Question: What were your big research findings about student views on technology and teaching? What surprised you? What would be the main things that you would like both professors and the leadership of colleges and universities to understand?
Students really love to feel like their prof cares about how they engage with the material. Most students are inspired by professors who listen to them discuss their opinions, who give them in-depth feedback on assessments, and who ask for student questions. In the discussion forum, almost every student says that their ideal class would be no larger than 20 people, despite the fact that those participating are a blend of Econ, Bio, Pre-med, English, Language, History, Engineering, Gov, and so on. While not every class at Dartmouth can be a small seminar, professors who have virtual, written, or in-person dialogues with their students make those students feel empowered to learn. That’s where technology comes in– even if the format of a class makes discussion tough or one-on-one interaction between students and profs difficult– technology can provide an easy way to begin a dialogue, to be perpetually re-evaluating the new ideas and facts of a course in a multilogue.
Additionally, Dartmouth students love to feel a degree of control of their education. They love a firm set of learning expectations that have open-ended potential for fulfillment. Across the board, students noted that they would like to have the opportunity for many different types of assignments and assessments. With the classroom technology we have today, students could make a movie, create a webinar, write a blog, give a presentation supported by Ppt, or take their exam online; and learning materials can be movies, news links, podcasts, journals from any time or place in the world, virtual tutorials, or online texts. If the professor can establish a universal criteria for what the project conveys, students love to have choice in the way they convey those expectations.
I was surprised that even though some students love Blackboard discussions, Powerpoint slides, and lecture recordings; almost an equal number hate them. It turns out, that while students like to have these technological “accessories” there as resources, when their profs do not read the Bb posts, only use a Powerpoint presentation to teach, or use lecture capture in the place of office hours, that these tools can defeat that valuable personal interaction between the professor and the student that I spoke of before.
More than anything, I would encourage professors to involve students in their own learning experience. Ask your students to take a pre-course survey one week before class starts. How do they learn best? What aspect of the course topic interests them most? What kind of assignments do they like? Is there any skill or aspect of the course that they feel apprehensive about? Best case, this allows professors to set the bar high for personal investment in the course, allows them to tailor the course to the students’ interests, sends a message that the professor genuinely cares about the students’ experience, and takes the first step in establishing that invaluable dialogue. Worst case, the professor gets some info about their students and doesn’t end up changing the course.
As I begin writing my dissertation on the use of mobile devices as a vehicle for faculty to incorporate active learning strategies, I find this interview, and the research conducted enlightening and valuable.
