tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post2012379503476206370..comments2023-10-15T04:23:50.187-04:00Comments on College Misery: Just Google itUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger14125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-26345134657106805182016-02-27T17:25:01.253-05:002016-02-27T17:25:01.253-05:00"Indeed, it is impossible to navigate the won...<i>"Indeed, it is impossible to navigate the wonderful innovation and opportunities embodied in the Information Superhighway, if you can't be troubled to learn how do drive." </i><br /><br />Maybe it's not only about being able to drive (i.e., operate the machine with some competence), but also about having some idea of which direction you should go first, and being able to Ogre Proctor Hephttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17428431147495287413noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-15755373632115964742016-02-27T16:30:11.119-05:002016-02-27T16:30:11.119-05:00A scene from the not-too-distant future.
[Two you...<i><b>A scene from the not-too-distant future.</b></i><br /><br />[Two young adults sit at a table, facing the audience. Their faces are partly lit by an open laptop computer on the table in front of them; its screen is hidden from the audience.]<br /><br /><b>Snow</b>: OK, Flake, are you ready to take our un-timed, take-home, open-book, team-building exam on general knowledge?<br /><br /><b>Ogre Proctor Hephttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17428431147495287413noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-33770479932755230352016-02-26T21:20:24.517-05:002016-02-26T21:20:24.517-05:00What we should do, really, is just create open-lap...What we should do, really, is just create open-laptop exams. "Sure, google all you want." Three questions, long-answer problem or essay. Tell them well in advance they get it.<br /><br />For extra meanness, make sure that the answer to their question IS actually googleable, but ensure that it requires a specific search that requires them to know detailed terminology, so that "Three Sigmahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10822893039310439770noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-27759116456796190552016-02-26T21:20:08.340-05:002016-02-26T21:20:08.340-05:00What we should do, really, is just create open-lap...What we should do, really, is just create open-laptop exams. "Sure, google all you want." Three questions, long-answer problem or essay. Tell them well in advance they get it.<br /><br />For extra meanness, make sure that the answer to their question IS actually googleable, but ensure that it requires a specific search that requires them to know detailed terminology, so that "Three Sigmahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10822893039310439770noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-2752481240207572902016-02-26T09:07:33.513-05:002016-02-26T09:07:33.513-05:00Every semester I get a "Sam Smartypants"...Every semester I get a "Sam Smartypants" in my class who always loudly declares that "if it is important, it's on Google". It used to bug me, but not anymore. Now I simply say "fine, Google your own name". <br /><br />Nothing ever comes up. Sam shuts up. I_am_not_nicehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12164044353299362252noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-29162314649040596762016-02-25T20:27:05.650-05:002016-02-25T20:27:05.650-05:00I had a student ask what "vague" meant.I had a student ask what "vague" meant. Professor Chiltepinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10087270705989845484noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-19929588754215330252016-02-25T18:24:44.108-05:002016-02-25T18:24:44.108-05:00I had a senior ask me about the meaning of a word ...I had a senior ask me about the meaning of a word I wrote in commenting on a solution on his exam. He'd never heard it before and neither had anyone in his lab group.<br /><br />And what was this ever so exotic, esoteric, sixty-four dollar, dropping from my evidently over-educated vocabulary?<br /><br />"Terse."<br /><br /><i>::bangs head on desk::</i>dmckeehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18052641757203089416noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-28017035369140816272016-02-25T14:21:24.877-05:002016-02-25T14:21:24.877-05:00“…I experience moments where content questions go ...“…I experience moments where content questions go unanswered because the darlings are too lazy to EVEN Google it.”<br /> <br />God yes! I teach an upper-division Chemistry class where, last week, a student asked what is the electric charge of a simple ion s/he should have memorized from Freshman Chemistry. With the power of a smartphone that s/he chose NOT to use, s/he outed him/herself as:<br From an Unknown Readernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-61027203347269696742016-02-25T12:41:33.847-05:002016-02-25T12:41:33.847-05:00Will they look up a word they don't know? No....Will they look up a word they don't know? No. They complain that I use words they don't know, but do they ever write them down and then look them up later? No. If they're reading, do they Google words and events they don't know about? No. <br /><br />I'd be happy if they Googled *more*, frankly.Professor Chiltepinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10087270705989845484noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-55711212199707832162016-02-25T12:17:53.749-05:002016-02-25T12:17:53.749-05:00Yes, they head for Google. But I watch them do sea...Yes, they head for Google. But I watch them do searches (I teach classes in a workshop-like format), and they are amazingly limited. For example, if the topic is hamsters, they type in "hamsters". Other options, such as -- pocket pets, small pets, rodents, companion pets, etc. -- escape them entirely. So searches are part of every day life in these times we live in, but thought is stillAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-88614008033724204752016-02-25T09:31:51.799-05:002016-02-25T09:31:51.799-05:00I certainly appreciate the opprobrium heaped on th...I certainly appreciate the opprobrium heaped on the "just Google it" mentality. <br /><br />Indeed, it is impossible to navigate the wonderful innovation and opportunities embodied in the Information Superhighway, if you can't be troubled to learn how do drive. <br /><br />On the other hand, I experience moments where content questions go unanswered because the darlings are too lazyAware and Scaredhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14700345349806280657noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-84541809036992929992016-02-25T09:11:43.032-05:002016-02-25T09:11:43.032-05:00I have colleagues like this as well, many of them ...I have colleagues like this as well, many of them on-line profs (for whatever that is worth). I had some newbie sit in on my class and then grill me for why I spent so much time on content. Well, because you can't think critically if you DON"T KNOW ANYTHING!!! and as for "just Google it." Well, as someone who spent much of the last two years dealing with doctors and nurses,Academic Charlotte Annehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06617435890922621735noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-52902954782319438122016-02-25T08:27:36.543-05:002016-02-25T08:27:36.543-05:00And THAT is the attitude that results in situation...And THAT is the attitude that results in situations like the one that happened in my colleague's class last week, when George III came up in one of the course readings, and my colleague said, "OK, so who was George III and what else do you know about him?" and there was dead silence, until finally an international student from <i>Nepal</i> raised her hand and said, "Wasn't Fretful Porpentinehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11165078003123517013noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-58496886755090559362016-02-25T05:57:58.412-05:002016-02-25T05:57:58.412-05:00"you wouldn't recognize that you needed i..."you wouldn't recognize that you needed it if it bit you."<br /><br />This.<br /><br />The depressing thing is how often I've heard teachers take the same attidude* as Sam Smartypants, arguing that we don't need to teach 'content' because they can just google it. And not just the edubabble wankers, but actual classroom teachers who really do care what the students Rosencrantz Andor Guildensternhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05095512139776536635noreply@blogger.com