<p>As a professor, I have thought about this a lot. Some good points have already been made on this thread but one that students usually don’t think about is that even if I don’t know what they are doing (facebook, email, skype, etc.) their classmates sitting beside and behind them do. And how they behave in class will affect how their classmates think about them. Every semester I have at least one student come to me and complain about other students’ misuse of computers.</p>
<p>Well, smorgasbord, you have taught me something. I’ve never had a prof behave that way in 10+ years of undergrad and grad school, including time at a huge state U, tiny undergrad LAC, a state college and a professional school. It sounds to me like you are telling the truth so I’d say find another school.</p>
<p>Smorgasbord – that does not sound like a good professor, but then instead of exacting revenge, one could choose to take the high road. If it was you standing up there in front of the class, I expect you’d find it unnerving to have to speak but be ignored. </p>
<p>I think if I was teaching, I would tell students at the outset that if they’d rather surf the web during class, to not bother showing up. They may be more efficient at learning on their own from the book anyway (which they may or may not buy --many seem not to, though i agree, books are expensive!) If there were particular students who I knew for sure were web browsing most of class who then complained about poor grades or wanting a retake or other special favor to improve their grade, I would not be inclined to be very sympathetic.</p>
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<p>Honestly, I think it depends on the school’s culture – there are some great professors out there at all types of schools, from community colleges to Ivies and top LACs. I know of a school in the second half of the USNWR rankings that continues to blow my mind. The staff are very professional, the departments are solid pretty much across the board, course offerings are interesting, and the merit money is very generous. Meanwhile, some of the higher ranked schools have lots of bureaucratization, hellish registration, and are for-profit colleges in every way but title. The good news is, there are good professors everywhere, and, unfortunately, bad professors everywhere, too. It’s when the latter outweighs the former that you’ve got a problem…</p>
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<p>That’s true. Professors seem to be pretty underutilized, especially in STEM classes, in my experience. The opposite of what you said is completely true – even clarifying simple concepts with them after class will make them like you, and help you in the long run (i.e. bumping a high A- to an A).</p>
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<p>That really wasn’t what I meant. I meant a recitation, where every member of the class is required to participate - or at least on notice that he or she may be required to participate - in an interactive discussion with other students and the instructor - and in that participation demonstrate that he or she has prepared for the class.</p>
<p>Amending my post to say I attended 2 huge state Us, though the 2nd was as a PHD student with only 8 students in the program. They had better have good profs there! But honestly, even in the U with 50,000 plus students I attended almost for free, the profs were all available for office hours and TAs were always there as advertised. I think you are getting a bad deal if you are paying so much for such a return.</p>
<p>Profs are being treated so badly now at many schools. I don’t think that was the case when I was in college in the 70s and 80s. However, my son just graduated from a small LAC where the classes are small, lots of class discussion, the profs seem happy and it doesn’t cost $60,000 a year to attend. I will say, though, that my son reported that there were some students surfing around at times, even there. It’s pretty addictive. In my day, students covered the book they were really reading with the textbook.</p>
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<p>I believe that the corollary to my (well-supported by evidence) claim that a motivated student can get an excellent education at almost any college is that a student can slide by at any college (notice I removed the “almost”:)).</p>
<p>I agree with you, annasdad. This seems to be true through the ages. At some schools, the profs seem to be better at motivating the students, but if it isn’t there in a kid at that time, even a great prof might not inspire. However, showing up seems key. For the prof and the student, I mean.</p>
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<p>Bethievt, was your state school UT Austin? It’s one of my favorites.</p>
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<p>That’s true. You challenge yourself by finding the easiest possible professors to take.</p>
<p>No, it was the U of Minnesota for some undergrad. My PhD program was at ASU. I could rant and rave about how good both of these schools were for my purposes.</p>
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<p>I will say that that is annoying when students sit at the front of the classroom and do distracting things. That is why whenever I have my laptop (my very tiny netbook), I sit at the back of the class to not be distracting.</p>
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<p>From the professor’s point of view, it’s rude. In my H’s case, he has spent a lot of time preparing for that class. Even after more than 20 years, he still continues to add or change the material to make for a better learning environment.</p>
<p>From a parent’s point of view, as others have pointed out, we have spent a lot of money to give our student the opportunity to be there. We would like them to get as much out of it as they can. </p>
<p>We are asking students to pay full attention for an average 1 1/4 hr. class. Is that too much?</p>
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<p>You are describing the student that then comes to H whining about the grade they got on the test. You know, the test that included that off-topic, non relevant information that you felt you didn’t need to pay attention to.</p>
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<p>That would be fine if the entire content of the class came solely from the book. </p>
<p>See my comment above about students then whining about their grade. And it is like clockwork toward the end of every semester, these same students end up begging for “extra credit”. H’s answer is no.</p>
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<p>I’ve never whined to a professor about a grade. Never asked for extra credit. Still have a 3.8xx GPA. Not all of us who surf the internet are bad students.</p>
<p>The person I was responding to has not started college, but is making the assumption they can determine what is off topic, irrelevant, or something they don’t need to pay attention to. I was trying to warn them that sometimes that same information is the information that will appear on the test and is more on topic, relevant and important than the student realized. The student may not have the base of knowledge or experience yet to make that determination.</p>
<p>I never said all students who surf the internet during class are bad students. But it is still rude, it still may be distracting to those who sit near you, and you may just miss something important.</p>
<p>I’ve noted “FB in class” problem has been covered in several articles and am expecting DSM diagnosis of “FB addiction” will be next. Also have read read several articles linking clinical narcisssism with significant facebook use, as well as a recent NPR article regarding girls w/FB obsession linked to self-image problems.</p>
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<p>If all you’re doing is regurgitating what is in the book, why would you bother showing up? Just tell the students to read the book, post your office hours, and tell them when and where to show up for the exam.</p>
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<p>If there really are students who are surfing the Internet in class and still getting 3.8 GPAs, then my respect for a certain institution of higher learning located in East Lansing just went down, a lot.</p>
<p>Whatever, anna. You have such a knack of judging institutions based on one person’s experience. Fwiw, I have an awesome memory. Near-photographic and I can listen while surfing the net. I also 4.0ed my classes at U of M while doing the same thing. It has everything to do with me and nothing to do with a certain institution in East Lansing. </p>
<p>And most of my classes aren’t lecture classes. They’re discussion classes where I don’t have my laptop.</p>
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<p>Did you notice (a) the word “if” in my sentence, and (b) the plural form of the noun “student?”</p>