Opinion > Editorials
COMMENTARY: The challenge of reaching today's student
Dr. JamesD. Rottweiler/Cochise College President
In my first months in Cochise County, I have had the pleasure of meeting local residents as a guest speaker for a number of community organizations. My message to these groups ultimately centers around Cochise College, but it really begins with a "big picture" discussion about societal changes and how they are impacting education.
Peter F. Drucker once stated, "In the next 50 years, colleges and universities will change more and more drastically than they have since they assumed their present form more than 300 years ago when they organized themselves around the printed book." Ironically, this quote appeared in Drucker's 1999 book "Management Challenges for the 21st Century," published just as the World Wide Web was achieving mass use around the world.
No matter the industry, things are always in a state of flux. But new technologies are reaching mass acceptance faster today than ever before. It took electricity 46 years to reach critical mass after it became widely available in the 1800s. It was 55 years before the gas automobile achieved this, and 26 years for television. The PC took 16 years, the mobile phone 13, the web four, the iPod three, and Facebook only two.
The You Tube video "A Vision of Students Today" depicts how students perceive the college education they are receiving. Two hundred students in Michael Wesch's spring 2007 Introduction to Cultural Anthropology course at Kansas State University made 367 edits to a digital document and surveyed themselves to create the four minute, 44-second video.
Some key student perspectives in the video include:
I buy $100 textbooks that I never open. I complete 49 percent of the readings assigned to me; only 26 percent are relevant to my life.
I will read eight books this year, 2,300 web pages, and 1,281 Facebook profiles.
I will write 42 pages for class this semester, and over 500 pages of email.
When I graduate, I will probably have a job that doesn't exist today. This (filling in circles on standardized tests) won't help me get there, or help me deal with (other people, war, ethnic conflict, and a host of other issues).
I get seven hours of sleep each night, watch 1.5 hours of TV each night, and spend 3.5 hours each day online. I listen to music 2.5 hours a day. I spend two hours on my cell phone, three hours in class, two hours eating, two hours working, and three hours studying. That's a total of 26.5 hours. I am a multi-tasker. I have to be.
Some have suggested that technology alone can save us. I Facebook (used as a verb!) through most of my classes. I bring my laptop to class, but I am not working on class stuff.
What are these students telling us? They are searching for relevance. While technology alone may not save us, it's undeniable that it is changing the dynamics of today's classroom, workplace, and home at lightning speed, sometimes creating competition for messages that are important but are delivered in a way that doesn't capture the imagination. Bridging this gap is a challenge that we as educators face every day.
I would enjoy sharing these facts and the Cochise College perspective with your community organization and welcome your comments and invitations. "A Vision of Students Today" has already been viewed more than 3.3 million times. Search for it at www.youtube.com
In my first months in Cochise County, I have had the pleasure of meeting local residents as a guest speaker for a number of community organizations. My message to these groups ultimately centers around Cochise College, but it really begins with a "big picture" discussion about societal changes and how they are impacting education.
Peter F. Drucker once stated, "In the next 50 years, colleges and universities will change more and more drastically than they have since they assumed their present form more than 300 years ago when they organized themselves around the printed book." Ironically, this quote appeared in Drucker's 1999 book "Management Challenges for the 21st Century," published just as the World Wide Web was achieving mass use around the world.
No matter the industry, things are always in a state of flux. But new technologies are reaching mass acceptance faster today than ever before. It took electricity 46 years to reach critical mass after it became widely available in the 1800s. It was 55 years before the gas automobile achieved this, and 26 years for television. The PC took 16 years, the mobile phone 13, the web four, the iPod three, and Facebook only two.
The You Tube video "A Vision of Students Today" depicts how students perceive the college education they are receiving. Two hundred students in Michael Wesch's spring 2007 Introduction to Cultural Anthropology course at Kansas State University made 367 edits to a digital document and surveyed themselves to create the four minute, 44-second video.
Some key student perspectives in the video include:
What are these students telling us? They are searching for relevance. While technology alone may not save us, it's undeniable that it is changing the dynamics of today's classroom, workplace, and home at lightning speed, sometimes creating competition for messages that are important but are delivered in a way that doesn't capture the imagination. Bridging this gap is a challenge that we as educators face every day.
I would enjoy sharing these facts and the Cochise College perspective with your community organization and welcome your comments and invitations. "A Vision of Students Today" has already been viewed more than 3.3 million times. Search for it at www.youtube.com
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