So, I’ve noticed something very interesting. This Educause conference focus is on “Interaction, Ideas, Inspiration”, but while there have been plenty of ideas bandied about and certainly some inspiration has wafted my way, I find the “Interaction” aspect seriously lacking. Now, I understand that the unspoken intent is that we are talking about interaction in our classrooms, but how is a professional conference not a learning event?
Perhaps the fault is my own.
You see, even during the more engaging sessions, I find myself blogging and tweeting, checking email (my phone buzzes every few minutes, it seems), IM-ing with colleagues back on campus, not to mention personal web surfing. Somewhere along the way, my attention span seems to have dwindled to that of my students’- if I’m not multitasking then I’m bored (and sometimes even then).
It’s entirely possible that I am misremembering the past- I’m sure that there were seminar classes in graduate school that seemed to drag on forever. It may also have to do with the changing nature of technology and my role- I spend my time in small portions covering multiple subjects as time allows; I rarely have an entire hour to focus on one project or issue.
Is this an advantage or a disadvantage?
I could argue that it gives me an insight into the student experience that I may be able to convey to their instructors- but I’m not sure that those instructors would acknowledge any advantage. So much of our teaching environment is still centered on students focusing on a single project over long periods of time (for a college freshman, 50 minutes is a long time). More and more subject areas have group work and some interaction, but I know of few truly student-centered learning opportunities (hopefully there are lots out there that I don’t know of).
I know, at least for me, this divided focus *feels* like a disadvantage. Perhaps because I still have previous expectations of “appropriate” student behavior.
