a lie either. That's where it gets interesting.

Anyway, if it sounds fun to you (and it is!), please check it out. I'm Impulse there, one of the admins. Come say hi. :)

Also, the other administrator on WitS made the image at the top of this post, because he's awesome.

So you wanna talk about fandom

I'm taking a course on pop culture this semester, and last week, we talked about fandom.  For the purpose of discussion, we defined fandom as activity besides simply watching every episode of a show or reading every book in a series.  To be considered a fan, a person must participate in something greater than whatever they're a fan of.  So joining messageboards or fan sites; creating fanfiction, fanart, videos, or blogs; attending conventions, or serious discussion with other fans; buying related merchandise.

We read about Star Trek and while it continues to have a huge following, the original series is a dated example for today's college students.  If you want to talk about great examples of fandom where people come together because of a shared interest in something fictional, talk about Firefly fans' increasing presence at conventions eight years after FOX gave them 13 episodes and then canceled their beloved show.  Talk about what the Harry Potter series has done for children's reading, or the HP Alliance's success in raising $110,000 for Haiti.

You can still talk about dressing like characters if you want but we've had better examples of fandom since Star Trek.