SOME FACULTY SEE DOWNSIDE OF TECHNOLOGY
Despite the obvious benefits of putting lecture materials online,
some faculty have seen a sharp rise in absenteeism that
results from students' having access to class content over
their computers. Terre Allen, a communication studies scholar
at Cal State Long Beach, said that when she posted most of
her notes online, attendance in her classes dropped from about
65 percent to only about 35 percent. "Too much online instruction
is a bad thing," she said. Faculty at other institutions have
reported similar drops in attendance when lecture notes are
available on the Web, and many have adjusted their approach
to teaching in an attempt to deal with the change. Some, like
Lee Ohanian, an economics professor at UCLA, only post
selections from lecture notes. Others have resorted to giving
more pop quizzes, including test questions that specifically are
not covered in the notes posted online, and offering extra
credit to students who show up for class.
Los Angeles Times, 17 January 2006
http://www.latimes.com/technology/la-me-noshow17jan17,1,3883942.story
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