Blog Post # 14

Teacher Knows if You Have Done the E-Reading

This was a very interesting article. It outlines the ways in which CourseSmart is allowing educators to see how students use their textbooks. They can view an “engagement index” to see how and how often the students are using their textbooks to study. This provides them with better information about how well their students are doing. Sometimes it doesn’t matter how well students do on a test; it doesn’t necessarily mean that they have fully grasped the concept, but rather may have just memorized the material long enough to complete the test. The article points out that because many courses are entirely virtual this is a way to have an idea of who is at risk sooner.

As a teacher, I think this would be great. If i do happen to have a student that is falling behind, I will be able to look and decide if it is because they are not studying or just need some extra help. I would also be able to see if it were just a few students struggling or if the whole class was falling behind. I can decide if I need to spend extra with some students or completely rethink the way I am teaching the lesson.

As a student, I am not fond of the idea. While it doesn’t appear to be anything too intrusive, I just don’t feel comfortable with it. I think my biggest concern is what my teacher would do with the information and whether or not it would cause them to make predetermined judgements. There have been many classes I have taken in which I never used my textbook at all, yet still done very well in the course and actually learned a lot. Instead of the textbook, I payed attention to lecture, took notes, and researched various other sources. It is very likely that my engagement index would be low, but only as it pertains to the textbook. I would actually be very engaged just in a different manner. It would be unfair for me if this were to be incorporated as a participation grade.

If I were to speak with the teacher, I would ask:
What do you plan to do with the information you receive? Have you found the data to be accurate and fair? Will you incorporate this as a participation grade?

If I were to speak with the students, I would ask:
Do you benefit from this data? Does your teacher show it to you even when you do not have a low score? Do you often leave your book open or highlight random parts to attempt to increase your score? Or do you actually study the textbook? If you do actually study the textbook, is it because you feel more pressured to do so?

If I were to leave a comment, I would say:
I agree that this has many flaws and discrepancies; however, I do think it will have some use. I don’t agree with the “Big Brother” aspect, but I understand why some teachers would want to use it. Especially if this use is for research purposes, or to develop better lesson plans. Personally, I may want to try to teach so well that all of my students have a low score when it comes to the textbook. I want them to engage with me, classmates, and others through technology, not be stuck alone skimming through a book they will only feel the need to memorize. Also, I think at college levels it is unnecessary to hound students about their grades. At this point in our lives, we should be responsible for our own work and grades. Students should be graded on they’re knowledge of the material, not how often and how serious they took the textbook.