This parody of The Office tells the mock-umentary-style story of a college instructor who is attempting to teach with technology in his classroom. For any instructor or student who has been in a similar situation, this video may hit close to home.

“The class is on technology, and you’re not really using any…the board doesn’t really count,” the IT assistant patiently explains to the instructor. Consequently, he gives his students course information on floppy disks, then sits in front of the class and broadcasts a live Skype video onto the classroom projection screen (so they can either look at him face-to-face or at his Skypecast face).

The video was created by students at the University of Denver as a video essay to express some of their real-life frustrations with classroom technology. While the instructor is obviously trying, the results are ineffective. What lessons can we draw from this? Here are a few that leap to mind:

If specific technology is required, get students to use it in the classroom. In this class, students supposedly have been required to bring laptops but only half of them are using them during class while the instructor lectures. Rather than just using laptops to take notes (or spending the hour on Facebook), this instructor could have them interacting in a discussion assisted with Twitter for sharing notes and ideas, or (gasp) learning how to use specific software or programs.

Beware of outdated technology. The example of the instructor who hands students floppy disks is a bit extreme, given that contemporary computers and laptops don’t even include floppy disk drives anymore. Still, the longer we get accustomed to specific technologies, the harder it is to notice when those technologies become obsolete or replaced by something more effective. Know what your students are using, and avoid using stuff they can’t.

Keep it relevant. “If you are here, why are we Skyping?” Sure, live video lectures are a great idea…for online education. If you’re already face-to-face, there is a better use for your projection screen.

Make sure you know how to use the technology you plan to use in the classroom. Save yourself the embarrassment of failing to use the projection equipment or giving the class an assignment using software you haven’t learned how to use yet yourself, and give everything a test run. This saves class time and prepares you for any issues your students will face as they learn.

Listen to your students. The students in the video give good advice to their instructor: “Let us collaborate with our classmates.” “Better blackboard use.” “Don’t just read off your PowerPoint.” “Please respond to my emails.” “I’m so bored. Just let the students play a more active role in the class.”

Read the article about this video in The Chronicle

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This entry was posted on Thursday, February 11th, 2010 at 7:49 am and is filed under Articles, Course Activities, Fun Miscellany, Pedagogical Theory, Synchronous Learning, Video. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.