The Seven Deadly Sins Of Technology In Higher

The Seven Deadly Sins of Technology in Higher Education: Exposing Our Crimes Against the Future Sarah “Intellagirl” Robbins EC Moore Symposium March 2009

Technology did NOT create these problems Technology merely brings them to light

exerting control to comfort oneself rather than sharing power

Administrators “Kent banning athlete Web profiles” Administrator:quot;We're really concerned about the safety of our student-athletes and some of the personal information some of them have on there.“ Columbus Dispatch Thursday, June 22, 2006

Faculty “Law professor bans laptops in class, over student protest” University of Memphis USA Today 3/21/08

Students “How much is it worth?” “How long does the paper have to be?” “How much do really need to learn?” “I don’t want to accidentally learn more than I have to.”

positioning oneself as an expert who cannot learn

Administrators After being asked about student/faculty pilot studies for a new LMS: “We know what they need better than they do.” Administrator interview Oct. 2008

Faculty “I’m not paid to know how to use Oncourse. I’m paid to be an expert in my field.” Instructor interview Feb. 2009

Students “I know I’m not going to have to know this for the job I want so Why should I bother?” student interview Feb 2009

distrusting new methods of acquiring knowledge

Administrators Wikipedia is blocked on all computers in the Warren Hills Regional School District. Seattle Times November 21, 2007

Cathy Davidson, Duke University (2008): the media and academia distrust Wikipedia because they have not yet figured out how to use the Internet to their advantage. American Journalism Review Faculty

Students “I hate working in groups. I always end up doing the work and profs never care that other people are being lazy.” Student interview Jan 2009

making decisions for students/faculty rather than allowing students to decide for themselves

Administrators “Ohio University officials say [they’ve banned all P2P networking] because P2P traffic can consume so much bandwidth -- not because the RIAA sent more copyright infringement notices to Ohio than any other American university.” Wired April 2007

Faculty “If they’re not disciplined enough to not pay attention, let ‘em fail. These are college students. (I graduated in 2005) I found that writing notes made for better retention, due to the fact I could draw diagrams and such.” Wired Campus – Chronicle Forum comment Feb 2009

Students “He [the professor] doesn’t understand how to use PowerPoint. Why should I care what he has to say about Wikipedia?” Student interview Oct 2008

not wondering what's new or embracing change, lack of intellectual curiosity

“The price of textbooks might be out of the average college student's control, but where you choose to spend your textbook dollars is not. It goes back to the law of supply and demand: if enough college students find quot;creativequot; ways to buy texts for less money, perhaps the publishers and those who make the buying decisions will get the message.” Peninsula College Paper 1/31/07 Administration

“Today’s senior faculty members look at blogs the way a previous generation of academics looked at television — as a guilty, tawdry pleasure that should not be talked about in respectable circles.” Drezner 2005 Faculty

“I do enough to get by. Most of my profs don’t really care one way or another.” Student interview Dec 2008 Students

assuming that the old ways, or the ways that we were taught are somehow superior

When asked about the quality of classroom experience: “Our faculty are world-class researchers.” Administrator interview Aug 2008 Administration

Faculty “It’s not my job to make learning fun. Edutainment is just another ‘dumbing down’ of higher education. If they [students] want entertainment they can go watch SpongeBob.” Faculty interview October 2008

Students “I got really mad one time when I got a C on a paper in class. I always got As on papers in high school.” Student interview October 2008

inability to change, lack of willingness to embrace the new

Administration “Zhejiang University, Nanjing University and Shanghai Jiaotong University launched a rule during the new term that freshmen are not allowed to buy computers. University authorities asserted that this could prevent freshmen from indulging themselves in electronic games.” China.org Oct 2007

Faculty quot;The concept is interesting and well-formed, but in order to earn better than a ''C,'' the idea must be feasible.quot; --A Yale University management professor in response to Fred Smith''s paper proposing reliable overnight delivery service. (Smith went on to found Federal Express Corp.)

Students “I tell my classes that if they just do what they are supposed to do and meet the standard requirements, that they will earn a C,” he said. “That is the default grade. They see the default grade as an A.” Marshall Grossman New York Times Feb. 17, 2009

Are our approaches -to learning -to technology -to change “sinful”?

Let’s talk! SL: Intellagirl Tully Email: intellagirl@gmail.com Web: intellagirl.com Skype, Yahoo, AIM, Gchat: Intellagirl

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The Seven Deadly Sins Of Technology In Higher

by Sarah Robbins on Apr 03, 2009

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