Blog Post #14

This post was about the article Teacher Knows if You Have Done the E-Reading. It talks about what technology is advancing towards in the textbook analyzing field. With e-reading, students are able to carry several textbooks in a laptop or iPad, and when students are studying e-reading will record what students have done in terms of reading, highlighting, and digital note taking. E-reading reports what each student is doing and keeps a record for the professor. The professor can then analyze each students performance against their test scores and ask them to look into changing their study habits. Some admit to doing poorly in studying, but others are doing well despite not logging in hours. In addition, some worry that this intrusive technology is giving a negative image to the students (once again, despite their excellent scores). 

As a teacher, I would have mixed feelings about this new technology. I'm not against growth and learning, but as the article describes, how do I scold a student that's doing well and understanding material in class without opening his e-book? As a teacher, I would understand that this could be something to change some student's minds about how they learn and impact their long-term educational performance, but in five years or so, I would only catch one handful of students in this problem. Lastly, I fear for students who don't know how to use it. This is forced change and compliance, which seems a little sadistic. In the end, I would probably reject this intrusive technology, but I wouldn't mind giving it a earnest try.

As a student, I would feel very offended "Big Brother" was watching me day and night. It seems that there would be follow-up to this technology that could seep into more places, and this is just the start. I've had e-book. I had them in Nursing School, and they were horrible. If you couldn't attend the one seminar they had about using e-books, you were forced to struggle the rest of your two years with the program. I understand it's benefits, as they are very clear, but the invasion of my study habits used mostly against me, gives me grief. 

My questions to the teacher running this program are:

• Statistically, of all your troubled students, how many were you able to turn around?
• Did this turn around include more use of their e-reader?
• Do you think your lectures provide too much information?
• If this is the case, what would you fill your class time with?
• Does this make your job more of a monitor rather than an educator?
• Statistically, of all your academically sound students, how many did you show their e-reader's analysis?
• Did this impact their study habits and raise their scores any more significantly?

My questions to the students in this program are:

• Do you feel a significant change? Enough to where you're happy that the program should continue?
• Has this helped or hurt your relationship with the professor?
• In what way?

Lastly, I would comment about invasion. The government feels like they can push us around and control us to the tee, but we often forget: we are the majority. Not to put the paranoia into readers everywhere, but they already monitor your Facebook, Twitter, and Blogs. They control much of what you don't see, and this is another in to your private life. Your habits are exposed and they'll soon be aware of what you eat for breakfast (oh wait, too late). This is another realm of invasion that we should consider not implementing. I feel like if we do, we'll lose the creativity that made our nation so great, and instead, enforce conformity. It's not my wish to do so, and I'm hoping it's not the wish of my future educators and colleagues.