Laptops: How Much Are They Really Doing For Education?

Tyler Powell

In this modern digital age, especially with the advent of ultra-portable laptops, it is nearly impossible to go anywhere in the US without seeing a computer. College campuses have by far some of the densest populations of computers since every student has at least one and most buildings have a local array of desktops. A classroom may be packed full of students furiously typing the notes into their various word processors so that they can later take their laptop to the library and print them off. Is this really what goes on though?

Carrie Fried reports on a recent survey of two classrooms regarding the use of laptops during class. When students were asked what they found the most distracting in class, 229 of the 359 students who responded reported that laptops were the biggest distractions, whether it be an other's laptop or their own. Many of the students who had laptops reported using it for purposes other than taking notes, purposes like checking emails, instant messaging, and playing games.

Professors have recognized this rising distraction and have put forward efforts to stop it. Some professors have completely banned the use of laptops in their classrooms, while others require their students to sign a contract stating how they may use their laptops during class time before they are aloud to use them.

On the other hand, a college can't require their students to buy expensive laptops and not expect them to use it however they wish. It is not fair to the student to be told what to do with their property. Therefore, it must be the responsibility of the student to pay attention in class and the responsibility of the professor to make the class interesting enough to warrant his or her students' attention.

Grades: What are the Causes that Bring it Down?

By Michael Kang


A student's grade, along with gpa, is allowed freedom to fluctuate, in either direction. But what causes grades to drop when students may just as well be studying with the many free times he or she has?

According to the Milwaukee School of Engineering's website, there are many factors that effect grades and some are more obvious than others. Along with common belief, stress is, yet again, a key component to grades. According to research done by the University of Minnesota, "Students who reported a minimum of eight sources of emotional stress possessed an average GPA nearly .6 lower than those who did not." Binge drinking is also said to have affects where those "[s]tudents who drank excessively at least once in the previous two weeks had, on average, a GPA nearly .3 lower than those who did not." Although some may say that it is obvious that those who drink recklessly will have negative side affects, there is one situation that I believe not too many people know about. The University of Minnesota's researchers also noticed that "[students who looked at screens], [w]hether it be the television, videogames, or computer time, reported spending four or more hours in front of a screen had an average GPA over .25 points lower than students who spent an hour a day in front of a screen."

Unfortunately, with technology growing day by day, creating less "screen time" is becoming more difficult. Universities nation wide are relying more on the use of computer submitted assignments and tests, along with email being the primary means of communication.

Language conflicts in multicultural texts

Bud Whitley

Christopher J. Lucas discusses the phenomenon in the late 1980’s and early 90’s were some members of the academic world were trying to make curriculum more divers and multicultural by including litterateur from more sources than “dead white men.” These members had a goal to give students a more rounded curriculum and expose them more diverse cultures and fields of study. However, many of these college professionals over look the fact that a number of multicultural books do not translate well into an American culture.

A translation occurs when a language barriers disrupts the directly translating works of literature from one language to another. Translating into English often times causes works to lose a great deal of connotation and meaning, not to mention literarily phrases and techniques that do not exists in the English language. Literary techniques such as alliterations, similes, and metaphors loose all meaning when translated directly, causing the works to make far less sense than originally written.

The fact that many of the books and poems and speeches contain values and beliefs not normally held in American culture cause another issue in the incorporation of such works. These conflictions of beliefs lead to confusion and misrepresentation. If improperly taught, some highly prejudice works from other countries might give the incorrect impression that all people from that country think and feel the same way. Aspects of the movie “Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan,” although a comedic satire, could be misinterpreted to suggest that all people of Kazakhstan have horrible prejudice for a particular race of people. With this possible danger on the horizon, great care needs to be taken when incorporating translated works into a previously strictly European culture.

Online Colleges

By Sami Ahmed

When I turned on my TV a few weeks ago I noticed that there were three commercials for separate online colleges within a time span of five minutes. With the current growth of technology, online teaching is becoming more popular and accessible. Some of these online institutions, such as the University of Phoenix, have been devoted to online teaching. As a student in a traditional style university, Georgia Tech, I felt jealous, if not angry, at how a person can be in the comfort of their home in order to get a college degree while I have to be in this uncomfortable setting hundreds of miles away from my home, family, and friends. However before one starts criticizing the legitimacy of such online institutions, they should realize who these colleges appeal to.

The traditional university appeals to students who have just successfully graduated from high school and are looking for a college where they can study a specific field in order to get a job that suits them in the future. Online universities appeal to a completely different genre of people. The type of people that the online universities commercials are aimed towards tend to be adults who did not obtain their college degree and are already to embedded in their life and job to be a full time student. This means that these colleges aren’t there to make the future workers of tomorrow, but rather the current day workers a little better.

When analyzing the different University of Phoenix commercials, such as the one below, I realized that the commercial is tailored towards an audience that I don’t belong to: parents, army veterans, and people in the current workforce.

Rankings matter?

Gabriel Garza

There are more than 2600 accredited universities in the US, therefore there has to be a way to rank them. Since the early stages of Higher Education in America, there has been a ranking that encourages development, competition, and helps compare the quality of the institutions. When choosing universities, most students base their decisions on the rankings; however, many people no not agree on the rankings and say that the student’s performance will depend on other things and not on the university they attend.

 

Since the foundations of Higher Education Institutions in America, rankings have been the key factor to compare universities. An article from Campus Corner states that to create their school rankings, “U.S. News rates schools on seven unique criteria: peer assessment, student retention, faculty resources, student selectivity, financial resources, graduation performance, and alumni giving.” This may sound accurate, but these most popular rankings have the reputation of not being that precise.

 

The peer assessment category for examples bases its decision on subjective opinions, making it illegitimate. Another example is the faculty resources. Like an article from StateUniversty.com states: “Many students can tell you that grad assistants or TAs teach about half the classes for full time professors. Judging the quality of professors by how well they are paid or what degrees they hold is extremely superficial and often misleading. These rankings do not, in any way, give you information on the quality of the instruction you are likely to receive.” A research made in UCLA about 'How important are college rankings in students’ demonstrated that only 16.4 percent of the student's decision was made because of the rankings, compared to 57.4% given to the good academic reputation that the university had. There are many factors that affect the quality of Higher Education Institutions, but definitely the rankings are not the most important. 

Rethinking Higher Education

David Lai

In a recent Newsweek article, author Robert Zemesky presents a seemingly simple yet radical solution to the problems of rising tuition: a three year (instead of the traditional four year) degree program. Zemesky begins by observing that almost everything around us – technology, medicine, and politics – is constantly evolving. However, the principle practices surrounding higher education has maintained relatively constant for decades. According to Zemesky, “It’s more than just tradition; in our teaching we have made sticking with the tried and true a practical obsession.”

His plan is to make three years the standard length of time to obtain an undergraduate degree. To accomplish this, he suggests that degrees should require 90 credits instead of the current 120. To compensate for the reduction in courses, realignment would need to occur on the high school level as well as the university level. He observes that “too many of our best high-school students find their senior year boring and a waste of time.” This year, he suggests, could be used to accelerate students with truly challenging courses.

Zemesky’s plan also outlines transformational changes to the collegiate curriculum as well. He suggests that “students earning a three year baccalaureate degree would sign up for a program of study in which much of the course work is sequenced, as well as prescribed. Students would find themselves part of a cohort, a group of students who take most if not all of their courses together, learning as much from each other and their collaborative projects as they learn from the formal lectures and lab sessions they attend.” Furthermore, his plan includes the elimination of lecture-style teaching methods for ‘skill courses’. Instead, students would learn from “self-paced learning exercises with high-speed computers delivering instruction, assigning problems and exercises, and then checking the students' homework. When ready, students take their final exams and receive credit for the course, all without attending a single lecture.”

In another article, former Tennessee governor and University of Tennessee president Lamar Alexander called the three year degree the “higher-ed equivalent of a fuel efficient car,” as opposed to the current “gas-guzzling four year course.” His plan does away with the traditional “fall-to-spring school year,” which hasn’t changed much since the American Revolution. He claims that a typical college uses its facilities for academic purposes a little more than half of the calendar year. He continues by remarking that "while college facilities sit idle, they continue to generate maintenance, energy, and debt-service expenses that contribute to the high cost of running a college."

While both plans suggest radical change to higher education as we know it, the benefits of the three year degree make it hard to ignore. American universities, widely regarded as the best in the world, need to undergo transformational change to ensure that the worldwide competitive edge is maintained. Revamping the four year curriculum is a good first step.

Independence: One of College's Great Illusions

Tyler Powell

Part of the grandeur of college life is the thought of finally being independent for one's parents. A student can drink, gamble, eat unhealthily, throw parties, be quiet or loud when desired, and so on now that his or her parents are no longer nearby to set rules. The only restrictions on students are those they put on themselves.

However enticing this may seem, it is not the case in most colleges. In the past, as is made clear by Gavin Henning, colleges ruled over their students using the In Loco Parentis, which is latin for "in place of the parents." In Loco Parentis was established in 1913 by a Supreme Court decision for the case Gott v. Berea, giving colleges the responsibility of picking up where the parents left off. Even though it was later overturned in Dixon v. Alabama Board of Education (1961), students still do not have complete independence.

Students are provided dorms to sleep in, dining halls to eat at, and various other amenities. In many cases, these expenses are covered by the parents, along with some tuition loans. At some colleges parents can keep an eye on the students grades just by creating an account with the college online. Colleges have the power to put students on academic probation if their grades drop in order to shape them into hard workers. Students even maintain some control over each other through personal advise or elections of hall leaders. Where students may gain some independence from their parents, others keep them in check with academic or personal standards.