10:00 AM class (first speaker)

Side 1: Our Educational systems are falling behind the tech trend, we should improve it

The video demonstrates how our educational systems are falling behind the technology trend. Clearly, students have easy access to technology, such as personal computers, and are eager to use them. If professors were able to integrate computer use into lectures, students may spend less time checking email and Facebook during class. This could be done by logging computer time, creating in-class assignments exclusively for computers, or issuing online quizzes.

Also, students today want to feel as if they are interacting with someone or something. New technology may help professors move away from dull chalkboards and PowerPoint presentations and toward a more interactive medium.

Some of these ideas may seem farfetched when you consider adjusting our educational systems campus-wide, across the country. However, universities and professors could come up with ways for every student to be able to afford the equipment and technology needed to be involved in these courses.

On the issue of textbooks, material could be made available online so that students wouldn’t have to spend as much money on hard copies of textbooks. Blackboard is a good example of what I think is the beginning of our educational systems moving forward with the technology trend. It creates another way for professors and students to connect (besides email, phone, and in-class discussions) and gives students access to documents (PowerPoint lectures, assignments, etc).