THERE IS a beautiful phrase that every college student longs to hear at the start of each semester: "You can find all of the class lecture slides online." The idea of having lecture notes easily accessible to students before and after class has both its positive and negative aspects. Students view the situation very positively because it gives them two very valuable options: Skip class and still get the notes, or print out the notes and go to class, but don't worry about paying attention. For professors, this has a negative impact of both losing class attendance, as well as their students' attention.
In providing lecture notes to students outside of class, professors risk losing student interest in lectures and therefore will not be able to effectively communicate the subject matter. Easily accessible lecture notes are nothing but detrimental to the learning process.
Through placing Power Point lecture slides or outlines online, professors diminish the effectiveness of their classes. Given the option of printing out the lecture notes at home, students no longer will feel the need to attend class just to hear the same thing read out loud which they already can peruse on their own. Without the need to write notes of their own, almost nothing will convince students that they need to pay attention in class, or even attend it.
The availability of lecture notes will correspond with a drop in class attendance. Unless professors introduce surprise materials not found in the online notes, there is really no need for students to continually attend class.
Pulling out an element of surprise in each lecture would help the situation a little bit. In order to be fully prepared for all papers and exams, students would have to attend class and jot down those extra few notes. It would be too risky to skip class, even with lecture notes printed from online sources, just in case the professor were to introduce something new and crucial to the course.
The problem still wouldn't be solved. Yes, students would come to class, but with the notes pre-printed and right in front of them, they could easily tune out all repetitive information and just quickly catch the new details that need to be jotted down. Even if the material presented is difficult and students should be paying attention, they will not realize this until it is too late. Come exam time, the printed slides will be perused and students will realize that not everything makes sense and professor aid during class could have helped with comprehension. Unless students actively listen and write down all information on their own, there is no way to hold their attention throughout the lecture and ensure they are picking up on the necessary details.
Granted, every student has a different style of learning. Having to take notes and pay attention may not work for all students. But it does for the majority, and so does attentively listening to professors and actively participating in class. Not all students are aware of how well in-class note-taking works in furthering their understanding of the material, and therefore do not realize how detrimental the use of online slides could be to their educational process.
In lieu of simply making lecture notes accessible to all students before class, professors should limit availability by creating restrictions or guidelines. Students with note-taking problems or an excused absence could contact their professor and request a copy of the lecture notes. This way the notes would be distributed in a need-based format and it would all be at the discretion of the professor. Alternatively, the professor could put a very basic outline of the lecture online so students could know what to expect and could come to class having done basic preparation. These outlines also could be used later in the semester as study guides.
Under no circumstances should a professor be fooled into thinking that placing the full lecture online for all students to print out would be at all beneficial to the entire class.
We are almost a month into the semester; valuable learning time may already have been lost from professors practicing this form of online lecture assistance.
Take the lecture slides down. Encourage students to come to class ready to listen, participate, and heaven forbid, maybe even take notes.
Do not try to cut students a break by teaching us how to better slack off -- whether you mean to or not, this is what is happening. The idea behind posting lecture slides is a nice one, but it is also too easy on students. Make the lecture slides less specific and promote class attendance in order to fill in the lecture details.
As much as many of us hate to admit it, we did come to the University to learn something. Professors should make sure this is happening by not giving us a way to get out of going to class.
(Alex Roosenburg's column appears Mondays in The Cavalier Daily.
She can be reached at
aroosenburg@cavalierdaily.com.)
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