Dubbed "intelligent glasses," this product is designed to assist professors who are teaching large lecture classes. By wearing the glasses, educators will be able to see how well their students understand the concept being discussed. Students select a symbol for how well they understand the topic through their cell phones, and by wearing the glasses, professors can see the symbols students chose above them.
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In Related News: Scientists Live in FantasyLand where Students Actually Attend Lectures, Respond to Prof.
ReplyDeleteStudents never use technology well when it's part of class. They can shut down the government on their own, but if they had to enter an X next to "I understand this lecture," they will have 900 excuses for why they can't.
ReplyDeleteDoes the professor have editing authority?
ReplyDeleteStudent input: "Yes, I understand the content"
Professor revision: "Then you might want to pick your head up and stop sleep drooling on the desk"
If these devices are to be used for that purpose, most of the lecture time will be utilized in soliciting, analyzing, and sharing student feedback. In other words, it'll be spent in a continuous evaluation with little being devoted to actual teaching of course material.
DeleteProfessor vomits on desk from seasickness induced by Google glasses. I get woozy when there are raindrops on the windshield.
ReplyDeleteOr the tripping hazard. I get disoriented every time I get a new glasses prescription, and trip over things like stripes in rugs.
DeleteOn the other hand, think of the lawsuit potential (and Google's deep pockets). We might actually be able to retire!
It's distracting enough when they facebook and text each other. Now there are going to be hovering symbols popping out of the audience? I can barely keep track of what I'm saying as it is!!
ReplyDeleteSCIENCE: STAHP. The phrase "needlessly complicated" comes to mind.
Think of it as means of providing instant student feedback--all the time.
DeleteAdmittedly, I don't teach large lecture classes (and am feeling gladder and gladder I don't, at least in present conditions). But I'm sensing some contradictions here. All the studies I've heard of suggest that multi-tasking is a myth, and that students learn better when they are convinced or forced to give a class their full attention.
ReplyDeleteBut proffies are supposed to lecture while also following twitter streams, pop-ups on smart glasses, and clicker results? The clickers make some sense; presumably one plans to stop the lecture, ask a question, and look at the results, just as one might stop for questions. So the proffie is still in charge of directing hir own, and the students', attention, and it's in one place at a time. I can also see using twitter as a way to aggregate questions, especially if the proffie can take a brief break to read over and synthesize them (or, perhaps ideally, a TA or other assistant can take on that task). But constantly bombarding the proffie with student reactions (or, equally disturbing, bombarding hir with data from c. 30-50% of the class, and leaving hir wondering what the other 50-70% of the class -- well, yes, A&S, the part that isn't visibly asleep -- is up to) doesn't strike me as a good idea.
So, schools are already charging upwards of $50K a year in tuition, plus the cost of books, room, and board, and now they're suggesting they require students to buy Google's latest, sure to be expensive gadget so professors can check if they're paying attention every five minutes? Isn't that what tests are for?
ReplyDeleteAs if students understand whether they understand something.
ReplyDeleteLike.
DeleteGreat! Encouraging them to use cell-phones in class.
ReplyDelete