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The UOM
Our university. Our beloved University of Malta.
The long corridors, the lecture halls, the laboratories, the quad, the library, Student House. That establishment where most of us spend long days. Long days listening to lecturers speak about all the books they've written; all the research they've carried out and all the dragons they've battled. Of course, if you're a bit luckier (like I am) you will also get lecturers who mention their love for Dolly Parton, play Gloria Gaynor's music during their lectures or send e-mails such as this one:
Dear students,
I am convinced that 90% of those who had a laptop in the lecture-room this afternoon were paying no attention to what I was saying. It is clear the laptops are not helping you focus on the lecture but quite the contrary and they will therefore not be allowed for next Monday's lecture.
You may take notes in any old-fashioned way: write on paper, cardboard or anything else you want - parchment, papyrus... even clay tablets if you wish. But not on computer.
You might also want to note that the lecture-room is also not the right place for napping, flirting, snacking, gossiping and catching up with the latest news.
Regards,
(Lecturer's Name)
NB - I copied and pasted this e-mail straight from my university inbox. (No tampering with it, I shall promise!)
This e-mail was sent after an excruciatingly boring two-hour lecture, where the lecturer in question just sat at a desk and read the power-point presentation from his laptop.
#nowonder
The problem with this lecturer is that they cannot understand how incredibly boring it is to just sit there and look at someone poorly presenting something they know (or something they read in some old book.) In my opinion, it is irrelevant how interesting the information is. The aim of a lecturer is to keep the students engaged by being dynamic and active. A good lecturer would get you interested in the most boring of subjects. Yes, been there, done that.
A lecturer like the one who sent such an e-mail simply can't blame their students. The presentation of this particular lecture made a buzzing fly look more interesting. And Facebook, Tumblr, Miniclip.com also were. Even though many don't seem to grasp this fact, students are human beings. And you and I both know that these come with a baggage. If you're totally boring and lost in your own little bubble, you just can't ask the students to be there with you. It's logical.
That's why this e-mail is beyond pathetic. You get to realise what sort of person this lecturer actually is. You get to realise how dedicated this person is. Yes, a mind-numbing lecture allows you to ponder on many things. And what really stands out is the fact s/he really doesn't seem to be keen on improving their lecturing skills. I'm sorry, but if you see that your audience are bored out of their wits and are finding every other excuse to distract themselves, despite the fact that they know they might be examined on what you are blabbing away about, then it must hit you that you must be doing something wrong, very wrong.
Then there's that other issue. Allow me to lay it out please.
It is not the era of clay tablets and papyrus anymore. If you don't get that, then you shouldn't be lecturing... In this modern day and age, most of us use some sort of portable device at university, namely iPads and laptops.
Now I don't know about yours, but my laptop needs its battery charged regularly and even if didn't, at some point throughout the day a laptop needs to be re-charged. That's exactly why I want the UOM to explain why there are only 1 or 2 electricity outlets in several classrooms. And if I have to be brutally honest, with all the millions of Euros being spent, something like this should be thoroughly looked into. I mean, putting some more electricity outlets in the lecture rooms wouldn't cost that much, would it?
I don't want to say that everything's wrong. That's not the idea I want to convey. In fact I simply love the new IT services building, to name one. I think it's awesome and it really has enough electricity outlets. But that's not enough, is it? ...unless professors started lecturing via Skype and we could all stay there, comfortably, that is.
U ajma. Ma nafux ilghala triduhom dawn il laptops fil klassijiet. ahna pitazz u biro konna nuzaw u dejjem tallimna kollox mhux bhal generazzjoni taghkom kollkom ghazz.
ReplyDeleteKollox tghallimt ukoll! L-anqas tikteb "tallimna", "ilghala", u tuza l-artiklu (il laptops, fil klassijiet) ma taf. Mur lura minn fejn gejt, ghax ahjar.
DeleteThanks to modern technology, our generation can easily produce more work of far higher quality than yours possibly ever could. How many people in your class managed to squeeze two journal publications out of a bachelor's thesis like me and some of my colleagues did when we graduated last year?
Deletei am with the author in class, and trust me, i never took a laptop to his lecture, but i still end up painting all sorts of things on my notebook, and still, not paying him any attention.. some lecturers need to reform their teaching methodologies!
ReplyDeleteHonestly speaking, I'm a student and when I use my laptop in the lecture room I only use it to have fun... and look interested when I look at the professor. It's a temptation and that's it in fact when it's an important lecture I just don't take the laptop to pay attention.
ReplyDeleteIt's not a matter of laptops ... even without a laptop, I sometimes end up drawing and playing oxo in lessons because the lectures are boring ... We're university students ... We have studied to reach this position so we know what working hard means. There are lecturers who keep you attentive even if you have your laptop on (and thank god for those), but unfortunately there are others like this lecturer mentioned, who make it obvious that they go to work just to get the money and not to teach, hence we go to their lectures just to sign the attendance. But then at home it's us who have to study and understand the shit he was supposed to teach us.
ReplyDeleteI would like to pass a little remark. Using a laptop in class depends on the individual. Personally, I find it easier to type instead of writing. I can take more notes because when I write it takes much longer and I have to pay less attention. In addition, there are many lectures where I write my notes using my laptop and still fully pay attention. Why? Because the lecture is either interesting, or made interesting by the lecturer.
ReplyDeleteLooking at the people who commented, I don't think they got the point. If people get distracted that means the lecturer isn't being interesting.
ReplyDeleteWhether laptops are in class or not they will still be distracted by something or other if the lecturer doesn't grab their attention.
Banning laptops from lectures will only be a detriment to those students who prefer writing their notes on laptops. Other people who use them to play games will just talk among each other, scribble on notebooks or just waste time by other means.
Banning things doesn't solve the real problem, which is the lack of an engaging student-lecturer relationship.
I don't have a laptop which i take to school with me but I still get distracted during lectures even by just staring at something. If the lecturer is boring the student will find anything more interesting than the lecture and not just laptops.
ReplyDeleteUniversity students are meant to be mature enough not to use their laptops to play COD or engage in any other distracting activities. Some students use their laptops productively and I don't see why the latter should be penalised along with the former. I've always been keen on taking a laptop with me to lectures, simply because I'm a very fast typer and slow writer, and I think I wouldn't have done as well in my exams if I hadn't the opportunity of bringing it along. I would have missed half of what the lecturer was saying.
ReplyDeleteAnd I completely agree with some of the comments above...students STILL find something else to distract themselves if the lecture isn't compelling enough. It's too easy to blame it on students.
And why should students be penalised for playing COD on their laptop during lectures? If they still pass their exams and don't distract others, who cares??
DeleteOr do you think the sight of a game on the laptop in front of them will be too distracting for students to look at the lecturer's slides or the whiteboard? Because in that case the problem might be the quality of the lecture or the focus level of the student...
Dear Anonymous,
DeletePlaying COD on your laptop - regardless of whether or not the lecturer knows about it - displays a massive lack of respect for the lecturer and the university as a whole. Whether or not your conscience comes into play here is entirely dependent upon the student's level of maturity. On that note, I agree with Lara in that university students should have the maturity to use their laptops for note-taking in class, and not COD.
I also cannot comprehend your surprise - WHY should students be penalised for playing COD during lectures? Doesn't that question answer itself. It's a lecture, not a LAN party.
This lecturer clearly doesn't know the first thing about lecturing.
ReplyDeleteFirst - If he did he'd know that whether students are using a laptop or a biro, if they're not interested in his lectures, they're going to get distracted anyway.
Which means he should do something to liven things up a bit - reading slides off a powerpoint is possibly the silliest way to try and lecture a subject.
Second - He also needs to accept that if some twit wants to waste his or her education by browsing Facebook in class - its his or her deal. Like the proverbial donkey and the water, one can't force students to learn. So he should focus on those students who clearly value their future and are willing to pay attention.
Those that aren't willing to make that commitment, can pretty much go to hell and start practice saying 'Would you like fries with that?'
Will the teacher's laptop also be banned? :P
ReplyDeleteWell, I don't really think so to be honest.
DeleteBut it'd surely be a good question to ask :3
Cheers
B
You all try to sound all patronizing and hip but in reality the truth is that laptops are really not essential. In the past students were motivated to learn nowadays they get their nice stipend and they take they fancy gadgets and then they pretend not to learn enough when they fail exams. It's easy to blame the lecturers when the truth is that they do their best and the students should focus on their studies and not try to have all the things they like except for studying, which they think can be automatic.
ReplyDeleteIn Italia is the same because teachers blame the students when the true is that professor don't do a lot to make you motivated.
ReplyDeleteYou've got to leave it to Brian to complain about something like that.................you seem to be very distracted in many other sessions and not only in that one. Hahahaha admit that come on.
ReplyDeleteWell, I may be distracted (although I beg to differ) in other lectures, anonymous. But luckily, my exam results state otherwise :)
DeleteAs tan-nuccali said down here you don't really need to be careful to pass those exams........then it depends on the course naturally. Some are harder than others :)
DeleteI would have to agree with you on your last remark, Anonymous. However, if you allow me to say so, exams are still exams. It's irrelevant how easy or tough your course is because the pressure and feeling in an examination hall is always the same - tense :)
DeleteAll jokes apart now. Is he allowed to do that? Aren't there the students' representatives that should interfere when such a thing happens?
ReplyDeleteAjma jahsra jien zmieni l-universita amiltu u biex nghidilkom kont nuzah l-laptop ukoll u jien dejjem uzajtu biex nehles minn dawk il-lessons boring kollha. M'hemmx ghala toqod attent fil-klassi u tafu ghax dan kull examiner sar ibellahhulek jibatek and micro copy jew hekk biex tixxi xi pakkett notes. Imbaghad tistudja dawk u bizzejed biex tghaddi. So il-laptops vera li hela ta hin ghax taghmel kollox barra li toqod attent imma dik mhux problema ghax mandekx ilala.
ReplyDeletePersonally i do not agree with this Lecturer at all, as one cannot dictate anyone from using his laptop in class. Secondly nobody has the time to rewrite of what was said in class. I write faster when using my laptop than when it comes to traditional writing. I do not hope that he wishes his students to keep on writing the whole lecture.
ReplyDeleteIf he is complaining that his students are not focused, he than should change the way and style he lectures, in order to keep his students focused.
ANON MALTA
www.Anon-Malta.blogspot.com
Opinion, ....FACTS...Discussion...Arguments....Reality...Freedom
Of course the lecturer can dictate the rules of the class!!
DeleteDumbass....
That’ll really solve this matter. Oh please.
DeleteVery interesting blog discussion indeed...
ReplyDeleteI've been a student myself, I know exactly how it feels when the lecture is boring. I simple fall asleep. I've been teaching for 7 years: both MCAST and St Martins students. And i've tried finding ways and means to make lectures interesting: aksing for student feedback and advice directly in the very beginning of the semester, find related videos, organize class debates, insert funny pics in my slides, give out quizzes in the end of the lectures, etc. And still, no matter how entertaining the teacher is, there will be still some students who are distracted, who suffer from Attention Deficit, who are fully absorbed by their games, FB, sports new, etc from the very beginning of the lecture.
It's easy to criticize a lecturer, but noone can ever see or realize how much time and effort is put into it. That literally you don't sleep before you've decided and prepared what you'll be doing tomorrow. And only your family would know cause all the preparation time is taken away from them in the end...Sometimes you just feel drained, cause you've been preparing and coming up with all ideas, or didnt sleep enough last night, but noone cares or even worse is being rude and ignorant in class. Other times, when you are totally fed up, you just change job :) and go work in the industry for a change...
To ban or not to ban the laptop, its up to the lecturer to decide. If there are students who play from second 1, and they are majority, I would ban the laptops and stay asking them questions throughout the class, or even better do the lecture themselves, come up with ideas, something interesting, etc. Not always easy when you get to do it... We do understand all the advances, and even how you feel sometimes. But it would be so nice, if you ever tried to put yourselves in our shoes for a change ;)
Grow up will you!
ReplyDeleteWhat I find pathetic is the lack of balls of the student who is too afraid to put a name to the compliant. If said student(s) really vbelieved that they have a right to using a laptop and playing games during lectures they should stand up and voice their disconcern publicly.
Instead, they forwarded an email to an anonymous blog, just to make sure they will never get caught. Isn't that evidence enough that the student(s) know they were in the wrong? Get over yourselves and if you don't feel like a lecture don't go in, full stop!
The blog is certainly not anonymous. It is run by Keith Borg-Micallef and Roberta Bellizzi. Indeed, had you bothered to look into it you would have realised - yet your precious times was devoted to throwing a tantrum to try and justify what is clearly unjustifiable.
DeleteThis post was posted because we people fully concur with the stance of this student - hence our approval. The e-mail he forwarded merely serves to bear us out. If you’d like to disregard it, you may easily close the tab. No rocket science there, really.
Now let us tell you something, Andre’ Vella. We WANT to have our laptop/iPad in the lecture room - and if that’ll help us to distract ourselves, well, that certainly shouldn't be your problem. If a lesson is boring I MUST still attend, for I need that “present” on the attendance sheet, you see? So please, do be acquainted with matters before you talk gibberish. Besides, if only a part of it is boring, why miss the whole thing? It’d be easier for us and for the lecturer if we just turned to our iPads and googled more, er, interesting stuff. And if you’ll say that something like that disturbs you as a student - oh well, then we reckon you shouldn’t be at university in the first place.
Keith and Roberta, anonymous or not, you are no less twerpish and full of gaseous substances than the cretin who sent you my email.
ReplyDeleteAt any rate you should at least see for yourself; these are the lectures that the twerp found boring.
https://docs.google.com/open?id=0BxNobNun2jtsVWt0eTFMbUE0QUk
https://docs.google.com/open?id=0BxNobNun2jtseGJ6djFJby1JLU0
https://docs.google.com/open?id=0BxNobNun2jtsTl9NMERVTHZDRjQ
Dear Dr Vella,
DeleteWhilst we usually tend to see eye to eye with your various stances (when you comment on the net), we must really part ways on this one.
We have decided to disregard your calling us names - we certainly shan’t do that in our reply - but we cannot quite find a reason as to why you would do that, not least because you have commented on this post, which wasn’t even written by us.
If you really want to judge us, we’d recommend you read this http://www.teandrain.blogspot.com/2012/05/no-laptops-during-lectures-congregation.html. You shall be in a better position to comment, then.
Alright, I was out of order to call you names and apologise for that. However, you cannot say that you were not judgemental in your comments. You liked the 'end result' of someone who is clearly wasting his time at university - a buzzing fly is actually an interesting creature, at least for a supposed student of earth systems.
DeleteMeanwhile you can have a look at the "poorly-presented lectures" and decide for yourselves. After which I hope that you will publicly state what you think of them and of the intellectually-challenged student.
Dear Dr Vella,
DeleteHaving been a lecturer for 20 years, we're sure we needn't tell you that in reality there's more to lecturing than a few (or many) slides. The subject you teach is not something we've much knowledge about, which is why we don't feel we're in a position to judge. However, we do know that no matter how interesting the subject is and how illustrated your slides are - what sets interesting and boring apart is the way you present the subject. Students need to feel involved and need to be given the chance to participate, for instance. We are not saying that you don't allow your students to chip in - we can't know that and we won't assume you don't. Our point is that those slides you've shared with us are merely a tool, they are NOT your lecture.
If, by your own admission, you have no knowledge of the subject, you should have the decency to shut up and refrain from giving condescending "advice" on lecturing.
ReplyDeleteYou don't know anything on environmental science, have next to no idea on lecturing (being students does not make you experts) and have never attended my lectures.
In spite of this you have the arrogance to "like" the cretin who sent you my email and to lecture me on lecturing.
Dear Dr Vella,
DeleteYou're barking up the wrong tree here.
1. Our student years are over - apart from a couple of lectures we have in Malta and abroad for our Master's.
2. We are teachers - albeit we are well aware of the difference between lecturing and teaching, we know a thing or two.
We are not lecturing you - you seem to be doing that yourself.
It would be incredibly good for your good-self if you stopped being rude.
I doesn't reflect well on you, really.
We neither know anything about your field, nor are we particularly interested at this point in time.
Should the interest arise, we shall let you know.
We could then judge your lecturing skills - for hitherto we have not. Even though you seem pretty sure that we have.
You can't seem to understand the gist of this all, can you?