I much prefer the meaningless interaction with students.
And I think they do too.


At 08:40 AM 11/22/2005, Robert Emerson wrote:
>What can I say?  Enrollment is down.  Just wait till the football team 
>improves.
>                         Robert Emerson
>
>----- Original Message ----- From: "Bill Shaw" <[log in to unmask]>
>To: <[log in to unmask]>
>Sent: Tuesday, November 22, 2005 9:25 AM
>Subject: Course Casting
>
>
>>What???  You only have 900???  We have seminars that size (of course
>>this is Texas).
>>
>>========
>>
>>>My students and I, too, have plenty of meaningful interaction,  but
>>>certainly not for all 900 of them!
>>>                                    Robert
>>>
>>>----- Original Message ----- From: "John Allison {allisonj}"
>>><[log in to unmask]>
>>>To: <[log in to unmask]>
>>>Sent: Tuesday, November 22, 2005 6:28 AM
>>>Subject: Re: Course Casting
>>>
>>>
>>>I have meaningful interaction among students and me in a class of 120.
>>>
>>>John
>>>
>>>
>>>-----Original Message-----
>>>From: Academy of Legal Studies in Business (ALSB) Talk
>>>[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of e marshall wick
>>>Sent: Monday, November 21, 2005 8:03 PM
>>>To: [log in to unmask]
>>>Subject: Re: Course Casting
>>>
>>>>But critics complain that digital lectures delivered through earphones
>>>cut down on the vital interaction between professors and students. And
>>>parents, who shell out tens of thousands of dollars for tuition, aren't
>>>convinced that kids who rely on the lectures-to-go are getting their
>>>money's worth.
>>>>
>>>           'Vital interaction' between professors and students in
>>>classes of 50, 75, 150, 250, 500
>>>           students?   The critics gotta be kidding me.     During a
>>>typical session, at best,
>>>           5 to 10 students will have an opportunity to ask questions or
>>>discuss materials.
>>>
>>>           Parents who believe that shelling out tens of thousands of
>>>dollars for tuition means
>>>           their children are basically learning from the typically 12
>>>to 15 hours a week of classroom
>>>           instruction are surely being misled.
>>>
>>>           Granted, there are some possible downsides to digital
>>>lectures.   One of them
>>>           is the missing interaction between students following
>>>classes.  Some others
>>>           are pointed out in the article:
>>>
>>>>Students learn an important skill when they are required to show up for
>>>a lecture: creating a schedule and sticking to it. Being in class keeps
>>>them in regular contact with professors, which, experts say, is a key to
>>>keeping dropout rates low. Lectures, too, force students to focus for
>>>long, uninterrupted stretches.
>>>
>>>>Course casting might work, says Lee Knefelkamp, a professor of
>>>education at Teachers College at Columbia University, if a professor is
>>>trying to deliver facts and concepts for later regurgitation. "Students
>>>can listen to that anywhere." But a topnotch lecture, says Knefelkamp,
>>>"should be provocative, catch you up short and make you think in ways
>>>you never have before."
>>>            Why isn't this possible on a taped as well as live lecture?
>>>
>>>            Finally, the article by using the term 'course casting'
>>>gives the impression that
>>>           this approach is new.    Actually thousands of distance
>>>learning courses have
>>>           included lectures on tape, CD and more recently on streaming
>>>video to the
>>>           students over the past 10 years.
>>>
>>>           While I don't have video for any of my own classes, they are
>>>all web based
>>>           and i stopped the 'sage on the stage' well over 5 years ago
>>>myself and
>>>           use the entire class time for structured student group
>>>discussion (and thus
>>>           interaction among themselves which is carried over beyond
>>>class time.)
>>>           I think it would be neat if I also supplemented this with
>>>video lectures
>>>           for those who might additionally benefit from this but I have
>>>never gotten
>>>          around to doing this.
>>>
>>>          Hope this starts some further discussion on the topic.
>>>
>>>               cheers
>>>                 Marshall
>>>
>>>        http://homepage.gallaudet.edu/Marshall.Wick/bus447/
>
>**********************************************************
>
>Frank Cross
>McCombs School of Business
>The University of Texas at Austin
>1 University Station B6000
>Austin, TX 78712-1178