I caught sight of this video when Courosa bookmarked it to Delicious. Dan Brown does a great job in this video where he explains his decision to drop out of school because his schooling was interfering with his education. It really speaks to the fact that in North America we are still using a model of schooling that was created hundreds of years ago, by the dominant classes and ‘holders of information’.
I tool feel cheated sometimes at University, especially by the time I am finished sitting through two three hour lectures in one afternoon. As I sit through the first of them, taking notes as the professor recaps the readings, I actually struggle to keep awake, let alone keep my brain focused and active. Though a small class, we are scarcely encouraged to speak about a topic, and never, ever encouraged to speak about a topic to one another (other classmates), only to our Prof. I compare this to my Ed Computers class, where I am encouraged constantly to collaborate in multiple ways with my classmates and other widespread members of my PLN through blogging, Twitter, videos, photos, the sharing of articles, and through our class Ning site. This kind of learning is actually relevant to me, and it has already improved the way I research and communicate about various topics. Even outside of school, the digital forums I’ve learned about have opened up so many opportunities for me. While searching for volunteer opportunities abroad for this summer, I became frustrated with the constantly high prices of volunteering on a project with any company that seems safe. I wrote about my frustration on Twitter, and less than a day later, @TEFLScotland replied linking me to a site with lots of great volunteering ideas. I’ve now applied to several wonderful volunteer organizations in Costa Rica where I can make a difference without going broke.
Anyway. Dan Brown’s video is quite interesting, even if I would not have made the same decision as he did and drop out of schooll. It reminds me of a Rick Mercer Rant, actually. I’m glad I’m not afraid of change and am willing to embrace new ways of learning that are emerging all the time. As Brown says, information is not only “free”. It has been liberated!
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Morgan Bayda 
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No offence to the writer but i’ve already spotted like 2-3 typo’s and havent even finished reading lol — do they charge you for spellchecker in your time zone (just kidding) nice layout though I’ll give you that 🙂
Hey Morgan!
I’m a student with Dr. Strange in EDM 310 at the University of South Alabama and I’m required to comment on this post.
I have to agree with both you and Dan about how most of college is just a waste of time and it’s really unfortunate. Honestly, everything I’m learning I can look up on-line. I only need school for the state certification to be a teacher..can’t get that “free” online.
I compare what ya’ll say about memorizing facts, scribbling down facts, listening to facts in a big lecture hall with no communication, all to my experience I had in Auburn University. I already have a degree in Political Science which is a liberal arts degree. Therefore, lots of listening to lectures in lecture halls. Everything from that could be found on-line. It’s sad. I don’t know how we would change a liberal arts education though. Something to think about…it should be done!
You can leave me a comment on my blog at http://battlesjessicaedm310.blogspot.com/
Thanks Jessica!
Thanks! Jessica
Morgan.
I absolutely loved Dan Brown’s video and loved reading your post! I absolutely agree with his video about how the world is growing so much and how we have all the facts here right in front of our eyes just a click away. I do think that teachers and the education field should absolutely mold to what the world is becoming and how fast it is growing. Thank you so much for sharing.
Nell Broughton
Hi. My name is Colby-Win Beasley. I’m a student at the University of South Alabama and I was assigned to comment on this blog. Dan Brown definitely has some valid points. I just wish some of the people in charge of our educational systems thought the same way.
Hi Morgan,
I am a student at the University of South Alabama in Dr. Strange’s EDM 310 class, and I totally agree with you on the matter of we should be allowed to ask our peers and use other means of getting the answers to our questions we shouldn’t just have to ask the professor.
Oh and thank you for posting the Dan’s Video.it was very informative and I love his enthusiasm.
Hi Morgan,
I am a student at the University of South Alabama in Dr. Strange’s EDM 310 class. Our class is similar to the Ed Computer class you were talking about because we do most of those things in our class that you listed. I agree that it is a different approach to our education but is very effective. I myself have learned so many new things this semester and not only things I can use as a future educator but also in my everyday life and researching. Great post!
Courtney
Hi, My name is Rebecca and I am a student at the University of South Alabama In Dr. Strange’s EDM 310 class. I think a lot of students can realate to this post, especially most from EDM 310 because we are all in those larger classrooms or just came from them. While it might be fine for Dan to drop out and take the ‘cutting edge way of getting an education” We mostly are here to get a degree to be able to have a job! I dont think anyone will hire a teacher who said they self taught themselves through free resources 😛 But I do love the video! Great Post!
Rebecca
Hi Morgan, I am also a student in Dr. Strange’s EDM 310 class at the University of South Alabama. I agree completely with you that schools in North America are stuck in what I like to call stone age teaching. The most important lesson I have learned from those dull classes is to make class an interesting and engaging environment for students to learn. Thanks for letting me checkout you blog.
My name is Jessica Sanders and I am an elementary education major at the University of South Alabama.I really enjoyed your blog post and can relate to your problems inside the classroom. I believe that the cause of this problem is lack of individuality and creativity. For so long we have been taught not to color outside the lines on a coloring sheet, and make sure to raise your hands. we have revolutionized each classroom to fit one persons’ liking. Hopefully sometime soon we will all wake up and see the need for improvement inside the classroom.
Hey Morgan, I am a student in Dr. Strange’s EDM310 class at the University of South Alabama. We were asked to read your blog post and comment on it for an assignment. Let me say that I really related to what you had to say. Our educational system has to change if we are to truly prepare our students for today’s society. We can no longer just teach facts as these can easily be found by anyone who can work a computer. I also am really glad you added Dan Brown’s video. He seems really passionate about changing the way people learn. Thanks for letting me comment on your blog and good luck with your teaching!
My name is Kristie George and I am a student in Dr. Strange’s EDM 310 class. I enjoyed watching Dan Brown video. He made some really good points. I hate that he stop attending school but I understand his frustration. I agree, that one should open and ready to accept change to make a difference in a student’s life.
Thank you for writing this post. I enjoyed reading it and your view on education these days. I am a student at the University of South Alabama. I am in Dr. Strange’s EDM310 class. I was assigned to read your blog post this week as part of my homework. You make really good points and I can see where your coming from.
Hi Morgan! My name is Alexa Howie and I’m a student in Dr. Strange’s EDM 310 class. As many of my fellow students have said, I agree with you about feeling cheated. I especially felt I was cheated after watching Dan Brown’s video and reading your blog post. It’s almost like this instutionalized education we have been enduring put us in some form of trance. At least, that is how I felt. I wasn’t broken from this state until I started EDM 310. Dr. Strange’s first lecture and demonstration about burp-back education kind of brought forth an idea that has been hiding in the back of my mind.
I really enjoyed reading your post and thank you for including the video. When I read your opening paragraph, I was really confused about Dan’s extreme measures. “Why would someone quit school?” Watching the video let me see his rant and justification for doing so. While I wouldn’t take as extreme measures as him (no matter how much money it would save), I will take to heart the things he has said (that many students feel) and use it to better my classroom. There are some teachers that aren’t like the teachers of the “institutionalized” school. You just have to look for them. My example would have to be Dr. Strange. He is living proof that teachers can break away from the “institutionalized” “burp back” education that so many students have to endure.
HI,
I’m an EDM 310 student at the University of South Alabama, and I must say I agree with you both. I too feel that some class are not very beneficial and they way they are being taught ( cave men days) needs to change dramatically. I don’t think i would have gotten feed up to the point of dropping out of school, but the reason behind can be acceptable to an extent of classroom improvement before drop out.
Hi there. My name is Chelsea Krail and I’m a student in Dr. Strange’s EDM310 class at the University of South Alabama.
I’m like you, I’ve felt cheated by some of my classes, but not to the poit of dropping out. And I agree. I’ve learned more from the EDM310 class than I have from many of my others. Plus, it’s managed to be the only one I’ve taken so far that has given me material I can take into the classroom.
Hi,
I’m also an EDM 310 student at the University of South Alabama under Dr. Strange. I agree with your post, and to a point Dan Brown’s video. I don’t think it’s a good idea to drop out, obviously, but, like you both said, many times the education we’re getting in class is not really useful to us in life. I plan to comment on this further in my blog. Thank you for your post!
Your post is so true in so many ways. i don’t agree with dropping out of school but I do feel like you have made many points that are true about institutional education. I to buy unused books, fall asleep in class and memorize facts and spit them back out. I have said this over and over and here goes again, We have to change the way of learning with technology and let the students imagine and have fun while learning. Thats why EDM 310 has been a great experience because I have learned so much with many hands on activities.
Hi, I am Mandy Davis a student at the University of South Alabama in EDM 310. I actually agree with many of the comments in this video. The price for institutionalized learning is outrageous! I have many books that I pay hundreds of dollars for and never even open. And what makes that even worse is that just like he said, I could find better information about that same subject online for free. I also agree that some lectures and facts poured into our minds in class are useless. I often feel as though I am wasting my time and not actually learning beneficial things.
Saying that, I must now add that I think he is a little extreme. I would never drop out of school simply because in today’s world you have to be certified in order to have certain careers. I admire him for taking a stand, but it would be hard for many to do this.
I agree that the world is changing whether we like it or not. We might as well change with it so we aren’t left in the past.
Hi, I am Mandy Davis a student at the University of South Alabama in EDM 310. I actually agree with many of the comments in this video. The price for institutionalized learning is outrageous! I have many books that I pay hundreds of dollars for and never even open. And what makes that even worse is that just like he said, I could find better information about that same subject online for free. I also agree that some lectures and facts poured into our minds in class are useless. I often feel as though I am wasting my time and not actually learning beneficial things.
Saying that, I must now add that I think he is a little extreme. I would never drop out of school simply because in today’s world you have to be certified in order to have certain careers. I admire him for taking a stand, but it would be hard for many to do this.
I agree that the world is changing whether we like it or not. We might as well change with it so we aren’t left in the past.
My name is Chris Clevenger and I am a student in EDM310 at the University of South Alabama. I really enjoyed watching this video also. I agree with you and I also experienced similar experiences in some of my classes when I was at Auburn University. Thank you for sharing this video and your opinion
I am currently enrolled in EDM310 and this post was assigned . I don’t exactly agree with all the points that Dan Brown made. Unfortunately many students cannot make such a decision of dropping out of college without it seriously affecting job opportunities and “credentials”. This system does need to change and it will, however, the institutional implications of the situation will take work from the inside out. Dan Brown’s video seemed more like a rant ot me and it seems like he contradicted himself with his information and arguments. Thanks for sharing this, it has really prompted an extended elaboratation and critique for my own blog.
Ms. Bayda,
Thank you for sharing such an interesting post. I am also one of Dr. Strange’s EDM310 students at the University of South Alabama. I found his concerns to be very common and I agreed with his frustration. However, he did miss a few key points to an institutional education. I wrote about this on my blog and I would love to hear your point of view on my concerns. I agree with what you wrote, especially about the price of books and how awful lecture classes can be. I am glad that networking has worked out well for you though. I am still not very good at it yet, but I hope to be better one day. You have really opened my eyes to a situation that I did not realize existed.
-Jessica Brown
EDM310 student
University of South Alabama
My name is Jacob Webb and like many of the other commenters I am a student in EDM 310. This post is one I can really agree with. I think often educators focus on what they think is best rather than what is most effective for students. I wrote a blog post about your post which you can find at webbjedm310.blogspot.com
My name is Jacob Webb and I am, like many of the other commenters a student in EDM 310. I agree with what you are saying completely. I feel as if educators don’t take their students into account in any way they simply do what they feel is best and what works for them. I wrote a blog post about your post. You can find it on my blog at webbjedm310.blogspot.com
My name is Brent Laforce and I am a student at the University of South Alabama. I am in Dr. Strange’s EDM 310 Class. I was assigned this post to read and comment on. I enjoyed reading it and thought you made a good point. Especially on how so many times students leave the class and hardly learn anything, and the fact that they paid so much money just to take it. Also I thought the video was informative too.
Love your post! I am Dana Johnson and I am an EDM 310 student at the University of South Alabama. I totally agree with you that some classes are just a waste of time and are long! I too find myself getting sleepy during lectures and I think there should be some teachers should improve their lectures. Thanks for sharing your post!
Hey Morgan,
My name is AnnMerritt and I’m a junior at the University of South Alabama. I’m currently majoring in Secondary Education English/ Language Arts. I loved your post! I totally agree with your (and Dan’s) feeling of being cheated. I hate spending $300 a class to sit there, while my teacher lectures me, tells me facts, I struggle to stay awake, memorize facts for the test, then forget it all. I agree with you that I may not go as far in taking a stand as Dan did by dropping out of school, but I definitely agree with him. I also think thats awesome that you volunteer in Costa Rica. Are there any of these links to volunteer opportunities in your blog? I’ll also be posting about your post in My Class Blog feel free to visit it anytime.
Thanks for your posting,
AnnMerritt
Miss. Bayda,
MY name is, Kelly Evans. I am a student in Dr. Strange’s EDM 310 class at, The University of South Alabama. I can understand where you are coming from, but I don’t think that one style of learning is better than the other. I think it just depends on the individual.
Mr. Brown’s video was quite interesting. He is a lively young fellow. I do not think I would follow in his footsteps and quit school, I have learned that lesson the hard way. But, I can appreciate his view on the ever evolving dynamics of technology and education or lack there of.
Thanks for an interesting read!
You can read more of my interpretation here on my blog
Kelly Evans
Thank you for taking the time to write such a great post! My name is Whitney Hale and I am a student in Professor Strange’s EDM 310 class at The University of South Alabama. Since I signed up for this class, I never realized the importance of technology and education. I also never realized how behind we are in the use of technology compared to other industries. I really don’t think students get anything out of sitting through lectures and then cramming to learn it all for one test. From personal experience, I have done that and it’s not interesting, which makes it hard to do, and there isn’t much that we take away from it. I also enjoyed the video, but I agree with you when you say that you would not drop out. I have about a year and a half left until I have my degree. I know that it will not change before then, so all I can do is take what I have learned from Professor Strange and other teachers who believe in the benefits of technology and teach my future students in a better way.
Whitney Hale
Morgan,
My name is Tiffany Fey and I am an EDM 310 student in Dr. Strange’s class at the University of South Alabama. I am majoring in Elementary/ Early Childhood Education and I really enjoy watching videos like the one you posted. It makes me feel liberated and empowered to change our education system. Like you said, I would not drop out of school like Dan did in the video, but I almost feel like dropping out after sitting in an hour and fifteen minute lecture where all I did was struggle to keep my eyes open! I hardly ever learn anything in classes like those, I memorize the material just long enough to take the test and then the information disappears. I learn much better in a class that actually allows me to be one-on-one with my teacher, whether it be through technology or in person, and be interactive with my classmates (Like Dr. Strange’s EDM 310 class). Thank you for sharing this video! It’s something everyone needs to think about. If you would like to view my blog you can click Here. Thank you!
Sincerely,
Tiffany Fey
Hi I’m Jennifer, I’m in Dr. Strange’s EDM310 class at the University of South Alabama. I enjoyed reading you post and watching the video. The things that are talked about are true. Education needs to change before it is left behind. Thanks for sharing your thoughts and the interesting video by Dan Brown. I’m glad i had the opportunity to read your post.
My name is Casey Allen and I’m a student in Dr. Strange’s EDM 310 class at the University of South Alabama. I enjoyed reading your blog post. I am excited about my EDM class because the things I learn are relevant. My EDM class is the first class that makes me do and learn things on my own. Thanks for the post!
Casey Allen
I am a student in Dr. Strange’s EDM 310 course at the University of South Alabama. Thank you som much for this post. I completely agree with you. Education is behind the times. It has to change or it will cease to exist.
Hi Ms. Bayda,
My name is Samantha, and I am a student in Dr. Strange’s EDM310 at the University of South Alabama. I am so glad he assigned us to read this post and watch Dan Brown’s video. Last semester I took a class in which we had to evaluate schooling vs. education. I never really knew (or thought about) the difference until then. And, the more I learned, the more angry I became because it occurred to me that through all these years, I’ve been being “schooled” by most teachers. I think this semester is the first time I have actually felt challenged. It is sad, most definitely, but it seems as though that’s the way it has become. I’m so glad to be a part of a new generation of teachers that recgonize this and that want to strive to be a part of the change that the educational system needs. Thank you for sharing!
Morgan, I can certainly relate to your topic here. I find myself losing interest after about 45 minutes of lecture time; after that I pretty much tune everything out, but not purposely. The lectures are almost always one sided and the professors do not allow time for discussion. History is my major, and I desperately seek to discuss topics because I often have the need to build my own opinion on the subject. Without interaction, it becomes very difficult to form these ideas and opinions that I need so I can direct my future students in the right direction. I agree that the way the education system is programmed is passe and nearly all students are being kept from their short and long term capabilities. I appreciate the content you have presented and good luck in your endeavors abroad.
Your blog really hit home. Very brave of you to step forward and criticize the educational system, knowing full well your instructors can view your comments as well. I feel like the instructors, know the system is broken, but are powerless to do anything about it. Unfortunately, the people who can do something about the system, are afraid. They are afraid because if they do, they won’t be re-elected.
Your blog really hit home. Very brave of you to step forward and criticize the educational system, knowing full well your instructors can view your comments as well. I fell like the instructors, know the system is broken, but are powerless to do anything about it. Unfortunately, the people who can do something about the system are afraid. They are afraid because if they do, they wont be re-elected.
Hi Morgan!
I enjoyed visiting your blog and reading your thoughts on education! I am a student in Dr. Strange’s EDM310 class at the University of South Alabama in Mobile, Alabama. Having been to school, earning my first degree over 20 years ago, and returning to school this semester, it is unbelievable how things have changed. My first degree was earned under the memorization of facts and professor lectures but this semester has really opened my eyes to a new way of learning! I have truly enjoyed all the technology that I have been exposed to and am impressed by the things that are happening in our schools. Although it may not be widespread yet, I think it is coming! As new teachers graduate and implement that which they have learned, it will change the face of education! We as teachers must be willing to continually learn and change so that our students are not struggling to stay awake in class. We must keep them engaged and interested so that their creativity is sparked and their enthusiasm developed for greatness!
Hello Morgan,
My name is Krista Edwards and I am a student in EDM310 at the University of South Alabama. This post was very interesting and it opens ones eyes to really understand that institutions are still trying to use the schooling techniques from hundreds of years ago. Listening to one and two hour lectures while the professor throw as many facts as they can to the students so that it can be memorized is really not educating those students, it is more of schooling. I am going to be a Music Ed. teacher and these techniques will surely help me in my classroom and I can’t wait to use all the tools that I have learned and this post has helped me to clearly understand the difference between educating a student and schooling so that I will not make the same mistakes as other professors have.
Hi Morgan! My name is Hoan Nguyen. I’m a student from EDM310 from Dr. Strange’s class at University of South Alabama. I recently just read your blog and I do agree with the fact that there are some teachers who really do not care about students’ education. Some just simply are not voluntary and make commitment when it comes to teaching. Another thing I want to point out is that on Dan’s perspective, I somewhat can not agree with him because it is true that the school systems do not provide the best education for the students but this is the reason why we and many other future teachers are here to improve the society and make a better difference!
Thank you for sharing your post!
My name is John Russell Smith and I’m a student in Dr. Strange’s EDM 310 class at the University of South Alabama. I enjoyed the blog post. There is so much more we can do with our technology to make learning in the future better instead of having the technology an not using it. I feel the same way when i comes to being cheated by not using what is available to its potential. Thank you for sharing this video. It was interesting to hear what Dan Brown had to say.
Dear Morgan,
My name is Rebecca Warnberg and I am a student in Dr. Strange’s EDM 310 class. I share your sentiments that it seems like a lot of classes in both high school and college are not very interesting or useful. It does seem like many professors care very little about preparing students for their future careers. Professors seem to mostly just be focused on getting up in front of the class and forcing students to listen to their lectures. I’ve known students who have been given a “b” or a “c” in a class when they had really earned an “a” simply because they did not attend class regularly. The professors were so upset that these students did not want to attend their classes that they wanted to punish them. They never considered the possibility that there was something wrong with their teaching style. Educators need to realize that they are no longer the only source of information now. The information that they are lecturing about can be found from many different sources. Educators need to start teaching students why this information matters and how their students can utilize this information in real life situations. I agree with you that I do not support Dan’s choice. Although he does have a point that there are a lot of problems with our education system, that does not change the fact that nowadays, you need a degree to get a career. I enjoyed reading your blog. If you would like to visit my blog, you can find it at http://warnbergrebeccaedm310.blogspot.com/.
Thanks,
Rebecca
Hi Morgan!
I’m visiting from Dr. Strange’s EDM 310. This is my second semester as an education major. I am continually surprised by the difference in teaching and learning methods in the education department as compared with other departments. In 90% of my ed. teachers seem to form their classes around the connectivism theory of learning. They encourage us to learn for ourselves and from one another. It is so easy with this method of teaching for me, as a student, to become deeply engaged in the subject matter as I search out information on my own, and share what I have learned with my peers. So, while I can see where Dan is coming from, having experienced the lecture, notes, memorization, type of class I feel lucky that our college of ed. is an exception to the rule. Hopefully this type of teacher education will bring about a change in k-12 education as well!
I too, am an EDM310 student at USA.
There’s Dan Brown’s idealistic world, and there’s the world that we live in. To get a high paying job, one still needs a degree. If that changes, then great. It hasn’t changed yet, however.
Hello Morgan! My name is Sheena Nettles. I am a student in Dr. Strange’s EDM 310 Class. This was an awesome video. Dan Brown said a lot of good stuff. I do agree that if professor are only providing their students with facts that they are not preparing them for them for the real world. Students do not just need to learn facts, but they also need to know how to apply what they learn. Feel free to visit my blog. Thank you for sharing!
I enjoyed reading this post. My name is Joshua Ragsdale. I am a student at the University of South Alabama in EDM 310. I do not want to be known as a teacher that hindered some kids education. That would be a horrible legacy to leave behind. I want to teach relevant and useful material to my students.
Hi,
My name is Alexandra Maniaci, and I’m a student in Dr. Strange’s EDM 310 class at the University of South Alabama. I enjoyed reading your blog post. I am also grateful for my EDM class because the things I learn are relevant. Thank you for sharing this video. It was interesting to hear what Dan Brown had to say, but, like you, I wouldn’t drop out of school either.
My name is Ashley and I am in Dr. Strange’s EDM 310 class. I agree with you that, I have found myself so many times in class just trying to stay awake to listen to the professor. In our EDM 310 class, we have learned how to use social networks to find information out about literally anything we need. I have discovered recently, how valuable twitter can be. Thanks for the post!
Ms. Bayda,
my name is Kayla Nelson and I am a student in Dr. Strange’s EDM310 class at the University of South Alabama. I will be covering your post on my blog: Kayla Nelson’s Blog I couldn’t agree with you more. I have found myself numerous times in a class of 200 other students and it feels more like a movie theater than a classroom. The professor doesn’t bother to make eye contact with the students, just on the projector screen of their power point. Even if Dan’s decision was extreme, I think he touched on the topic of education perfectly. Education is in need of a reform. Many teachers are also aware of this and are willing to reform, but with budget cuts and supervisors who make the curriculum and hold certain education standards, it seems a little impossible.
Hi Ms. Bayda. My name is Olivia Bush and I am a student in EDM 310 at the University of South Alabama too. Thank you so much for sharing your thoughts on your blog. It is so nice to see how new teachers are doing out there and have someone to follow.
I believe you and Dan Brown both make very good points regarding the Education of today. Yes, schools ranging from Elementary to College level are very behind in today’s world. Educators and Education systems are going to have to catch up. Even though Dan talks about the government is catching up, I do not think I can agree with him. The government runs our public schools and public colleges and they are so far behind that it is sad. I hope that with all the new teachers emerging into the school systems that they can find ways to grow the Education system and help bring it up to date.
I do not think Dan Brown made the right decision of dropping out of college. I am a returning college student, not because I dropped out but thought I had made better choices, only to find that I must have my college degree to be able to succeed in this world today. So no matter how long or boring it may seem school is still relevant to succeed in this world today.
Ms. Bayda,
I too am in EDM 310 at the University of South Alabama. I agree that methods of teaching need to change as society and technology progresses. However, I have never felt “cheated” because of the teaching methods used in the classroom. I have had many classes that were torture to through and listen to the lectures because the instructors did not know how to teach. Just because a person is knowledgeable on a subject, there is no guarantee that he/she can teach it. I quit college thirty years ago. It was a huge mistake. No matter how bad the instructor, or the methods of teaching, I will not quit again. Feel free to visit my blog.
Michael Oakwood
Ms. Bayda,
My name is Michael Armstrong and I am a student in Dr. Strange’s EDM310 class at the University of South Alabama.
I totally agree with Dan Brown on the fact that education needs to change. It is impossible to argue with him on the points of how information has become more accessible outside of the classroom than ever before. However, I am disturbed that he decided to take action by dropping out of school. I tried that a few times I have dropped out of college twice and am now back because I realized that it is almost impossible to find a good job without a degree. I would like to pose a question to him. What good is increased knowledge if you can’t find a job and put it to good use?
I value being introduced to this avenue of thought immensely though. As a future teacher I will strive to make my students aware of the value of being able to find information as opposed to just memorize facts for a test just to forget them at the end of the semester, or worse, immediately after the test. In this new technological age we are afforded an opportunity that no other generation before us has been able to benefit. We are able to find anything and everything we could want to know a the touch of a button.
Thank you for your post. I will be summarizing it on My Blog later today if you would like to comment.
Thanks,
Michael Armstrong
I really appreciate you sharing your thoughts as well as the video that you found. I am a student of Dr. Strange’s Class at the University of South Alabama and he requires and encourages us to look at your blog whenever we have a chance to. I enjoy reading your posts
I really appreciate you sharing your thoughts as well as the video that you found. I am a student of Dr. Strange’s Class at the University of South Alabama and he requires and encourages us to look at your blog whenever we have a chance to. I enjoy reading your posts.
Hi, I am a student at the University of South Alabama in EDM 310. Thank you for sharing this post. I have felt cheated many times in school. Classes are exactly as you described. Many times it is very hard to stay awake. I’ve had to record my lectures because between the wanting to fall asleep, cell phones going off, and people leaving after they have signed it, it is hard to concentrate. And with all of those distractions, you are better off to not pay attention and just listen to the lecture later. So you basically end up going to class twice, actually being there to record and later listening it to to get yourself caught up in the comfort of your own home. Thank you for sharing the Dan Brown video. It was interesting.
Hello, Morgan! I’m joining the growing list of students from EDM310 at USA. I enjoyed browsing your blog and appreciate this post. When you have a moment, come on over to my blog to see my thoughts on Dan Brown’s video. Thanks for starting the conversation!
Amanda Lloyd
I am attending the University of South Alabama and enrolled in EDM310. Dan Brown is an extremely self motivated person. many of his views are valid regrading the methods of education and ways that it is not effective. The outdated method of whole lecture mass group teaching is certainly a disadvantage that I can understand. I do not agree with a student dropping out of school. There is still some positive aspects to face to face (in person) teaching and learning.
Hi Morgan,
My name is Tiffany Blanton and I am in EDM310 at the University of South Alabama under the instruction of Dr. Strange. I totally agree with your post as well as Mr. Brown’s video. I, on the other hand would have not dropped out of school. Not all the classes that I have taken at South do I feel cheated out of my education. I do understand what you are talking about. There has been previous classes where I have paid a ton of money for and ended up learning nothing to take with me when I finished the class. I really hate that!!! I want to leave a class feeling that I have learned something valuable to take with me as a teacher.
I am a student in EDM310 at the University of South Alabama. I enjoyed your post and feel that I can relate. It seems that teachers often drag on for the sake of keeping students in class fort the entire time. If the students are not engaged, they lose interest and begin to disrupt the class or “zone out” and learn nothing. Instead of pure lecture, teachers should allow students to interact with their classmates and connect to blogs, lessons, and materials that are interactive.
I am a student at the University of South Alabama in Dr. Strange’s class. I found it interesting how he stated that his education was failing him. We all have had classes like that and it is really hard to learn facts like that. Sitting in a lecture hall writing down notes has never helped me especially in something that are not my subject bests. They both state how you could not talk to each other even if it was about school work or the subject that you were writing notes about. The most difficult issue I have a problem with is paying money for a class and the professor doesn’t learn your name, well it is hard when you have 400 students to teach.
Hello,
Thank you so much for the video and also for sharing your thoughts on the subject. I am a student of Dr. Strange’s Class at the University of South Alabama and he requires and encourages us to look at your blog whenever we have a chance to. I just wanted to let you know that I really enjoyed it.
Hi Morgan!
Thank you for sharing your experience and giving your honest opinions. Schooling and education is definitely not the same. I also have felt cheated while attending college. Professors should encourage students opinions, and allow students to collaborate their questions and ideas with eachother. I also enjoyed the video by Dan Brown. I am a student at the University of South Alabama in Dr. Strange’s EDM 310 class.
Morgan,
Dan Brown is using one of my favorite quotes! Unfortunately, his college experience sounds too much like mine, but thankfully not exactly. Some courses like EDM310 will not settle for me memorizing facts. Actually, the higher I went, the less memorization helped me. Thanks for sharing!
Hey there! I completely agree with you. My EDM310 class that I am taking now was very difficult in the beginning to grasp because there was so much to it. However, if I had to choose between a class like this and sitting in a lecture hall with 150 other students and one professor reading off facts from an overhead, I would definitely pick this one! I have learned so much and our world is constantly evolving all through the use of technology. Those “facts” that the professors of lecture halls require us to remember for a test, I have already forgotten by the next week. However, the things I have learned and have had to do for Dr. Strange I feel will always be a part of my knowledge. I wish more teachers would adapt to this way of teaching….not only for college students, but high school, middle school, and even elementary.
Morgan,
I thought this was a great post and video. Thanks for sharing it with us. I will have to agree about feeling cheated at universities. Although Dan’s approach was interesting, I would not drop out of school. I personally believe that dropping out is not the answer to anything. Especially, this day in time you need a college education. I do feel some of the classes I take are not necessary, but I know if I want to be a teacher and make a difference in student’s lives, I have to take it. Thanks again for the post!
Morgan, I am a student in Dr. Strange’s EDM 310 class. I think this video gives a great perspective on education and learning. Although, like you, I wouldn’t recommend dropping out of college, but I think this gives future teachers and professors a student’s perception. Professors should build relationships and teach in ways that students feel free to ask questions.
This video gave me great insight to a view I heard never really considered. Information is becoming cheaper and cheaper. Facts alone aren’t enough anymore. Now we’re required to think for ourselves, have an opinion, and be creative. We have been given the tools to be educated and to become educators but now the choice is up to us. What are we going to do with what we’ve been handed?
Thanks for the post!
Hey Morgan! I am a student in EDM 310 at South Alabama. Thank you so much for sharing this. It is amazing how many people realize what is going on in our educational facilities. Hopefully, with people like you and others that have commented we can make that change that so desperately needs to be made.
Hey Morgan,
My name is Brittni Sasser and I am a student at the University of South Alabama in Dr. Strange’s EDM 310 class. It truly is sad that most, if not all, college students do see college this same way. It is frustrating that while technology is taking off, education is standing still and not following along. The part that stuck out most to me in the video is when Dan talks about buying books that he never opened, not because he did not care to, but because his professors did not use them and the internet was much more accurate. In my future classroom, I see a lot of interaction, group work, questions, and most importantly, technology!
If you would like to visit my blog, click here!
Hi Morgan,
My name is Shaska Crabtree and I am a student at the University of South Alabama in Dr. Strange’s EDM310 class. I wanted to thank you for your post. I thought that you and I have had similar experiences in college. I think it is sad that most of college students feel this way, and I wish there was a quick fix solution. All I can hope for is to become a better educator then maybe I received in the past. Thank you for your time. If you would like you can read further comments about your post and the video you provided on my blog page
Sorry, my HTML code was off a little here is the correct blog site.
My name is Christina Henson and I am a student in Dr. Strange’s EDM310 class.
I enjoyed reading your post. It has really made me want to think about and compare my education experience. The most agonizing university class I have ever been in was one that the professor encouraged no questions, and spoke so fast you could not even take proper notes. This was very upsetting because it was a burp back education class where you must memorize it all and take a test on a huge amount of information.
I will not be a perfect teacher, but I plan on encouraging a lot of interaction in the classroom to keep things interesting. I never want to be the teacher that gives you a big frown when you ask a question!
Hi Morgan! I also am a student in Dr. Strange’s EDM 310 class at The University of South Alabama! I loved this video and your post!! I never really thought about education like this, but it is so true! It’s frustrating that education continues to go on this way! But, I do think changes are coming, so we’ll stay tuned! Keep up the good blogging! Good luck with everything!
Mary Ashley York
Hello Morgan,
I am from Dr. Strange’s EDM 310 class. This was a remarkable video for someone who drop out of school just two weeks earlier. I agree with both of you on lecture classes. They can be a waste of time. Your really just getting a grade for your memory. I know how feels to just sit there for hours listening to a lecture off a power point. Out with the old and in with the new. Out with the old boring lectures and in with the interactions.
Hello Morgan.
Thank you for your post. I found it to be very informative and I agree with you. Education. I relate to Dan’s video a lot. I have subject to memorizing facts for years; I didn’t want to learn that way, and I don’t want to teach that way. I am in Dr. Strange’s EDM310 class at the University of South Alabama.
Kevin White
Hello Morgan! My name is Matthew Poirier and I am an EDM310 student in Dr. Strange’s class at the University of South Alabama. The video you pulled up is phenonimal. I also, if I may use your choice of words, have felt “cheated” by universities, and not only then but in highschool as well. Dr. Strange has taught us about “burp-back education,” in which teachers feed students information and then have the students simply relay it back to them. This is much like the same problem Dan Brown addressed, where professors drill information into your already exhausted head for an hour and a half, then have you scribble down what you remember when test-day comes. People don’t care about what you can memorize nowadays. They’re wondering whether that memorized information can also be applicable. Great post! Email me if you wish at mattpoirier531@gmail.com.
Hey! I am one of Dr. Strange’s EDM students’ (like the majority above, lol) and thoroughly enjoyed your post! Dan’s video was great and loved the topic he posed. I am like you and don’t believe I’ll be dropping out but will take this introduced idea and do everything in my power to continue on with the ‘liberated education.’ Thanks for such an interesting, informative, and entertaining post!
I find myself having trouble staying awake in those classes as well. In my college career I’ve had some amazing teachers that challenge me in ways I never imagined, created an open and creative learning environment, and a classroom where test questions were taken from other classmates ideas rather than the teachers (unheard of right? it was awesome). It makes the other classes completely unbearable, and quite often it makes me mad. I know my potential, I know what potential opportunities can derive from those classes, yet nothing happens. Seeing classes like that I learn what I don’t want to become when I’m a teacher… that way I can give all students the education that Dan Brown is talking about.
Thanks for you’re thoughts!
~Miles
Mrs. Bayda,
Thank you so much for this post about the change in education. My name is Brittany Hamilton and I am a student at the University of South Alabama. I was assigned to read this for my EDM 310 class. I enjoyed the video as well. I loved what Dan Brown had to say about how it is in universities right now and how you backed it up with your own college experience. Oh how I can relate! These lecture classes can be a waste of our time and money when we are not getting any encouragement to engage with fellow students or discussion. When were not allowed to talk in class and discuss the material, then I am more likely to start day dreaming and not paying attention. When we are able to engage then it makes it easier for us to concentrate and learn.
Again, thank you for this post and I will be writing about it on my blog if you would like to check it out: My Blog
Hey Morgan! I agree with you! I feel cheated! I love that you posted this! What does it mean to actually get an education today? I love that that question came about. I am in Dr. Strange’s EDM310 class and this with the exception of one other class is the only class at University of South Alabama that I have actually learned things that I will carry on with me through the semester. Thank you for posting this!
Hi,
I’m student of Dr. Strange’s EDM310 class at the University of South Alabama in Mobile, Alabama. After reading your blog, it is interesting in knowing that I am being schooled. I sit , listen, take notes, and take a test. But on a good note my EDM310 class lets me educate myself in learning all the good things technology has to offer. Thanks for your blog.
Finally, something I can relate to! I feel strongly that our education system has become more holistically evolved around schooling, which causes students to have a lack of interest or drive to be successful. The teachers when I was growing up were warm, compassionate and cared for each student on an indivdual level, now we have a lack of good teachers for we all know the pay is not worth the efforts, but good teachers look past these efforts and have a purpose for being educators–TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE IN A CHILDS LIFE.
It sounds as if we are experiencing a similiar school situation even in the college level courses, only my computer class incorporates the idea of shared knowlegde through technology and this is the future. I enjoy voicing my opinions about my passion which happens to be education! Where as a lot of classes are so liberal, one must keep quiet to pass the course!
I really enjoyed the video you posted here and of course I credit your thoughts!! Good luck teaching! Please feel free to comment back on my class blog! Click here>/a>
It sounds like we take the same type of classes. I too have the traditional university classes where we are not encouraged to speak our minds but I also have an edu. computer class where we are constantly encouraged to speak our minds and to collaborate. Personally I wish all my classes were like my edu computer class because I feel like I am constantly learning in there where as in my other classes I do not feel that way. Great post!
Hi there. I am a student in Dr. Strange’s EDM310 class at the University of South Alabama. I found your thoughts on University Education to be very close to my own. I have had a blended class or two that compiles online discussion outside of class pre-lecture that has broken the mold a bit. And of course my EDM310 class uses internet resources like your blog and others to teach students about using technology to teach. I love these new types of classes. The lecture courses I have compared to “purgatory”. I am kidding about it but it does feel like I am paying my dues more than learning when I have to sit for hours and listen to one persons perspective on the subject being taught. Thanks for sharing your thoughts and experiences.
Hi Morgan! I am a student in Dr. Strange’s EDM 310 class at the University of South Alabama. I couldn’t agree with you more that you don’t learn anything from sitting in a class for hours, trying to take notes and stay awake. I have learned so much through this EDM 310 class by using technology and teaching myself things, than I did listening to a lecture. Although I do not completely agree with Dan for dropping out, I do respect his confidence in knowing he did what was right for himself. I do agree, though, that schooling has replaced the will to educate our students. Thanks for sharing your thoughts and Dan’s video. I’m glad I was assigned to read your post!
Hi! I am a student in Dr. Strange’s EDM310 class at the University of South Alabama. I was instructed to come and read this blog post, and I am glad that I did! Its theme has much in common with the philosophy of the EDM 310 class. Like you, our technology class requires collaboration with our peers, and with the professor. It is really beneficial to have so many ways to ask questions. I think that the more chances a student has to interact with the information – and those involved in the learning process ( teachers and students alike) – the more chances a student has to succeed! Thank you for including the video in your post as well! It was a great addition to an interesting post!
Hi! My name is Brandon M. Caten and I am a student at The University of South Alabama currently enrolled in the EDM310 class taught by Dr. Strange! I throughly enjoyed your blog post! I have been in the classes that you speak of where the teachers stand and lecture for hours and I walk out of the class feeling like I have less brain cells than when I stepped foot into the class. If we all were to start teaching our students instead of schooling them and let them be involved with the education process, society in general would be better! We would have more students in the classrooms and less homeless standing in the unemployment lines.
Thank you for such a great blog post!
Brandon M. Caten
[…] An Open Letter To Educators February 2010 259 comments 3 […]
Hi, I’m in Dr.Strange’s EDM310 class. Reading this post was a part of our assignment and I must say that I found it to be very interesting. I enjoyed Dan Brown’s video very much and I agree with much of what he said. Would I have dropped out of school completely? Probably not. But the points made by both Dan and yourself were very interesting to take in and ponder.
Hi there Morgan!
As apart of Dr. John Strange’s EDM 310 class, I was required to read your post and respond. I’d have to say, what you and Dan Brown have to say is very thought provoking! I think his actions were a bit dramatic for completely dropping out, although I do agree with his points of view. Our school systems need to evolve, yet sadly it seems they are stuck at a standstill. I truly hope when it is my turn to get up and teach my class, there will be some changes that will enhance my student’s learning experience! Thank you for sharing this with us!
My name is Sarah Blankenship and I am a student at the University of South Alabama. I am enrolled in Dr. Strange’s EDM 310 class. I can agree with your posting.
Sarah
Thanks for posting this video! I am in EDM 310 at the University of South Alabama and I can totally relate to yours, and Dan’s feelings!
Great post! I am a student of edm 310 at the University of South Alabama. I defiantly cal relate to you frustrations at a university. Many of my classes i have to restudy the material because the teacher usually just rush through the notes on some powerpoint instead of teaching and making sure we are learning.
I agree with most of what you and Dan said. I agree that education needs to be more then just sitting in a classroom with hundreds of students being taught by one teacher. We need more then that and we also need more interaction between students. I am in Dr. Strange’s EDM310 class and I love the way we learn in his class. It is fun to read others blogs and to learn from other people. Thank you for your post. I really enjoyed it!
Amy
Hi Ms.Bayda!
My name is Sarah, and I am in Dr.Strange’s EDM 310 class at the University of South Alabama! I totally agree with you in the aspect that classes today in the college setting, don’t allow the students to collaborate with one another academically. I think that without things such as Myspace, Facebook, anf Twitter, students wouldn’t communicate with one another. I thoroughly enjoyed your post!
Hi Morgan!
I am in Dr.Strange’s EDM 310 class at the University of South Alabama! I really enjoyed your post and thanks for posting this video. I agree, we definitely do not collabortate with other students in the classroom setting enough. Thank goodness for things such as Mysoace, Twitter, and Facebook. The post was very interesting. Thoroughly enjoyed it!
Hi, I’m a student in Dr. Strange’s EDM 310 class.
I can understand how it seems like we are getting robbed here in the United States because of the way overall education is handled. I’m kind of a nerd, so I kind of like the lecture classes in my subject area, the biological sciences, but I can admit that I don’t ever look forward to lectures from other teachers in different subject areas, I struggle to stay awake also. I think someone said that we’re the only country that requires college students to be “well-rounded” everywhere else they just focus on their emphasis and are spared from buying expensive, useless textbooks and from falling asleep in class. Yeh, a college classroom is a pretty expensive napping place.
I agree with you also, I’m not one to drop out of school, b/c unfortunately that is just how the system is still set up in this country, but learning all the new technologies in this education transition will certainly give future teachers a leg up 🙂
Morgan,
My name is Gaillard Broughton and I am in Dr. Strange’s EDM 310 class at The University of South Alabama. This is a great blog post! It really speaks volumes about North American schools. I believe technology is a great tool! It really gets us get out of the “old” ways of teaching and into the new! We do not need to teach the same way we did 100 years ago!
Hi Morgan
My name is Jordan Bennett from Dr. Strange’s EDM 310 class at The University of South Alabama. And me and you share a lot in common because I also use to catch myself going to sleep in those long classes or fight to stay away! But keep up the good work!
Hi Morgan
I am a student of Dr. Stranges EDM 310 class and I am just like you. I also struggle to stay awake in class sometimes it’s very hard most of the time. But that’s that’s why I feel that all of those sites where you can interact with other students are important. Because you can email one of the students out of your class just in case you missed an assignment! well keep up the good work!
Hi, Morgan!
My name is Amanda Brewton, and I’m a student in Dr. Strange’s EDM 310 class at the University of South Alabama.
Unfortunately, I have heard many stories like yours and Dan Brown’s. Many professors don’t take the time to have a good relationship with their students. Maybe they feel that we are only there for one reason: to get a degree and get out as quickly as possible! Maybe they don’t think that we want someone to guide us to higher learning, better communication, and good relationships. I think that they -as teachers- should already be pushing us further and helping us build those strong connections, but maybe they need a little reminding sometimes.
I enjoyed reading your blog!
Amanda
Hi,
My name is Brittany Schneider and I am a student in Dr. Strange’s EDM310 class at the University of South Alabama. Thank you for sharing your thoughts with us. This is very similar to experiences I have had in college. I strive to be a “different” educator than so many that I have had. This course has been beneficial in so many ways. At minimum, it has taught me what is wrong with the education system today and motivates me to make a change.
Thankyou Morgan for sharing your thoughts on the liberation of education. We have to spread this good news just as fast and easily accesable as facts are these days. Keep it up.
Great Post! Dr. Strange always finds great post for our class to read! This is one of the most insightful classes that I have had as a student at South Alabama! It is certainly not a burp back class! I hope to keep reading your blogs!!!
Hello Morgan,
My name is Abby Smith. I am also a student of Dr. Strange at the University of South Alabama. I really enjoyed reading what you had to say. I definitely agree that sometimes I feel like all I’m doing in class is trying to stay awake. This isn’t the case with all my classes. There are some classes with professors who encourage interaction from us students. I enjoy these classes much more, because it requires me to pay attention and get involved with the conversation. I wish there were more professors who encourage more interaction. Thank you for sharing your opinions with all of us.
-Abby Smith
Dan,
I really wish more professors would watch this video. Everything you spoke of is what Dr. Strange is highly against. He likes to call it “burp back education” and I agree with both of you…it needs to change. If I could be a teacher and not have to get the degree I would consider dropping out as well, but teaching is not a profession you can do that. Good luck with your education. Thank you for sharing.
Hi Morgan,
My name is Blake Shrader and I am also in Dr. Strange’s EDM 310 class at the University of South Alabama. After reading your blog, I have to say I couldn’t agree with you more. I too find it difficult to sit through 2 hour long classes two and three times a day. I find it very difficult to concentrate and stay focused after about an hour of listening to the professor. Therefore, I more or less teach myself the information by reading the material later that day. I enjoyed reading your blog. Thanks!
Hi my name is Toni Parrish and like most of the people commenting on this blog I am also a student at the University of South Alabama taking Dr. Strange for EDM310. I think that your message is great and it really made sense. Even though your video was plain and simple, the illustrations in your background also said a lot. I wish you luck with your ‘education’ and continue to stand with your belief!
…That was a message for the video sorry…But my message to you Morgan is that I understand your feeling when you are in lecture because it is very uninteresting and though the professor feels they are providing us with facts, they useful go through one ear and out the other. I will be commenting more about this on my blog: parrishtoniedm310.blogspot.com…Thank you for sharing this!
Hi Morgan,
I am in Dr. Strange’s EDM 310 class at The University of South Alabama. I enjoyed reading your post and could not have identified with it more. It is so frustrating to sit in a lecture class where the teacher could really care less if you have anything to say and then when you do have something to say almost acts as if you are wasting her time. I love the EDM class that I am taking right now because it allows us as students to have a voice and collaborate with others as well. Thanks for sharing your thoughts with us.
My Blog
Hi!
My name is Katlyn and I am in EDM 310 with Dr. Strange at the University of Alabama. I could not agree more with what you wrote. I have had so many classes where I would just sit. I could not talk to anyone so I ended up spacing out and trying to stay awake. I have not gotten much out of those classes. I learned the information that may or may not have been relevant to my degree but that was it. I did not learn any important life skills which can be learned in the classroom. By the end of the day I would feel so tired and drained but all I did was sit in a classroom. Thank you so much for your post!
Hi,
My name is Tierra and I am a secondary education student in Dr. Strange’s EDM310 class at the University of South AL in Mobile, Alabama. I really enjoyed reading your post because as a college student I can relate to it. I actually have many classes where I just sit and listen while trying to keep up taking notes. I often wonder what is the point of going to these classes and if I am really learning anything. The truth is I am not learning anything at all. I am simply memorizing to pass the test. This frustrates me because I love to learn and I am not good at memorizing things. I think that is why I want to be a history teacher so that I can challenge myself to help my students learn from history instead of memorizing it for the moment. This is also why I enjoy Dr. Strange’s class because I learn something new every week. I wish you the best of luck on your experiences and hope that you learn something from them.
Tierra Dinkins
I am a student in Dr. Strange’s EDM 310 class at the University of South Alabama. I enjoyed reading your post. Everything you said about classrooms these days was spot on! With the exception of EDM 310, most of my other courses are exactly how you described. We need to put education above all else and realize that “old” education cannot facilitate our “new” ways of thinking.
I’m a student in Dr. Strange’s EDM 310 class at the University of South Alabama, and I agree that this post and video is very influential and direct. I always felt this way about many things in school. I’m glad this is going around for many other people to think about and spread. Great job!
Hi! My name is AnMarie Lane and I am a student at the University of South Alabama. I have really enjoyed reading your post and watching the video that you have added. I agree with you on so many things that you have said because I have experienced many of them myself. Your comment where you said that you are not afraid of change has really inspired me because I am sometimes a little bit nervous about all of the new things that are coming into education these days. I am committed to not being afraid of these things and embracing them, just like you said. Thanks so much for sharing your thoughts!
Hey! My name is Tara Watson and I am a student in Dr. Strange’s EDM310 course at the University of South Alabama. I know exactly how you feel. Although I am encouraged to talk in some classes, the majority are focused on absorbing and memorizing facts and repeating them on tests. I could not make the same decision as Brown did, as school is a vital part of life for me as well. However, I understand the significance of what he says. We must not let school’s requirements be the only way we grow as “educated” people. If we do, we will only be a part of the cycle the higher classes have set for us. We have to break away and educate ourselves effectively, as memorizing facts is not the way to go. Thank you for your post.
Hi Morgan,
I am a student In Dr.Stange’s EDM310 class at The University of South Alabama. Your post is great and the video was awesome as well. I too think there needs to be a change in the school system and am tired of sitting in class “Memorizing facts!” Thanks for sharing.
Hello, I am also a student from the University of South Alabama. All I have to say is… Wow. What a great post and video. I completely agree with what you both have to say and wonder why others do not. How can someone disagree with the comments?
Hi Morgan,
I read this post as a requirement for Dr. Strange’s EDM 310 class. I have to say that I’ve had similar experiences to yours. At times it did feel very pointless and counterproductive. The issue of a major change on the horizon for college education is something that we’re exposed to in EDM310. I’m just not sure where I fall in the debate. I appreciate your blogging about your thoughts on the debate and your embedded video by Dan Brown.
Hi Ms. Bayda! My name is Emily Pilotte and I am a student at the University of South Alabama in Dr. Strange’s EDM 310 class. This post was very interesting. I agree we do have to sit through some boring classes, but in a way life is kind of the same way. We have to endure somethings we don’t want to, but it’s just the way it is. I liked Dan’s video as well. I found it pretty radical that he quit school, but I can see why he did. We do let our schooling get in the way of our education. I enjoyed reading your thoughts! Thanks for sharing!
Hey! I am from the University of South Alabama in the EDM310 course with Dr. Strange. I completely agree with your post and feelings that sometimes school is not benefitting us. There are days when it seems pointless for me to even go to class because I can find the same information online in seconds without having to sit through an hour long lecture. I also find textbooks to be a waste because I can go online and google a name to find complete information without flipping through pages to find a two line description.
Regina Bunch
Hi! My name is Cassandra Steele, and I am in Dr. Strange’s EDM310 class at the University of South Alabama. I like the video you added in your post. I agree with you about feeling cheated in school. There are many days where it is almost pointless for me to even go to class. Professors stand in front of big classes reading directly from the book or reading off slides on a powerpoint which are word-for-word from the book. I very rarely use books I purchase for classes. The internet is a bigger convenience with more information that may even be explain topics in better terms than in a textbook. I find myself using the internet to look more things up than actually using my textbooks. I like this EDM class we are taking this semester. It has opened up a whole other world of learning for me. Thanks for the post!
Morgan,
I’m a student in Dr. Strange’s EDM310 class at the University of South Alabama. I have to say that this was an intriguing blog on a very interesting video. I agree that the way of learning that has been around for decades is not really relevant to us now. It’s sort of ancient, in a way.
Hi Morgan!
My name is Teri Hampton. I am an Elementary Ed. major at the University of South Alabama. I am currently enrolled in Dr. Strange’s EDM 310 class, and we were assigned to read this blog post and leave a comment. Personally, I agree with your post. I feel cheated out of an education, not only at the college level, but also in high school. When I got to college, I was not prepared. Now that I am in college, I am still not prepared for what comes next, the “real world.” I have learned so much about technology in this class. I am amazed at all the things that I did not know. If the educational system does not adapt to the new ways of learning then going to school will basically be pointless, because it will be outdated. Thank you for sharing your thoughts!
Hey, I’m an EMD310 student and I totally agree with you. There is no need for teachers to be holders of information. The teachers are being used as if they are the only one who are able to hold an instruction manual, and it is their job to throw facts at us from this manual. Since all the facts are in the public domain via the Internet, why do we need this style of education? I really like your post and Dan Brown’s response to this question.
Morgan, I really like what you are saying in your blog post. My name is Kathryn Buchanan, and I am a part of Dr. Strange’s EDM 310 class. So many teachers these days see actually teaching and facilitating discussions as a chore. Students are told to read a chapter, come to class, and hear it become lectured on. Teachers need to be encouraging their students to talk about what they’re learning about. Technology has given students the ability to discuss and share what they’ve learned in new, interesting, and exciting ways. I hope you are implementing this into your teaching style and wish for you the best! Thanks for letting me read your blog!
-Kathryn Buchanan
Hello. I am a student of Dr. Strange’s EDM 310 class as well. I agree with you and Dan Brown. In countering some comments on the video, Dan is not negating the importance of facts, he is merely declaring that students do not have to pay an outrageous amount of money, i.e. through college, to obtain these facts because we can get them from the internet. Education is not about learning facts; this is just what and how we have been taught to believe through our own schooling. Education should be about stimulating creativity. It’s not about filling a student’s head with facts, but about allowing students the information and encouragement they need to be able to think for themselves and change the world for the better. He is not saying that education is not important, but that we should question what “education” has become.
Hello, My name is Robin and I am a student at University of South Alabama. I am in Dr. Strange’s EDM310 class. There has been many times I have felt like you. It is frustating to know I am paying for a class in which the profeesor has no clue as to who I am. There are times that I talk to my classmates about our classwork and we sometimes form study groups. This helps me more than sitting through the class. Don’t get me wrong, all my classes are not like this, only some. Thanks for sharing your thoughts with us.
Hi,
My name is Amelia Platt and I am in Dr. Strange’s EDM 310 class. I agree totally with what both you and Dan are saying. As college students today we pay to sit in a room with lots of other people and very few teachers take the chance to get to know are name. Though I also do not agree with Dan’s idea of dropping out of school my first semester at USA was one of the worst. I was paying a lot of money to get a good education but some how I got lost in the system. I’m happy to say my experience has gotten better, but we can do so much of what they are teaching us on our own or better with the latest technology. That is why I have come to enjoy Dr. Strange’s class. We are learning fun and interesting things to to in class with our future students. I think the Education system needs to step back and reevaluate what they are doing to make kids have a better education. I enjoyed your post and I will be summarizing you post on my blog. Thanks for giving all of us something to think about.
My name is Ali and I am a student in Dr. Strange’s EDM310 class at the University of South Alabama. I really enjoyed this post. I also enjoyed the video that you added too. I agree with many of the things you both said.
Hi I am also from the EDM 310 class at the University of South Alabama. I can really relate to this post. Thanks for posting this video!! I agree with Dan that the education system has no choice but to change with the rest of the world. I really hope that people listen and do something about this. The way most classes are today is really not very logical for our society. Thanks!!
Hello Ms. Bayda,
After reading your post, I felt reassured that someone else is thinking like me. I also think that lecture classes are hard to pay attention and get a lot out of it. Whereas in smaller classes, I pay much more attention and it is much easier to interact with the teacher.
hi,
My name is Cassandra Williams. I am in Dr. Strange EDM310 class, at the University of South Alabama, in Mobile, Alabama. I am majoring in Elem. Education. I already have one degree in Criminal Justice, but that alone is not good enough. I too have often times felt the same way, what is the purpose of being here? I can read this on my own. I think classes would be better if they were structured, so that students could do experiments, instead of test. I think they will get more and be educated more from doing experiments. Thank you for time and your thoughts!!!!
<a href="http://williamssandraedm310.blogspot.com/" My Class Blog
hi,
My name is Cassandra Williams. I am in Dr. Strange EDM310 class, at the University of South Alabama, in Mobile, Alabama. I am majoring in Elem. Education. I already have one degree in Criminal Justice, but that alone is not good enough. I too have often times felt the same way, what is the purpose of being here?, I can read this on my own. I think classes would be better if they were structured, so that students could do experiments, instead of test. I think they will get more and be educated more from doing experiments. Thank you for time and your thoughts!!! <a href="http://williamssandraedm310.blogspot.com/" My Class Blog
Thank you for your post! My name is Aaron Griffin and I am in Dr. Strange’s EDM 310 class at The University of South Alabama. Your thoughts are so true regarding todays’s educational methods in the classroom. As teachers we must find innovative and creative ways to present materiel. Learning is so liberating and can be exciting. Interaction is a major key in education. Students want to be heard and understood. As teachers we must be willing to do what it takes to help students be excited and challenged academically. Great post!
Good Afternoon!
These were very similar to my thoughts as well when I first saw this video! Th most important thing to me is the interaction between people. We shouldn’t be learning facts, we should be learning how to interpret those facts. How to see the truth from the spin. This is something that many of us do not know. That’s for taking the time to talk to us about it! I’m Jaimie Ellis, also from Dr. Stranges EDM 310 class.
Jaimie
Hi! I’m viewing this as an assignment for my EDM 310 course at the University of South Alabama and I’d like to take the time to let you know I completely agree with everything here. I can’t tell you the last time I cracked one of the over-priced books I’ve bought for my classes. My Educational Media course seems to be the ONLY one I’m taking that even remotely cares about technology and the way it’s changing the world we live in. TEFL is a really good program from what I hear. I briefly thought of teaching in Korea and considered just getting my teacher certification through them. How is that going? Are you teaching yet?
Hey Morgan,
I am one of the many students of Dr. Strange’s EDM310 class from the University of South Alabama that is leaving you a short comment about your post. The video by Dan on your post says it all, institutions of higher learning are not institutions of higher learning anymore, they are more like institutions of memorizing more advanced information. At the beginning of the semester I felt that the technological world was not needed in the classroom, I have changed my views since the beginning. You can read my post to see my growth over the past couple of months but I now strongly believe that technology is needed in classrooms to help students stay current on the information but I still feel that students should still incorperate the use of books in there learning tools.
Hi Morgan,
My name is Brittany and I am in Dr. Stange’s EDm310 Class. I loved reading your blog and watching Mr. Browns video. Your post made me think back to my education all though high school and my first 3 years of college. It has been the same as what you both have described. It saddens me to think of all the students who are being schooled out of their education and I hope through more videos like Dans and Post like yours, we can open the people’s eyes to what is going on and change it. Thank you so much for sharing this video and your thoughts. If you would like to read what I am going to write about in this in my blog you can click here Brittany’s Blog
Hello, I am taking EDM310 with Dr. Strange. I am not a typical college student, I am taking this course for professional development. I graduated over 13 years ago. I think the college experience has changed since I was in school. I am assuming the classes Dan Brown thinks are boring are prerequisite classes which require memorization of useless facts. Facts that I will have to teach to the next generation of children. Hopefully, I will be able to use some of my knowledge from this class to introduce some of these useless facts in a more interesting way. Timetoast is a a great way to learn about facts. Children can create timelines about facts in history. They could learn so much researching dates, pictures, and articles to add to their timelines. I do not see this class as a typical college class. This technology class was not around when I was in school. technology was just taking off when I was in college.
I read some of the replies and Nathan Lowell talks about credentials. Most jobs require credentials in order to even be considered for a position. I know for a fact that the Mobile County School System will not even look at your application if you do not have your valid teacher certificate. That is why I am back in school taking three classes and I will soon take the content knowledge part of the praxis which was not required 13 years ago. Most jobs require you to have some knowledge or experience in the field you are applying for.
Dan Brown may be right that school is boring, but I am not sure dropping out is the best answer. Yes, some of your millionaires of today are drop outs, but unless you have a big idea I suggest you stay in school.
Hi, Morgan
I am reading this post as an assignment for my EDM310 Class at the University of South Alabama. I also have experienced the same things while sitting through lectures, just trying to stay awake was a problem. Some of my instructors in the past has encouraged open discussions and questions on the current subject, and it made the topic more interesting. I love what Mr. Brown had to say, but I would not leave school. The school system need to change and improve in the way they teach.
Hi Morgan
I am in John Strange’s EDM 310 class at the University of South Alabama. I enjoyed your post. I think that the organization of some classrooms has created a problem when preparing students for the real world. Just as you wrote, some classrooms are organized in such a way that they do not allow students to communicate with each other to solve problems or stimulate learning. Our world is becoming increasingly collaborative and global. By not encouraging this type of thinking and problem-solving, we are not fully preparing students to succeed once they get out of the classroom.
Hello! Just like most of the commenters on your blog recently, I am a student in Dr. John Strange’s EDM 310 class where I have been required to read and comment about your blog post. While I feel that many of the things that Dan Brown had to say about institutional education (i.e., that it has become counter-productive to creativity), I feel that he has done himself a great disservice by dropping out of college. Honestly, whenever he applies for a job that requires a university degree, what will he do when he’s turned down for that job for a lack of a degree? Yes, there is a lot of information and a great deal of resources available on the internet, but without someone to guide you through the learning process (even self-learning), then you will soon know a great deal about nothing and have no degree to show for it in the end.
Ms. Bayda,
I am also a student in Dr. Strange’s class. Thank you for your post and including the video from Dan Brown. Lectures can be boring, especially when they are long and drawn out. Without interactions between students and teachers, students can become disinterested in their learning environments. I agree that Dan Brown should not have dropped out of school, but if we do not start getting more involved with our students and the technology of today, we are going to continue to lose them in schools.
Again, thanks for you post! Keep up the good job!
Courtney
Hey! I am Sterling and I currently attend The University of South Alabama in Mobile, Alabama. I am in Dr. Strange’s class and was told to comment on your blog post. I thought this was a great post. You made a great point that some classes with long hours of nothing but lectures can really be pointless at times. I feel that hands on experiences can be so much better, and can really make the students learn so much more. Now using all the ways of technology can be so much better for the students at times than just lecturing. This was a great blog post. Thank you for sharing.
HELLO! My name is Kindra Blackwell and my major is elementary education. I attend the University of South Alabama. I am commenting as part of my EDM310 class with Dr. Strage. I loved reading what you had to say and watching this video! I definantely agree that if educational institutions do not change the world will leave them behind, like Dan Brown did. Thank you for sharing your thoughts and Dan Browns video!
Hi Morgan,
My name is Kiara and I am reading your post as an assignment for Dr. Strange’s EDM310 class. I agree with both you and Dan Brown about universities, but like you, my choice is not to drop out. I think it is good that you have received great opportunities by networking on the internet, and one day soon I will be able to use the internet to my advantage.
Hey Morgan,
I am reading you blog as an assignment from Dr. Strange’s Edm310 class. I believe that teachers should get students more involved in applications rather that just teaching fact. Through applications students are able to learn more. I do not believe I would have gone as far as Dan, but I believe his intentions where in the right place.
Feel free to contact me at My Blog.
Leslie
Hi, my name is Samantha Deardorff and I’m in Dr. Strange’s EDM310 class. I agree with your argument, classes that use multi-media and technology are more beneficial to students today. Just going into a classroom to sit and listen to a professor lecture is not a way that I would like to learn. Thanks for your great insight on this issue!
Hi Morgan! My name is Paige Bryant and I am a student in Dr. Strange’s EDM 310 class from the University of South Alabama. I really dont understand how everything has evolved in our world except for one of the most important things, education. I doubt that my future employer will give me a multiple choice test before hiring me, so why is our world of education so obsessed with facts? My employers will want to know that I can successfully communicate my ideas and motivate others to question and discuss theories, ideas, etc. This is why I also appreciate my EDM 310 class because it allows me too look behind the useless surface of facts and to analyze the ideas behind the figures. Thanks for posting.
Hello! My name is Leviticus Wilson and I am a student in Dr. Strange’s EDM 310 class from the University of South Alabama. I really enjoyed this video. It is very sad that with all the technology that we have today, that we still use the same techniques to teach students. I do agree with much of what the guy in the video says but he did make some very good points.
I agree with what you are saying about sitting through boring lectures and all the note taking that is suppose to teach us something, but sometimes I sit their wondering what am I really learning. Learning how to go in to thought about what I should be learning, but I am not. So I am glad you did what you did and I know you have lots of students backing you up, especially taking what you have learned and volunteering your smarts to others.
Thank you so much for sharing your story!!!!
I’m so glad you brought this to everyone’s attention. Adding the video was great too! I also have a problem staying awake in some classes and I don’t want my future students to have that problem with me as the teacher. I think if we can make learning more fun and enjoyable the attention span of students will last a lot longer.
Morgan,
I am a student of Dr. Strange and am taking his EDM 310 class at the University of South Alabama. Your post has brought up a pretty big issue. Are we getting the most out of our Univeristy? Some may say yes, but I, too, struggle to stay awake in some of my classes because they teacher is just spitting out facts at me. I learn when I am doing something hands on. Thanks for bringing this to everyone’s attention!
I am a student of Dr. Strange and taking his EDM310 course. I think that the Education system is just now starting to integrate technology in the classroom and evolve. I have seen this shift first hand in the Elementary schools I am student teaching in and the college courses I am taking at the University. I am hopeful that this next generation of teachers will help further this advancement in teaching practices. I agree that collaborative learning and networking is extremely beneficial towards learning. Dr. Strange’s course required me to create a PLN and I have already learned first hand the benefits of learning and working with groups. I really enjoyed your post and thank you for sharing!
Hello, my name is Crystal and I am a student in Dr. Strange’s EDM 310 class at the University of South Alabama. I just got finished reading you post. I agree that technology is changing a lot faster than teachers can keep up with. I feel that teachers need to get more involved and try to learn the technology. I also feel that schools are too focused on how they will look rather than the students and what the students can achieve. Thank you for your time.
I too think that the value of information has changed in the sense that we are able to get a lot of information online. But there is still a need for a hub of central education where facts and ideas can be focused and probed. It is good to hear how others view the educational institution as it stands. We need people who are able and willing to recognize faults in the system so it can evolve ith the times.
This post and video were very interesting. I have been taking this class at The University of South Alabama called EDM310 for a about 3/4 of a semester. I started this class a little nervous because of how different it is. We meet only certain weeks throughout the semester and the rest of the time the work and “learning” is up to us! It is a great change of pace and really requires you to be responsible and put your mind to work on your own! I think the video, though he was a little wired, had a great point. If schools don’t start using the technology age to its advantage, society will decide it doesn’t need it anymore. After taking this class and relying on myself for work and learning has given me a new outlook on education. I go to my other classes (mostly my pre-req) and I am in a lecture hall with no interaction with other students and no interaction with the professor! In my major classes for Physical Education they are much smaller and teacher’s do ask for interaction but not the extent of this class! The only downfall I am having with all of this technology age is I haven’t figured out how I am going to implement what I have learned in this class into a PE class. Any ideas? Great post! Please check out my blog!
Hi Morgan, My Name is Lawanna Hinton and I am a student in Dr. Strange’s EDM 310 class at the University of South Alabama. I can relate to both your post and the video when it come to some of my classes. Most of the time when I take notes, I don’t see them again until the day before the test, which is when I usually cram. I think that using networking in the classroom is a great idea, because this class has taught me a lot about technology and I look forward to teaching the things I have learned to my students.
Hello, I am a student in Dr. Strange’s EDM310 class at the University of South Alabama. Education is slowly evolving. Yes, it is not up to date with the way we are with technology, but you can see progress. To make a class less boring, the teachers could be involved with the students by allowing them to create their own blogs and twitter which of course is school-related. Then, when the students enter high school, they will learn more about technology and about the networked world. I guess what I am trying to say is that if we start at a young age with computer networking; it will take us to the next level of creating new technologies. The students will not benefit from smart boards, so I suggest that schools could use that money to invest in more computers to be technology literate.
Hello, I am a student at the University of South Alabama in Dr. Strange’s EDM 310 class. I’m sad to say that your post and Dan Brown’s video pretty much summed up just about all of my college courses to date. The part about the teachers just standing up there lecturing on and on with no interaction between the students and the memorizing the day before the tests hold especially true. I feel like I really haven’t learned anything in college. Why am I here? I do think in our EDM course we are learning how to use the internet and our classmates/others as a source for good, reliable information. Great post!
My name is Ryne Baxter and I am in Dr. Strange’s EDM 310 class at the University of South Alabama. I really enjoyed this post because I can definitely relate to it. I also hate sitting through long boring lectures where no one can interact or communicate with anyone. I also think we can all benefit from using such tools like twitter and youtube. Also the video you posted was a great way to get this point across.
I am a student in Dr. Stranges EDM310 at the University of South Alabama. I agree with what you have stated in your blog, for many a day I have sat through lectures falling asleep and then trying to remember what I have learned. I too have come to depend on twitter, You Tube, and many other sites for my PLN. I find that this learning is better for my education and in the long run I believe I will only benefit from it. Thanks for your comments and keep up the blogs coming.
Thanks Phillip
Hi Morgan. I am a student in Dr. Strange’s EDM310 class at University of South Alabama. I couldn’t agree more with this post. Although I do believe that a more in depth class requires class time, information based classes should be strictly done online. I am in a hybrid class now where half is done in class and half online. It is seriously a waste of time for the in class time. We learn nothing. Fortunately the majority, not all, of my classes have been pretty interactive and the instructors encourage that. But for the classes that are not, it truly does interfere with my learning processes. I embrace the new change and this EDM class has opened my eyes to new learning and teaching styles. Hopefully a new generation of educators are on the rise. I enjoyed the video and the post! Thanks for sharing!
Morgan, I’m a student at the University of South Alabama. I’m currently taking Dr. Strange’s EDM310 class. Luckily for me, I have been blessed with professors that do know my name and do encourage interaction, collaboration, and independent learning. Dan Brown’s video is a sad statement of reality for America’s schooling system. The fact is, the world is changing and as educators, we owe it to our students as well as ourselves to change the face of schooling to be modeled after an evolving society.
Hi Morgan! I am a student at the University of South Alabama. I agree with you one hundred percent, these classes that all you do is listen to a teacher lecture the whole time is not helping us as future educators. Children these days are in very technological environments and are wanting to research and ask others about certain topics not just talk to the teacher. I think that having a PLN will help all students become more open to options because the internet is endless!! Great post!
Hi Morgan,
After reading your blog post I could not agree with you more. I have had the same frustration in my lecture classes. But in EDM 310 we are learning through others. I have learned to blog and tweet and gather ideas from others is so much fun and I am being exposed to educators like yourself from all over the world. I would like to follow your tweets and blog and see what you are up to.
Jessica Hadaway
University of South Alabama
Dr. Strange’s EDM 310
Hey Morgan Bayda enjoyed reading your thoughts on how your college experience went and from that the ideas you came up with to make college class more fun and interesting.
Hello, I’m also an EDM 310 student, change is difficult but as future educators we have to be on the forefront of that change or society will decide for us what types of changes are in place. At South most of my teachers know my name but only because I go out of my way to communicate with them on a weekly basis. Isn’t that suppose to be a responsibility of teachers? Caring, interested, approachable, it seems most teachers have lost these qualities in which I’m sure they had at one point in their career. I am glad we have at least one more teacher that believes in the future of education needing a quick turn around. Thank you for sharing this.
Hi! My name is Erin Tillman and I am in Dr. Strange’s EDM 310 class. I know exactly what you are talking about when you say classes are too big or too small! I can’t concentrate in either of those types of classes. Then I fall behind, then there is very little, if no communication at all to find help. Teachers need to take a stand. They know why their students struggle. Your post was great! I enjoyed it very much.
Hi! I am in Dr. Strange’s EDM310 class at the Univeristy of South Alabama. I agree with you completly. I pay almost $4000 a semester now at South for the teachers not to even know my name enless they are holding a roster. It’s quite disturbing. I spend almost an hour with the same teacher 2-3 times a week. I believe we have lost sight of what education really is. We are not active or empowered;instead, we are falling asleep in a lecture that will not matter to us in the “real world.” Great Post!
Hi! I’m in Dr. Strange’s EDM310 Class at the University of South Alabama. I agreed with so much that you had to say. I liked the video by Dan Brown but I wouldn’t have dropped out of school. I also think it’s great that we have twitter and a PLN to help us connect with other students. My EDM class has taught me so many ways to get connected. I too get bored in lecture classes because there isn’t really anything going on besides the things we’ve listened to over a hundred times! I really enjoyed reading your blog! If you’d like to check out mine here’s the link! http://kelleyfrancesedm310.blogspot.com/
Hi, I am a student at the University Of South Alabama in Mobile, AL. I am in Dr. Strange’s EDM 310 class. I agree with you completely. The classes I was taken were so boring and the professor was just rereading the notes and going over power points. I really enjoyed the video. It really summed up the point you was making. Thanks for sharing.
Hi Morgan! I really enjoyed reading your post! I am a student at the University of South Alabama. I am majoring in elementary education and I read your post as an assignment for my class EDM 310. You are inspiring because you seem to be very successful! I am also learning to collaborate with others and use different technology and techniques to teach. I think this is very important because teachers need to keep their students attention to avoid drop outs. Good luck in your future 🙂
My name is Darlene Staimpel and I am in Dr. Strange’s EDM310 at the University of South Alabama. I was assigned to your blog. I watched Dan Brown’s video and I agree with all he has to say. We are in the midst of a revelation. I do not agree with him dropping out of school. Taking EDM310 has opened my mind to an amazing new journey. A journey I would have never thought about prior to this class and that journey is using technology in the classroom. Thanks for posting his video and sharing your thoughts. I enjoyed reading your post.
Hello, my name is Jennifer and I am a student at the University of South Alabama in Dr. Strange’s EDM class. Our class blog is http://www.edm310.blogspot.com and my blog is http://inscorejenniferedm310.blogspot.com. I enjoyed reading your thoughts and opinions along with Dan Brown’s video. I agree that some schools are on the wrong track when it comes to learning but Dan dropping out of school is not the answer. You still need that piece of paper to get most good jobs these days and with him just teaching his self – I don’t think they will send him a degree.
Jennifer
Hi Morgan!
My name is Kristen Hayes and I am in Dr. Strange’s EDM 310 class at the University of South Alabama in Mobile, AL. I just wanted to say I agree with you and I think Dan Brown’s video does a great job of telling the truth about schooling. Sitting in a two hour long lecture scribbling down facts that I’m going to memorize for a test is not getting an education. I will not take the extreme of dropping out of school like Dan Brown did, but I do agree with almost all of what he had to say. I hope your career is going well for you, great post! You can visit my blog anytime at: http://hayeskristenedm310.blogspot.com/
Morgan
My name is Catina and I am taking Dr.Strange EDM310 media at the University of South Alabama. I enjoyed your post.I have to agree that long lectures are hard to stay awake in.I would like to think that if the teacher was interest in the students learning then maybe a new direction could happen.However, creativeness only comes rare these days but when you catch it its nice.Best wishes.
Morgan Bayda,
My name is Sarah Pierce and I am from Dr. Strange’s EDM310 class at the University of South Alabama in Mobile, Alabama. I agree that the educational system has not kept pace with the information age. There seems to be many ways of accessing information and delivering that information to students that could be pursued. Although I agree with much of what Dan Brown had to say, I would not have dropped out of school. It sounds like you have some good volunteer opportunities to choose from. It was good that you posed the question through twitter. I hope you have an amazing adventure.
My name is Talisa Swain and I was reading your post as an assignment for my EDM 310 class. I do agree with you about the boring lectures some professors give, but I was also wondering what some of the changes you wish to see would include.
Hello Mrs. Bayda. My name is Wade and I am a student in Dr. Strange’s EDM 310 class at the University of South Alabama. As a part of my class assignment, I was required to read your post. I really enjoyed reading your post and can relate to the feeling of needing to stay awake during long lectures. I also agree that encouraging students to collaborate with each other as well as the instructor is very powerful in terms of learning.
Enjoyed reading your post. I did as a assignment for Dr. Strange EDM310 class at the University of South Alabama. You had some very interesting points. It is really making me think about students right and if they are having some of the same ideas as you did.
Hi, my name is Brooke and I am in Dr. Strange’s EDM 310 class at the University of South Alabama. I enjoyed reading your post and watching the posted video. I feel the exact way. I do sometimes find it hard to stay awake in long lecture classes. Dr. Strange’s class has been completely different for me though. I have learned so much through his online class that is going to help me in the future. Thanks for sharing your post. You can visit my blog at http://www.broadusbrookeedm310.blogspot.com.
Hello!
My name is Jenny Black and I am in Dr. Strange’s EDM 310 class at the University of South Alabama. I agree that some changes need to be made. But, in order to say I agree with the posted video, I need real life examples. I can’t agree to something in which I can’t clearly define what it actually means to me and our students. If it means school is online from your home and no going to an actual school, then I’d have to say I don’t think this would be beneficial to our society. If thats not what it means, then I’d like to know more about what this change entails.
I think it is really admirable that you are so passionate about volunteering. I’d say that says a lot about your character. Keep it up!
Thanks for the info,
Jenny Black
Hey Mrs. Bayda I am in Dr. Strange’s EDM310 class and we were assigned to read your post. I really agree with you on your positions about schooling and also like the video you have posted. To me the technological school that he describes is similar to our class that we have with Dr. Strange. This class isnt just some class where we come listen to a lecture then take a test where we regurgitate facts. Thanks for posting.
Hi. I am a student at University of South Alabama and have been assigned ot review your post for Dr. Strange’s ED310 course. I really what your post. I agree with what you say about struggling to stay awake because you’re in a multiple hour class, sitting in the same desk in a freezing room. I truly believe that the USA’s education system is poor. However, I’m not quite sure what to do about it either!
Hi, Morgan! I am a student in Dr. Strange’s EDM 310 class at The University of South Alabama in Mobile, Alabama, USA. I have responded to your post in my class blog at http://www.alexanderbrandilynnedm310@blogspot.com. I feel your same thoughts about this class. I have learned more in this class than I have in most of my other college courses. This class has given me the capabilities to make connections that I normally wouldn’t have been able to. Thanks for sharing the video! I feel like we’re on the same page when it comes to our feelings about lecture halls.
Thanks for sharing!
Brandi Alexander
Hello,
My name is Matthew Rodriguez and I am taking a EDM310 class at the University of South Alabama and I had to write a blog about your video. This is what I put and how I feel about the video and America’s education as whole.
The guy made some interesting points and I hate to admit it but I agree with most of them. I was just thinking to myself earlier today, “Why do I even need to go to school?” I have been in school for 16 years of my life now and feel that if I’m not qualified for a job by now I never will be. 16 years!?! 16 years of school and memerizing facts, as the guy pointed out in the video, and yet society demands more. What is the point? America as a whole is one of the dumbest countries around and while we like to believe we are the best, the fact is we’re not. Why do we pay thousands of dollars to go sit in class and listen to a teacher preach about facts of the American Revolution or do stupid projects in computer classes that we learned how to do in high school? Since my time here at South Alabama, I have learned nothing that I haven’t already learned in high school and haven’t learned anything vaulable that could help me out in the real world. COLLEGE IS POINTLESS TO ME RIGHT NOW!
Hi Morgan,
I am a student in EDM 310 at the University of South Alabama. Thanks for posting your blog and thoughts on your personal experiences with learning at a university. I can very much relate to you as far as having the lecture classes where you go, sit, listen, cram facts before a test, then take the test. When finishing that class you have basically memorized facts and haven’t even formed a community of fellow learners with an educator who even knows your name, but on the other hand there is the computer class which allows to embrace creativity and interaction to learn new things and then you can build your very own network. So I can relate to you in that situation. I also enjoyed the video you posted by Dan Brown. I feel like it summed up your thoughts entirely. Thank you for your thoughts. They definitely left me thinking!
My name is Caitlyn Lord and I am taking Dr. Strange’s EDM310 course at the University of South Alabama in Mobile, AL.
Thank you for this post. I really enjoyed the video and I agree with your response to it. I too feel like I have been cheated by some of my classes and instructors. Although classes where you regurgitate information seems to be easier, they are most definitely not better. I really hate sitting through boring lectures that are not relevant to anything that I can see, and even if they are relevant, lecture is boring in general. I really enjoy Dr. Strange’s class because we are instructed to converse with our classmates. I have learned an unfathomable amount about how technology works, and is useful in the classroom. I look forward to being able to change the ways of institutional education.
Morgan,
I am taking EDM310 with Dr. Strange in Mobile, AL and just read your post. I have finished my graduate education and am taking this course for continued education. Thankfully I can say that I feel this particular class is an example of one that has embraced technological advancement and acknowledged the availability of liberated information. I do agree that in general, the institutionalized educational system is grossly outdated. Dan Brown does have some valid arguments as to why it is in danger of extinction and I think he is partially correct. I enjoyed your post and will be writing more on my class blog if you are interested.
My name is Rachel Ward. I am a student at the University of South Alabama, in Mobile, Alabama. I’m in Dr. Strange’s EDM310 class.
I’ve had some of the same experiences with instructors testing on the facts, relevant or not. I can tell you my “learning” in those courses did not equate to the grade received.
Thank you for posting this!
Hello, I am in Dr. Strange’sa EDM 310 class at the University of South Alabama and I enjoyed your post but I was fortunate enough to not sit through hours of lecture in my classes. I think changes need to be made to the teaching format in larger universities that teach by rambling lecture type material in which you learn nothing. I also think Dan Brown’s video is very relevant to the way we are required to learn the material, test on it, and get a grade for what you did remember is ridiculous. As I mentioned in my blog @ http://mathenymalissaedm310.blogspot.com/ since student’s are the one’s affected and suffering with these things we need to find a way to change it. So let’s make a change to the future of classroom lectures.
Hey Morgan!
I have read your post about “An open letter to Educators” and I loved it. I must say that I read your blog a lot and I really enjoy it. I hope all is well with you and I will continue to read your post!
Hi Morgan, I am in Dr. Strange’s EDM310 class and I really enjoyed your post. I think that most of my college experience has been the same as yours. I am very glad that I have been open to learning and taking in all of this technology in his class, because I have learned so many useful ideas for teaching and I have learned from so many different people including young children from around the world. Thank you for sharing, I am going to add you to my PLN as this post is very helpful.
Hi Morgan. I am a student in Dr. Strange’s EDM310 class. I find it difficult to stay engaged in class after sitting there for so long. The way information is being taught doesn’t relate to how today’s world is. I can’t even begin to count how many courses I take that I have absolutely no interaction between classmates. It is even sadder to think that I don’t have much interaction with some instructors. Come to think of it, the majority of the education system is sad. We go to school, sit, memorize facts, as Dan Brown says, and regurgitate it back on a test. The school system isn’t about learning for the long term, it is a matter of memorizing it long enough to spit in out on a test. Not enough teachers encourage experience and hands on learning.
I applaud Dan Brown for taking the initiative to drop out to learn. I am not sure how that will turn out for him, but I wish him the best of luck. But it is a foot in the right direction. Taking the initiative to learn, is the best way to learn.
Hello, I’m a student in Dr. Strange’s EDM 310 class.
The video was a breath of fresh air, that’s for sure. A lot of my experience in my college classrooms have been lectured-base with powerpoints and very little interaction with my peers. I have to say that in my smaller classes I was blessed to have teachers that were motivated in learning our names and mingling and encouraging class participation. The last 1.5 years of my college education I can honestly say that there have been at least 6 or 7 text books I’ve never read or studied from. Most teachers just test off their powerpoint slides anyway which chops a lot from the book.
I know plenty of smart, inquisitive and creative people. Most of them don’t have a degree. I am paying to go to school and learning under professors, but my friends know pretty much the same things as I do. They google and research and learn, the only difference is that I’m paying someone to give me a grade about what i google, research and learn.
Thank you all for your comments! I’m glad we can all think critically about education and the things we like about the one we are getting as well as the things we would like to see changed. I’m glad to see people consider Dan Brown’s rant with a grain of salt, while letting it open up questions and thoughts about their own education. Several people have asked whether or not it may be that Dan Brown is missing out on opportunities to make important changes to the institutions he is not fond of, by dropping out of school. I am not prepared to make judgments about Dan’s or anybody else’ major life decisions because I believe people make their choices for a large number of personal reasons that I don’t have full knowledge of. I will say that in my personal circumstances I, obviously, didn’t, and would not make the decision to drop out of school. I am just willing to think critically about and contribute to changes that can help make institutional education more effective, more inspiring, more practically useful, and more capable of building creative impetus in individuals.
Thanks again for connecting. I’ll do my best to catch up with some of your blogs and take a peek at what you are thinking about!
Morgan
Hi Morgan,
I am also a student from the University of South Alabama. Thank you very much for sharing the video by Dan Brown. I feel like much of my education has been like this. I look forward to when I can get out of the classroom and quit memorizing “facts’ and actually make a difference in my own classroom and incorporate a different way learning and gaining knowledge. Great post!
Erin
Hi, My name is Laura Ashley Butler, and I am another one of Dr. Strange’s EDM310 students at the University of South Alabama. I just wanted to say thank you so much for sharing this video with us. My own college experiences have been very similar to both yours and Dan Brown’s. I’ve written a bit about your blog and my response to the video in my own class blog.
Thank you so much for sharing your experience with your university classes versus your computer class. I have also found that my computer class for education majors, has opened up a whole world to me that I didn’t know existed before. For example, I was assigned to read your blog for Dr. Strange’s EDM 310 class. Assignments like these show me things I haven’t been exposed to before and encourage me to search for more resources on my own.
Thanks again for sharing! -Tyler Tuveson
Hello Ms. Bayda,
Thank you so much for sharing this video on your blog. I read your post as part of an assignment for Dr. Strange’s EDM 310 class at the University of South Alabama. The idea that a student would drop out of school because his educational needs are not being met is so sad. I agree that our educational institutions are outdated. They simply have not adapted to the information age.
Before I enrolled at my current university, I did a research project on technology use by the instructors there and found that many did not utilize what was available to them. Now that it is two years later and I am attending full-time, I notice not much has changed in many classes. I had hoped since the university has more money than the public schools, they would implement more technology tools. However, the financially strapped K-12 system here in Alabama seems to be making more of an effort to do so. I do not understand why, but I am seeing some things in EDM 310 that give me hope for the future of our education system. If you would like to see all the wonderful things Dr. Strange is teaching us future teachers, check out our class blog or my personal class blog.
Schooling getting in the way of education… I think at some point in our education, we have all felt like we have to jump through irrelevant hoops; I feel this way all too often. However, I know at this point, these hoops, no matter how irrelevant, are necessary. It would be ideal if I truly got something out of all of my classes other than a grade. It is true that knowledge is free, but a degree is not. I completely disagree that the world will decide it does not need institutional education- that is not a well conceived thought. There are exceptions to the rule, but for most of us, if we want to have a successful career, we need a piece of paper proving what we have learned and proving what we are certified to do. An institutional education makes us creditable.
I have a hard time taking this kid, Dan Brown, seriously because he is a drop out. I actually find it slightly offensive that he feels he is just as motivated as I am to make a difference. I find college to be torturous sometimes, but am still willing to put myself through it to one day be in a creditable position to make a difference in children’s lives.
Institutional education is definitely not keeping up with the times, but is there is a difference between talking about what is wrong and doing something to correct it. I feel it will be the Randy Pauschs of the world that can inspire change, not the Dan Browns.
Thanks for your comment and your honesty Jillian.
You speak about the necessity of jumping through irrelevant hoops. However, if those hoops are irrelevant, than why is it that they are necessary? What if institutionalized education could make you credible, while also helping you to grow into a more active seeker of knowledge, an inventor of ideas? There is no doubt that many people come through our educational systems and are lucky enough to be truly fulfilled by it. I do think that with some changes more and more and more people might emerge feeling that way. What if you could go through college and not feel that you are just ‘willing to put [yourself] through it’?
I would also urge you to consider that people with University degrees are not the only people to be taken seriously. Many of the people in our world who do important jobs and create important change do not have University degrees, as I am sure you know. For many people, a certified degree may hold the key to the career and future they want. Many other people are seeking answers to different questions and different pathways, which I think is equally as valuable.
Thanks for your thoughts and good luck with teaching.
Hi!
My name is Shoronda Charles, and I am a student in Dr. Strange’s EDM 310 class at the University of South Alabama. I really enjoyed this post because it was one that I could relate to. I too have sat in the three hour classes, silently listening to lectures and asking questions that only the professor was allowed to answer. I can also relate to your ED. Computers class. In Dr. Strange’s EDM 310 class, we are encouraged to interact and collaborate with our classmates to learn and explore. I also thought the Dan Brown section of the post was very thought-provoking. It made me question whether I am getting my money’s worth out of my education. This motivates me even more as a future educator. Great post!
Hi,
My name is Anna Dumas and I am a student at the University of South Alabama taking part in Dr. Strange’s EDM310 class. I have read your post as part of an assignment for this class. I really liked Dan’s thoughts on institutional education. It really is a place just for professors to blabber facts to students. I love the EDM310 class I’m in right now, because it is helping to learn about technology in a way that I can use it not just to make an A in this class, but to also help me make A’s in my other classes. Communication is 100% the key to learning and getting the best education possible. One person simply cannot obtain all sides of a story, idea, or theory, in any subject alone. We need to rely on each other, and be able to look at something at all angles to understand the facts more fully. Technology is at our fingertips, and I am certain that there is about to be a change in the way universities all over the world teach those boring facts that get fed to us, and its going to to happen sooner than we think, or more people like Dan are going to be dropping out of school for the reason that it is interfering with our education!
Hi Morgan,
My name is Gina Pace and I am a student at the University of South Alabama. As an EDM 310 assignment, I have been asked to visit your blog and reflect. I have really enjoyed reading your post; it definitely seems to speak to the minds and hearts of many students. It is heartbreaking to see that lecturing has become a world-wide epidemic among many teachers. In many cases, education has become just another obstacle for students and sadly, many do drop-out. We lecture and we lecture and we wonder why students just aren’t getting “IT”. It is because the world as we knew it has changed.
The world has become more diverse and the wheel has been reinvented. Knowledge of technology and establishing a PLN in which to collaborate and share ideas is not only “relevant” but necessary in this information age. I love Brown’s quote – information is not only “free”. It has been liberated! While taking my EDM 310 class, a hunger for knowledge has been ignited and I certainly feel liberated. You can become as educated and informed as you choose to be. There are absolutely NO LIMITS.
I am however hoping that Dan Brown did not drop out of college. In today’s society, a college degree is still a very valuable asset. As stated by Dan, a strong education isn’t just important, it is essential. In my opinion, Institutional Education is still the springboard for socioeconomic success. Perhaps Brown could become the conduit for revolutionizing institutional education in the information age. He seems to be very creative and has lots of great ideas. What would education become if Dan Brown channeled this same energy into revolutionizing institutional education? Thank you for sharing your thoughts. I would love for you to visit my personal blog and leave comments or suggestions Gina’s Blog
Hi,
My name is Christina Motes and I am a student at the University of South Alabama taking part in Dr. Strange’s EDM310 class. I have read your post as part of an assignment for this class.
In my own personal experiences it is very similar. Though I must mention that this is not the case in every single class. There are teachers out their that recognize the change in society around information and see that they have to change their teaching style in order to help their students. However, for the most part it is pretty much the same, go to class, listen to a lecture, take notes, memorize, test on what you have memorized. Usually there are no actual applications of the material we are learning or how to use it in our future careers.
~Christina Motes~
Morgan,
Last week I read several of your posts about your Summer in South America. I can tell the experience changed your life and I enjoyed reading your thoughts and reflections. This week Dr. Strange assigned our EDM 310 class to read your “Open-letter…” post and write an essay comparing our experiences and thoughts to yours. My essay can be found on my blog but I want to share one thought with you here. I agree with everything you wrote in response to the Dan Brown video you shared. Our system is ineffective, it needs to be changed, it interferes with true learning…
However, university classes have been taught this way for hundreds of years, and it was NEVER an effective way to learn. Pick any point in the last 150 years and tell me how memorizing history facts was an essential thing on its own. In the past, there was no way to retain those facts without memorizing them, unlike today, but WHO NEEDS FACTS unless you are taught how to analyze that information and synthesize it into new scenarios and apply it to current events. The system never worked and yet it has always been done. Those who can learn despite the system have, and those who cannot have not. I absolutely believe and agree that our present educational environments are ineffective and that they must be changed, however, the piece of paper (degree) still has value and will continue to and Dan Brown may be harming only himself by tossing his books back in the face of “the system”. What do you think?
My blog
Hello, my name is Barry Gartman, and I am a student at the University of South Alabama in Dr. Strange’s EDM310 class. We are receiving an excellent education in how to learn from him. He is demanding, but fair, and a tireless advocate of the technological litterate teacher. And he is instilling that virtue in us, the future of education. I really enjoyed your blog as it relates to my experiences in college thus far. Up till this class, I did not know this style existed. I knew there had to be a better way to convey the information, and now I am learning how. Feel free to click here to view our class blog, or here to view my class blog.
Hello my name is Sam Gates and I am also a student in Dr. Strange’s EDM310 class. I do agree that there are many classes that the lecture time is useless because all the professor does is summarize the chapters you are reading and then says good-bye and feels like he or she has done something. At the same time though I do not agree with dropping out of class because to me that is like quitting a job just because things are not going exactly like you want them to.
As an EDM 310 student at the University of South Alabama, I was assigned to follow your post. I agree that schools are focused on an education created hundreds of years ago. You are able to get the information needed, not from your professors, but a stranger on a social network. When will schools and educators evolve with the times. I enjoyed you post and the video, thank for presenting such a good topic.
My blog: http://marshalljamesedm310.blogspot.com/
I find that many of my experiences in school have been the same. I still have teachers who simply go over information that I am supposed to read, and others who make learning relevant, and use technology. I liked your post, and the video. I am part of Dr. Strange’s EDM 310 class. http://marshall.jamesedm310@blogspot.com
Hi, my name is Maeghan Whitmire and I am commenting on this as an assignment in Dr. Strange’s EDM310 class at the University of South Alabama. I really appreciate this post. I do agree that the education is behind. Technology is taking over and if educators aren’t ready to use that, then the students are going to be in for a rude awakening once they get out into the real world. Everything does not have to be done on paper now. All information needed can be found online easily by the click of a button. I agree with this post and I loved his video. Thanks so much for your thoughts on this.
I really appreciate this post because it’s thought-provoking. I can’t help but think that Dan Brown’s rant is a result of learning facts that weren’t relevant to him. Educators and institutions shouldn’t become obsolete; they should embrace change and present facts so they are relevant to present-day students’ lives. They should incorporate technology, collaboration, self-learning, and higher-order thinking questions (in lieu of memorization, the part of education Brown-and others- are so against).
All learners need coaches. It doesn’t take away from democratic education for it to be “institutionalized”. The democratic tendency is not in finding information, it’s in making it.
Thank You for your thoughts! If you have any questions or Comments, you can leave them at Dr. Strange’s EDM 310 website or my personal class blog.
Onward,
Leah DiVincenzo
Hey, my name is Kathryn Cummins and I am a student in Dr.Strange’s EDm 310 Class. I enjoyed watching this video and reading your blog. Dan had many points that I do agree with. He said “we have lost sight of what our education really is.” Well, I agree because education is still the same as it was back then. It’s all about lecturing, and it shouldn’t be. Students need to be engaged in learning. He also says “it’s about empowering students to make a difference in the world.” If students can’t be able to use their skills and talents then they will not know how to share them with others.
Hi, my name is Melissa and I am also a student in Dr. Strange’s EDM310 class. I did enjoy the post and movie. Dan Brown made some good points, but dropping out of school wasn’t a good decision. I admit some of my classes have seemed useless and a waste of my time, but in the long run it’s the degree that counts. When it comes to getting an education we have to take the good with the bad. Hopefully we will start to see more changes in education that will benefit the students more.
Hi Morgan,
My name is Nichole and I am also from Dr. Strange’s EDM 310 class. I do agree that the education system is behind and we are the ones that have to do something about it. I think that new methods of teaching and learning will catch on sooner or later. I have also had professors that put me to sleep and gave 2 tests a semester. I think that more classes should include blogs and hands on activities because it stimulates and engages the students, so they will be less likely to drop out. The journey to motivate and end the rut that education has gotten into starts with us. This is the age of “FREE” information.
Thanks for the post and the inspiration to try harder.
-Nichole
I am a student in Dr. Strange’s EDM 310 class. I could not agree more with you. I feel like in most of my classes all that I am doing is memorizing facts and I am seldom encouraged to communicate with other peers. I am an education major so interaction is a major factor in what I do. Sometimes I feel we should have more interaction with others. I enjoyed your post and Dan Brown’s video. Thanks
Hey Morgan, great job finding Dan he speaks worlds of truths to many people. I agree with what he is saying about schools becoming more progressive and needing to do more than provide teachers who stand and lecture. The whole time I was listening to Dan I was mentally reflecting on classes I have had in the last few semesters. Luckily the lecture classes I’ve had have incorporated some sorts of group interactive discussion along with lecture. Dr stange’s EDM310 class has definitely set the bar for embracing all that technology has to offer which is good but to succeed in this class you must be motivated self learner like yourself and obviously Dan. Unfortunately many students today are not self motivated and don’t know how to learn independently. They need structure and someone driving them and holding them accountable for them them to learn. If a student doesn’t know what to look for and how to structure his own learning “syllabus” then he will get no where. I am all for a “new age” of teachers and learners and plan to use everything I am learning in EDM310 plus all the links and educator blogs I have in my PLN when I begin my teaching career. Right now our teachers of lower grade levels have to change to prepare all students for a future of learning that will include “liberated information” so that no one will be cheated out of a full and rewarding education that is available. Unfortunately employers still look at degree accomplishments when accessing perspective employees so getting that piece of paper is a necessary evil, even if it means sitting through boring lectures. Until high schools and Universities get up to date we will have to stick it out and if we are motivated self learners we can always challenge ourselves to go above and beyond and use the the vast resources that are at our fingertips to enhance what we are learning in the lecture halls. Don’t use bad professors as an excuse. Students who know how to need to take that extra step and set themselves apart. Hopefully in the future this is what all students will be prepared to do by good, progressive technologically innovative teachers.
I can understand what you are saying, but I guess I go to a great university. I am in Dr. Strange’s class and everything we do is hands on and many of our projects are collaborative. I have another class this semester and although my teacher lectures for quite some time, the class lasts from 4:30 to 10:00, she always integrates, projects, games, worksheets, etc. There are nights that my brain feels exhausted, but she does a great job of mixing things up a little. Dan’s video has a lot of truth to it, but I am concerned his future will not be what it could be without a degree from a university. I understand what he says about information being free and the frustration he feels about unused and obviously over-priced books, but society still wants to know you earned that expensive piece of paper. Maybe this will change in the future. I am open-minded enough to realize things are constantly changing.
I enjoyed your post and the video. I think the best response I can give is to the University of Nebraska, they better come check out what the University of South Alabama is doing before losing anymore intelligent and obviously creative students. If you would like to check out some things we have been learning in Dr. Strange’s class you can go to MY BLOG.
Hey! I am a student in Dr. Strange’s EDM310 class as well. I completely agree with you. I find myself falling asleep in my classes as well. My mind starts to wonder after the first 25 minutes or so, and once that happens there is no turning back! Thank you for posting! I really enjoyed your post and the video by Dan Brown!
I am a student in Dr. Strange’s EDM 310 class. Although you are a recent graduate and I graduated in 1997 we have some similar experiences. I too had problems staying awake in classes where I was only lectured to and not engaged in any way. I loved any class where I was encouraged to participate and collaborate with my peers.
The video by Dan Brown was very interesting. He is obviously a very intelligent young man but unfortunately the system has not changed yet and I feel that his dropping out of college is going to pose a problem when he attempts to get a job. Back in 1996 my brother, who only had a high school diploma and one year of community college was able to get a job for a tech company several states away due to his desire and passion to learn what he loved. He has worked very hard and is a self taught engineer. He has worked for many large companies including Sony, Apple, Cisco, Itochu and Juniper Networks. What my brother has accomplished would be very very difficult today without a college degree. It used to be that if you had a college degree you were guaranteed a job. Now bachelor’s degrees are a dime a dozen and to get that same job you need a master’s degree.
Your volunteer work has taught you lessons that you could not have learned any other way and you are lucky to be living in a time where you were able to use technology so easily to find opportunities to participate in. When I graduated I would have loved an opportunity to do something like that and even though in a lifetime that was not so long ago in the age of technology it was forever.
Your attitude towards learning and your experiences will carry you far. I hope that you keep blogging so that I can continue to follow your work.
Hi there, I am from Dr. Strange’s EDM 310 class. I want to talk about why we go to get a degree in the first place. It’s because we want to get a job and make money. I really think that this is an important post to everyone considering a degree and what it really means to get a job. It all boils down to what you are good at, and what your interviewer thinks about your resume. So many people go through school thinking about getting the job and not thinking about if they are learning what they need to learn to get that job. I have been in that situation, and since a have started read post like this one I have found that everything that I have been taught may not be good enough. I may not be as successful as my interviewer thought I should be because my resume showed that I could do so much more with the education I have. So, many jobs are lost everyday that I don’t think we should take our learning for granted. When I apply for a job, many employers will be skeptical to who they hire. I can’t just go through the motions of learning anymore. We need to be more serious in what we want to accomplish.
I really enjoyed this post, I will be writing about this post on my blog.
Thanks.
I agree that things and technology are changing and we have to change with the times. Technology is rapidly changing. I’m in EDM 310 and I have learn so many things and continue to learn things everyday. I enjoy coming to class which is not required and actually look forward to it. You can’t ever give up and you can’t ever stop learning!
Hello Morgan Bayda, I enjoyed reading your post and I agree with you that embracing change is very important and beneficial. Dan Brown Really express how he felt and I agree that the world is changing and if we don’t embrace it we will be left out. Technology of yesterday won’t necessarily be the same today I am a firm believer that teacher need to use their creativity to grasp their students attention. Learning is part of a student’s daily life and will always be used in all aspects. Yea learning is fundamental, but how do you really expect your students to learn when you are lecturing at them and not involving them. I believe students will learn better when the teacher is interacting with them. Creative learning is what will make this world flourish, and we need to allow our students to practice their creative side. Sir Ken Robinson conveys it best about how teacher should use their creativity and let their students use theirs. The video of Sir Ken Robinson represents reinforcement to the teacher in how vital it is to keep their students attention in the classroom. Technological setting shows master level use of teacher and student’s relationship and how creativity is a must in the classroom. Teachers should be coaching students and preparing them for higher education. Everyone learns differently at different pace. We live in a technology world and would not be here if it wasn’t for those who had a creative mind. Being in EDM 310 I am learning about so much that I had never heard of before. I may struggle a little bit and sometimes I may get things wrong, but I don’t think I would never give up learning.
Hi Morgan! I am a student from Dr. Strange’s Edm 310 class at the University of South Alabama. I agree with you all the way! The way we get our education has to change. University’s need to get with times and realize that that “old school” method is out! Students deserve a great education!
Hi, I am a student at University of South Alabama. I can say that I’m one of those people who are afraid of change but I’m not closed to the idea. I’m so use to the ‘burp back’ term until now it has made things hard for me to get use to. But I do like the new things I am getting expose to, such as Blogger, Twitter, Vocaroo and others. So I’m not a lost cause.
No one is a lost cause 🙂
Thanks Taylor and Mikhail for your comments
Hello Morgan,
my name is Mikhail. i too am a student of Dr. Strange’s EDM 310 class at the University of South Alabama. it was an assignment of mine to read your post. i must say i was very impressed with your post. i feel i gained alot of ideas and perspective of a subject i guess i just didn’t know much about. i also enjoyed the Dan Brown clip. i feel it really completed your blog. have a nice day!
Hi Morgan,
I am a student at the University of South Alabama. Part of our weekly assignment was to watch Dan Brown’s video and read your comments on it and then make one of our own in response to the video. I too have felt cheated at times throughout my education at USA. The funny thing is, I didn’t really feel this way during my first two years of college which I completed at a community college. The classes were smaller and believe it or not, my instructors knew my name. It seemed a lot easier to find one on one help from my professors there and I sure enough opened my textbooks more than twice in almost all of my classes.
I don’t, however, agree that we are still using a model of schooling created hundreds of years ago. I say this simply because hundreds of years ago there wasn’t blogging or virtual interactions between students. The class that I mentioned earlier, Micro-computing Systems in Education, has taught me several new ways to use the internet and there isn’t a textbook for this class so obviously we do all of our work on the computer. Given this video was rather short, I would like to know more about why Dan made the decision to drop out of college because his “schooling was interfering with his education.” Could Dan of done something to change his experience in college?
Hi Ingrid and Jenny,
Thanks for your thoughts.
Hello my name is Jenny Turner I am an EDM 310 student at South Alabama. I really enjoyed reading your post and felt I really could relate to it. It was very helpful.
Hello, I had to read your blog and watch this video for my class at South Alabama. I completely agree with this video because I feel where Mr. Dan is coming from. Education does need to adapt to the times and want to keep students engaged. Many lectures can now be found on I tunes U and so you really don’t need to go to class if you would like to learn a little more about a subject without paying thousands of dollars. It does make sense why Mr. Dan would drop out if he could spend nothing to get the same education as others who are spending thousands and thousands of dollars.
Hi Tracy and Rachel
Thanks for your thoughts. I agree Tracy, I don’t think dropping out of school was necessarily the best answer. I think there is great information to be found on the internet, but information is not necessarily the goal of education.
[…] ‘I know it’, or even ‘they know it’, for credit. And as comments on a previous post of mine suggest, credit seems to be (or at least seems to have been) the essence of this University […]
Hi Morgan, I am a student of Dr. Strange’s. I enjoyed looking around your blog. This is an interesting post. I agree with many things Dan had to say, but I’m not sure dropping out of school was the best answer. He may wish he had that degree later. I do however agree that the Education Experience needs a make over. Thanks for communicating with our classes. Best of luck to you!
Hi, I am also a student in EDM310 at South Alabama. I also am currently a teacher at a residential school for troubled kids. We can’t access alot of sites and use most applications that are taught in EDM310 because of the behavior prolbems of the kids and safety issues. Most people that the students know are inappropriate contacts and we have to be very mindful of letting them contact these people via internet and also look up inappropriate materials. I have learned alot from the “old” way of lecture and teach-lecture and test. I am afraid if I knew just the new technologies my kids would be at a loss because we can’t use all the new technologies that may be available. Plus, we are a state supported school and our technology is extremely limited to say the least. So I am glad I know the old ways of teaching and the new.
Thanks for your thoughts Pam,
I agree that so called ‘old ways’ of teaching are important to me because I use those methods in my own life, but I still don’t think lecture will ever be a favourite of mine. We can change the way we teach to be more effective and engaging without any digital media at all, if that is the case.
I enjoyed reading your post, I have the same concerns about my own education. I am in an Education Technology course at USA. In EDM 310 we are using Twitter, Skype, Delicious, Google and other free resource sites to help build and maintain great personal learning networks. When I am teaching I plan on using several of these sources to help my students build a strong learning community in and out of school.
Thanks Allison and Laura!
Hi Morgan! I loved reading your blog post. I am taking EDM 310 at the University of South Alabama, where I am majoring in Secondary Education. I have been in those classrooms where I feel like I am just wasting my time! This is such an important topic these days. Hopefully educational institutions can change with the rest of the world and we can get our students to fall in love with education. Good luck on your future career!
Oh how I can relate to sitting in classrooms trying to stay awake. I feel that I am paying so much for my education that I need to be in class, because if I don’t I’m wasting my money on self taught education through the internet anyway. I couldn’t agree more with Dan Brown and his views on education. Universities were a great stepping stone to where we are now, but the world is ever changing, and well, Universities better get on bored and change as well or fall far behind. I hate that creativity is taken out of the classroom and we are forced to regurgitate facts on a constant basis. Creative learning is what will make this world thrive, and we need to allow our students and peers to practice their creative side, and not condom them for it. We live in a technology savvy world and would not have got there without the creative minds that have brought us there.
Hi Robyn, Jessica and Alicia!
Thanks for your comments. I agree Alicia, creativity is absolutely critical. What I find interesting about the classes I’ve felt disengaged with is that it’s not that I don’t think the content is important. Often I care greatly about the actual topics of the class, but it is sometimes the method that the content is presented in that makes me feel like an apathetic student.
Hi Ms. Bayda,
My name is Jessica Washington and I am a student in EDM310. I agree that society is always moving up in technology. I feel it is fine to learn and discover what the internet offers to students and educators.
What interest me the most is the fact that all classes seem to be this 3 hour lecture where no one is allowed to talk just listen, and rarely do we have discussion. I am a student in EDM 310 at University of South Alabama. Dr. Strange encouraged us to read and watch your post and leave a comment. I feel the same way that you and Dan Brown feel. I enjoy being able to interact with my fellow students in my education classes but in all my other classes I just sit there and listen to my professors just ramble on about stuff I could care less about and most of it I learned in high school. Its a shame that university classes can’t be more exciting and more student involved. I enjoyed your post thank you very much for sharing with us.
Hi, my name is Monica and I am in Dr. Strange’s EDM 310 class at South Alabama and I really enjoyed listening to Dan Brown’s thoughts on education. I agree that universities need to evolve from just traditional lectures to more of a innovative education experience through technology.
Thanks Ryan, Rachel and Monica,
Good luck in Dr. Strange’s class!
Hi Morgan! I agree with this post because I am learning so much in my EDM310 computer class as well. There is so much to learn with this class and I had no idea that I was not already aware of this. The video that you posted was a great ‘stop and think’ video because I have been through my fair share of those horrible 100+ student classes with loads of irrelevant work. I appreciate your insight of this matter that college students are dealing with everyday!
I agree with your thoughts on sitting in lecture halls and listening to a professor go on and on for hours the info is great but I will never remember what they are talking about. Very good post
As a second degree seeking student at the University of South Alabama, I have split opinions of the video by Mr. Brown and the blog by Ms. Bayda. I actually agree with the separation of class based upon education. Is it fair that those less fortunate and knowledgeable received lack there of an education? No, it is not! Everything and anything is available via internet. Given the right amount of time and initiative to an individual less fortunate against an educated individual and the result will be a factual debate. Traditional classrooms are a room full of thriving future professionals eager to obtain the information needed to be an success. Does that mean that the individuals unable to sit in that classroom is not as driven? Again, No, it does not. Mr. Brown definitely has a point that noting facts given to you by another individual in no longer needed in this day of age. Currently, we have Facebook, Myspace, Twitter, Blog’s, and MacBook which allows your an informative avenue to receive any information wanted. One can present an inquiry on either networks and in minutes the answer to that very question alongside other great suggestions are available. All of which required no money nor time in on a college campus in a college classroom. I concur completely with that idea. Will traditional teaching eventually disappear? I don’t completely agree. I feel more so that things in general has advanced and will advanced throughout the years. I also feel that there needs to be the right amount of old mixed in with the new. New developments and different ways of obtaining information is an advantage to the lower class individual which no longer leaves room for excuses.
I am in EDU 310-Dr. Strange and Mr. Sullivan
Hi Danielle,
Thanks for your comment. I am slightly confused by your words, but I think maybe what you are trying to say is that balance is important. Is that correct?
Hi! I am student at the University of South Alabama in Mobile. I enjoyed reading your post and agree with you that embracing change is very important and beneficial. I am new to having a Twitter account and I didn’t realize how much of a social network it is. It’s awesome what you have done.
Hi Sheva,
Feel free to keep connecting on Twitter and thanks,
@mbayda
I am a student in Dr. Strange EDM310 class at the University of South Alabama. Your post is apart of an assignment assigned to the class for review and comments. Very interested, I really agree with your assessment of education in today’s society. I think higher learning institutions are in a sense blackmailing the student’s; by forcing them to sit through hours of lecture in exchange for degrees or certificates.
Lamar, Lauren Reeves, Lauren Walker, Mandy and Chelsie,
Thanks for your thoughts! Interesting point about blackmail Lamar…
Hello, my name is Chelsie Funderburg. I am in Dr. Strange’s EDM 310 class. I read your blog as part of an assignment. We have been asked to create a PLN, which has proven very helpful to me. It gives me a place where I can contact those who can help me with research and such, and I am constantly expanding my PLN. Personally, I enjoy listening to lectures. Yes, sometimes they can get very boring, but I tend to remember more if I hear it, write it down, and study it. Then, I can go online and further explore the topic. Some professors lose sight of why they are actually in front of a classroom and that is to teach. Thanks for sharing your thoughts! I look forward to visiting your blog again.
Morgan,
I love your blog post to Dan’s video. I totally agree. I am in Dr. Strange’s class. It is my favorite class because I am actually encouraged to learn and not just memorize facts to pass a test. I look forward to doing assignments for his class because I know that the information is useful and beneficial to me. Thank you for sharing your thoughts and I like your blog. Have a great week.
I really enjoyed on what you had to say in your post. You make some great points and i agree with a lot of what you had to say. I am in EDM class at the University of South Alabama.
Hi there! My name’s Holly Longenecker and I’m also a student of Dr. Strange’s. I love your blog!! I am working on a PLN and this is more than useful! The Dan Brown video was nice and I really enjoyed checking out your other posts (I’m a huge e. e. cummings fan), and I can’t wait to visit again. Thanks for dedication and great ideas!
Thanks for looking around my blog Holly! Glad to meet another E. E. Cummings fan in the crowd!
Thanks and all the best,
Morgan
Hi, I am in Dr.Strange’s EDM 310 class at the University of South Alabama. I really enjoyed what you had to say and Mr. Dan Brown’s video. I agree that as time changes everything else needs to develop with it. I love using technology and I think it needs to be used more in the classrooms!
I am a student in Dr. Strange’s EDM 310 class. I checked out your post as part of an assignment. I, too, just recently took a class in which I was one of 100 plus students. My teacher never learned my name. She was as flat as the material she taught. The book I had to purchase cost 195.00. Thankfully, I had the book so I could pass the class. I could not tell you one thing I learned in the class because once it was over I was done. I just checked it off the list and moved on. On the other hand, I had a class that same semester with a teacher who loved the material she taught. She knew my name and she interacted with the class all the time. She didn’t teach from a powerpoint. In fact, she was somewhat technologically challenged. However, she taught me more in that class than any other class I have ever taken. I pass the information I received in this class on to my students in middle school all the time. She loved what she taught and she passed that love of the subject on to me. That is teaching. I think that all these new tools help enhance teaching but don’t make the teacher. You either have it or you don’t. I enjoy the old school classroom with the teacher who loves teaching sharing with me things I didn’t know. Yeah, I can get it from google but then I would never have met Mrs. Conrad who taught English 201 and 202. That would have been a shame. I hope Dan Brown comes across a Mrs. Conrad – even if not in a university setting – in his pursuit of education.
I hope Dan comes across a Mrs. Conrad too! Teaching is so all about the relationships that come with it! It’s not just about information, but about, as you say, passing on the love and enthusiasm for a topic to students and helping them to get excited about learning.
Thanks Paula
Hi,
My name is Marianne and I am in Dr. Strange’s EDM 310 class at South Alabama. I agree with you too on many things. For example: One of my classes this semester is 1hour 15 minutes long. I go into class, sit there while my professor takes roll. Then he starts his lecture. About 10-15 into the lecture he goes off on some wild tangent that does not even relate to the course. For the next 45 minutes to an hour, I have to sit there and listen to something that I will not be tested on. To this day, I have not had to open my text book that cost $125.00 that was required for this class. I feel very cheated that I am only getting 10-15 minutes on lecture material. Also while in this class no laptops, cell phones, etc. are allowed. So I end up sitting there thinking about what I have to do for my next class, what homework I have left and when will this be over!!! I do agree with Dan Brown, but I don’t think he needed to drop out of school in my opinion. Thanks for posting this blog and video for everyone to read/watch.
Thanks Marianne, Dina, Brooke, Dustin and Katherine for your thoughts!
Much appreciated and all the best,
Morgan
I thought you made some very good points. There are times i get bored in class as well. Hopefully when I become a teacher I will be able to find ways to keep my students interested. I thought the video was very interesting as well. I had to read your blog as an assignment in Dr. Strange’s EDM 310 class.
Hi!
I really enjoyed reading your post. My name is Katherine and I’m a student in Mobile, AL in the EDM 310 class. I felt your post sums up what most college students go through. I too find it boring at times sitting in a long lecture class and not feeling like I actually learned something. Being in my EDM 310 and experiencing new things regarding technology, I don’t as bored like I do in other classes and I actually feel like I am learning something that I can use when I begin teaching. I too am getting my degree in special education and I would like to find out different ways to be able to use technology for my students since most of my students will learn differently. Being in EDM 310 I am learning about so much that I had never heard of before and I have a feeling that I will use more from this class than from my lecture classes. Great Job on this post. You and Dan Brown hit it right on the nail about college courses.
Hello Morgan Bayda. My name is Brooke McQuillan. I am reading this blog post as an assignment of my EDM310 class at the University of South Alabama. I am majoring in Elementary Education. This post caught my attention because we are learning so many things in our EDM class that will be useful for me in my classroom in the future and have been using my blog and building my PLN and delicious accounts. Thank you for sharing your post.
edm310.blogspot.com
I am also a student in Dr. Strange’s class at the University of South Alabama. Thank you for your post and including the Dan Brown video. I am returning to school after 15 years and have found that school hasn’t changed all that much since I was here the first time. With all of the resources available, I am surprised more of my college professors are not using them.
Hello, My name is Danielle. I am in Dr. Strange’s EDM310 class at the University of South Alabama. As I was reading your post and also watching Dan Brown’s video the only thought that kept coming to my mind was “this is deja vu.” What I mean by that is even though I am a part time student the classes that I take are with approx. 20 students and 1 professor. There is a little more one on one interaction between the student and the professor, but the professor is still standing up and teaching with a power point, overhead projector, white board, etc. We are still required to learn the “scribbled notes of facts” and take a test to receive a grade. Call me old-fashioned or a person who does not like change, but I like the fact of having a teacher teach me facts and testing me on them to receive a grade. The part that I like about Dr. Strange’s class is that when he his trying to teach his students he is being interactive with us. He is teaching us how to become a great teachers in the future by not necessarily showing us step for step how to do something. He gives us the tools to use while also giving us a chance to be creative while interacting with the other students in EDM310 and from around the world.
I have felt cheated several times, in the past, when I have paid hundreds of dollars on text books and I don’t even crack them like you! In my opinion, some things do need to change in our education system, but then again there are a few things that don’t need to change. Thank you for this very interesting post, I thoroughly enjoyed it! If you would like you are more than welcome to visit by blog at http://pittdanielleedm310.blogspot.com/.
Thanks for your comment and for posting the link to your blog.
I’m glad to see that you are thinking critically about the post and associating your own opinions with it. You’re right, there are many things that are fabulous about the system of education anywhere that don’t need to change. I think that the effectiveness and value of a system depends largely upon the teachers in the system and what they bring to it. Within any system, despite it’s rules and regulations, there is a lot of differentiation among teacher practices. We all know there are some fabulous, fabulous, inspirational teachers out there. Indeed, those teachers are probably the reasons many of us are trying to become the same thing!
Hello! My name is Lauren and I am a student of Dr. Strange’s at South Alabama. Thanks to teachers like you two, my eyes have been opened to this institutionalized schooling that I pay oh so much money for. Until this EDM class, I have accepted this “burp back” system; I am now sick of it. I now only look forward to a few classes that do not use this system. These few classes are the ones that I will remember when I become a teacher. The research practices and teaching methods that I have acquired will be the ones that I will use as a teacher. We have been assigned to watch Dan Brown’s video a few times throughout this semester and every-time I find something new and valuable, but also still feel sick for him for dropping out of school. Unfortunately, our current system of education is not going to change anytime soon, and I don’t think he is changing anything for the better by dropping out. I think his best option would have been to earn his degree and then influence the people he came into contact with in his workplace. I do wish the best of luck to him, and I do appreciate his words of wisdom.
I am also an Early Childhood SPE major, so I would love to keep in touch with you through blogging!
Thank you for your thoughts : )
Thanks Lauren!
I think you make a good point that it might be beneficial for Dan to continue his degree, and then use it to provide influence and try to change what he was dissatisfied with. I guess all we know about Dan is through this video, so I’m sure there is a lot I don’t know about his life and decision.
Yes, lets keep in touch! Do you use Twitter? If so, feel free to keep in contact that way.
@mbayda
I thought that this video was really interesting, but I think that Dan may have gone a bit far dropping out of school. I don’t think that believing that you know more than the system is a good reason to drop out of school. Not all knowledge is available on the internet, at least not yet. I am in Dr. Strange’s EDM 310 class at the University of South Alabama.
Sorry, accidentally posted twice.
I think that this was a very interesting post, but I’m not sure that it is the best idea to drop out of school because you think that you know more than the system. I am in Dr. Strange’s EDM 310 class at the University of South Alabama.
Hi Adam,
We agree with each other, then! I didn’t post Brown’s video because I support his decision to drop out of school, indeed it is not a decision I would make myself. I posted Brown’s video because it made me think.
Cheers,
Morgan
Hello, My name is Tim Mai and I am currently at Senior at the University of South Alabama majoring in History and Education. I am also in EDM 310 with Dr. Strange. I just wanted to say that I really enjoyed reading your post. I myself feel some what cheated in my academic endeavors and I wish I had more social interaction with my classmates.
Thanks Tim, Johnneshia, Jamie Lynn, Amber and Poppy for your comments about the post!
I’m appreciating all of your perspectives!
Thanks Poppy and Amber for sharing the link to your blogs. If you mention my name in your blog, I automatically receive a notification that you have, and so I may have already seen your post!
Thanks all
I just perused over your “health of the whole child” website which I found to be amazing. I loved your lesson plan on bucket filling. I noticed that this lesson is listed under health education. Is it typical for schools in Canada to start to integrate health into the curriculum at such a young age? This makes perfect sense to me and I wish that we here in the US would do the same, sometimes I feel that health is overlooked and not considered as important as the other subjects. Keep up the great work.
Wow Poppy I am thrilled that you went to my website!
I developed that last year as the culminating product of a personal and professional wellness project. Yes, in Canada (at least in Saskatchewan), Health Education is part of the curriculum beginning right from pre-kindergarten. Also, health education here is considered to be holistic, so that we try to support the health of children not only physically, but also emotionally (socially), intellectually, and spiritually (which does not necessarily mean religion). What is your health curriculum like in Alabama? Sometimes I think I consider health education and health support to be an overarching principle for all education….all education should point students toward safe and developmentally appropriate holistic development.
Thanks for your support,
Morgan
I am reading this post as an assignment for my EDM 310 class at the University of South Alabama. I am majoring in Elementary Education. This video was almost like a slap in the face. I mean, it’s not like I wasn’t aware of this information, but it’s almost like i want to ignore it in a sense. If I really want to be honest the first time I have learned anything new in years is right now in Dr.Strange’s micro-computing class. He has many doorways we can look through and gain knowlegde and information from. He doesn’t baby us and he gets right to the point. Instead for standing up there and saying blah blah blah he gives us assignments like this one and it opens ours eyes. This is one of the best blogs I have read/listened to. It applies directly to my situation and every other college student for that matter. All I can say, is I can’t wait for the classroom to go completely technical, and as far as books go…… we don’t seem to need them. I have 4 different books and like you said I haven’t crack one of them yet!
Hi May,
Thanks for your honest comment. I’m glad to hear you are learning so many new things in Dr. Strange’s class! I am just about to finish up my degree in 2 weeks, and I know for sure that this ECMP class is not the first time I’ve learned something new in years…I think I’m learning all the time alongside the people who surround me. I think what I have been craving these last few years but not always getting, is going further than just ‘learning something new’. I finally feel like a researcher into my own practice…some classes just don’t encourage you to think really deeply about those new things you’re learning, or about the things you already ‘know’. I think technology is a great help to how we learn to be active thinkers and researchers, but I would have to agree with some of the other comments that it certainly isn’t the only tool. We have each other also!
Thanks,
Morgan
Oops! Let me try this again. I am trying to comment using Vocaroo for the first time.
One more time….
I’m sorry, Morgan, for some reason my Vocaroo recording did not show up on your blog. Below, is what I commented. The recording of my comment is posted on my blog, if you care to listen. Thanks, Sandra
Hi, I take EDM310 at the University of South Alabama. It is my first and only class I’m taking after quite a few years. We are actively learning through the internet with Dr. Strange, basically, as our facilitator. I can only relate your learning (or memorizing) to my years in college in the late 80’s. It’s amazing! It sounds exactly the same as my experiences in the 80’s. Dan Brown was right on when he spoke of “frantically scribbling down facts”, memorizing the facts and then being tested on the facts. The only difference is that his professor uses Powerpoint while lecturing. My professors had a chalkboard while lecturing. We’ve come a long way since the late 80’s. Wouldn’t you say?
Thanks Sandra for attempting to post the Vocaroo on here! I’ll make sure I check it out on your blog. And yes, I think education probably has come a long way since the 80s! I was born in the 80s, so I can’t really speak from experience but I’ll take it on good authority 🙂
Hi Morgan,
I’m a student in Dr. Strange’s EDM 310 class at University of South Alabama. I’m what you would call an alternative student whom is returning to school after a 6 year stint in Puerto Rico. It’s sad to say that a lot of my lecture classes are still being taught in the same boring format as when I left school years ago. Change will happen, slowly but surely it will. I liked how you stated in your blog that educaiton is still being dominated by the “holders of information” which are often those with the most money and power. I cannot wait until this aspect changes and as is mentioned in Dan Brown’s video, technology will be a key player in making this happen. I really enjoyed your blog and look forward to reading more of your posts. If your new job allows you time (congratulations by the way!) you can check out my post at http://bednorzpauletteedm310.blogspot.com.
Hi, my name is Amber Fleming and I am also in the EDM 310 class at the University of South Alabama. I really enjoyed your post and fully agree that classes need to be brought up to date! I have to sit through an awful boring class every week that is just a man reading off notes that aren’t even useful to me! I think that technology needs to be integrated more into the classroom. It would be nice to see. If you would like to read my essay on this blog, go to:
http://flemingamberedm310.blogspot.com
Thank you for your thoughts!
I agree with the comment that we need education for the credential part of it. School’s also provide other useful tools other than the basic math and sciences of it all. There’s a lesson of interaction between the students and teachers also. A lesson of cooperation, respect, and/or competition. These things are learned through group interactions and following instructions. You could be the most knowledgable person in the world but if you can’t get your idea’s accross in the correct manner then, what good are they? Technology is changing the way we are educated. It makes knowledge more accessible and more challenging at the same time. Lets not forget the point of it all. What is that? Its different for every student. To be rich and famous, to please your parents, to live out a childhood dream, and or to just pay the bills, the reasons for education are personalized. If we were all computers then it would make perfect since to drop out and develop carpel tunnel. Lets remember history repeats itself. This brings me to the comment of the economic status playing a big part in someone’s education. Thats were teachers come in to integrate it all. So, teachers stand in front of your class and push your power points. It doesn’t mean you don’t know what your student needs are to be able to promote their learning. Take your eyes off the monitor and monitor your students. I believe in technology its a good thing but its not the only thing. Inclusion!
Betty I agree with so much of what you said in your comment.
Schools are important. Classroom interactions are important. Indeed that actually is the point that I attempted to make in the post: it is the classes that offer little interaction besides speak-receiver, that don’t seem like they really are all that useful, beyond a perspective of information gain.
I like that you said that the point of education is different for each student. You offer a very child-centered perspective in that part of your comment. And we are not all computers. My point in the post is absolutely not that we should all drop out and, as you say, ‘develop carpel tunnel’. I think that was misread by some of the people in your class.
Some parts of your comment confuse me. You say that teachers stand in front of classes and push power points, but yet know what student needs are to promote learning. Is pushing a power point really all that indicative of an inclusive environment where multiple forms of student need are promoted? Teachers may ‘know’ what student needs are, but unless they take that knowledge and turn it into practice, then the knowledge becomes pointless.
Thanks for your thoughts,
Morgan
Hi,
I am a student at the University of South Alabama. I am in Dr. Strange’s EDM 310 class. I completely agree with your comments and Dan Brown’s video. I think when teachers simply lecture, they are actually being lazy. I do not learn from this type of teaching, if that’s what it should be called. I want in-depth discussion and interaction. I love using technology in the classroom, and I can’t wait to become a teacher so I can incorporate it. I think a lot of teachers need to realize the CHANGE and accept it.
Hi, I’m Johnneshia from Dr. Strange’s EDM310 class at the University of South Alabama. I enjoyed the video and totally agree with your view on embracing the change in society when it comes to education. This video was the perfect way to share you thoughts and feelings on the matter.
Hello! I am from Dr. John Strange’s EDM 310 class. I loved this video. It was kind of scary to think that schooling could interfere with education but I do understand what he was talking about. I am glad that your PLN is such a great tool for you!
Katie, Denise, Haley, Heather and Kathleen,
Thanks for your comments! It’s so interesting to see everybody’s different perspectives.
Denise, you mention that sometimes we feel we can get all the information for a class online. That’s what I think needs to change, in a way. If we can go online (and not collaboratively, just on our own) and get all of the information we need for a class, that is an indication that the class is solely information based. Classes that were more than just information based would actually create a need to be more deeply involved and engaged in the class, which is important to me.
I thought you made several good points and I enjoyed the video as well.I’m posting on this blog as an assignment for for Dr. Strange’s EDM 310 class at the University of South Alabama. You can find my comments about your post and th video on my blog at: http://dwightjerkinsedm310.blogspot.com
Thanks Dustin
I am glad to read that your PLN has gotten you a volunteer position! I completely agree with you that schools will be left behind if they refuse to catch up! I can sympathize with you on being cheated. I hate walking into a classroom and seeing a Smartboard or some other type of really cool technology and find out they we won’t be using it in the classroom.
Heather Love
Dr. Strange’s EDM 310 Class
Spring 2010
Mobile, Alabama
Hello! I am in the EDM 310 class at the University of South Alabama and as one of our assignments we were asked to read this post by you and the video you had along with it. This is what I posted in my blog after reading your post and watching the video:
In this post (and video) Morgan Bayda makes many good points. I mean how many students can honestly say they have never had a boring class where everything that the teacher asked them to do was irrelevant? Not many, or maybe none at all, can say they have never experienced that. This video was definitely something that I think most all students can relate to. He made many good points, one that stood out to me was that the world is changing and we need to change with it. Society is evolving, slowly but surely, and we need to evolve with it. There are many different things that are available to students that weren’t available before. We have much easier access to the internet and the information in it. Teachers need to be aware that students aren’t interested in sitting in class and listening to a boring lecture that we will never use or see again, but that we are interested in something that we can take with us and we can benefit from. We’re paying teachers to teach us, not talk boring facts to us, but to teach us in a way that is beneficial to our education and our learning, not our schooling.
Thanks for sharing what you wrote on your blog with me Bliss. I like that you say teachers should ‘teach us in a way that is beneficial to our education and our learning, not our schooling’. That’s pretty well put.
I am also an EDM310 student. It is a very interesting concepts that the internet has brought to education. Being from the “old school” in many ways I still embrace the old ways of learning, but I do enjoy the freedom of finding things on my own; I often get lost in the world of information that is relevant to me! Thank you for sharing your thoughts.
Hi Tabitha,
Wow do I ever know what you mean about getting ‘lost’ in the world of information out there. It can be really hard to navigate sometimes. I think that was one of my greatest reasons for hesitation before taking ECMP 355, but I’ve learned a lot so far about how to navigate things in a relevant way. That’s what I wish I’d learned much, much earlier in my education!
Hey! Yet again another student at the University of South Alabama leaving you a comment as an assignment. I loved this video! I like how he talks about how schooling and education have become two different things over the past few years!
Dear Morgan,
Hi! I am a sophomore at the University of South Alabama in Mobile, AL. As a part of Dr. Strange’s EDM310 class, I’m learning to build my PLN. It’s great to see that one can actually be beneficial, and congratulations on finding some great volunteer opportunities!
Jessica Eaton
Hi Jessica,
Thanks for the encouragement! I have been completely surprised this semester by how beneficial a strong PLN can be. I am learning that it certainly does take work to make it strong though! Worth it, I suppose!
Hi Morgan,
I also am a student in Dr. Strange’s EDM310 class at the University of South Alabama. I really enjoyed Dan Brown’s video and found it refreshing. His idea of “Institutional Education” and how it refuses to adapt to the landscape of the information age is right on target. How many times have I sat through a lecture when I could have gotten all the information on line. Thanks for your informative blog.
Hey Morgan,
My name is Katie, I am in Dr. Strange’s EDM310 class here at the University of South Alabama. I was assigned to read your post, and let me tell you, I loved it. I would have never have read it (sorry about that) if it wasn’t assigned. But, I really enjoyed reading this post. I agree with another comment left earlier, as it was an “eye opener”. I wish sometimes that teachers now would incorporate technology and new ways to learn in classrooms. I hope to one day be one of those Teacher Technologically Literate. I found Dan Brown’s video very catching and also another “eye opener.” Thank you so much for sharing!
Katie
Angela, Matthew, Carl and Penelope:
Thanks for your comments! It’s starting to sound like all of us have some similar feelings about how we’d like to see education change…here’s the great part: we can be part of the change we want to see! It’s inspiring to think that as a teacher, I can effect future students in ways that I wish I had been effected more often during my education. I’ll always still look up to those teachers who felt the same way.
Hello. My name is Tiffany Lindell and I am also in EDM310 with Dr. Strange. I am actually taking this class for professional development, just as Sherik Butler commented. I am currently a sixth grade teacher. Dan Brown’s video really did sum things up. I graduated in 2005 and it seems as though university classrooms have not changed. Students are still copying work and regurgitating the information for the teacher generated assessments. I do hope to bring more excitement to my student’s education. Great video!
Good for you Tiffany! Your students are lucky that you’re so interested in keeping your practice fresh, engaging, and current.
I am also a student at the University of South Alabama in EDM310, and I was required to read this post as well. I am really glad you posted this, and I really liked Dan’s video. He was simply honest and made some great points. He was truly down to earth, and laid everything out on the table. Most of my classes are seriously very boring and what I feel as irrelevant to my degree. I completely see where Dan was coming from.
I am a student in Dr. Strange’s EDM 310 class at the University of South Alabama. This video is amazing! Brown does an excellent job getting his point across in what I think to be a respectful tone. He does not come off as an arrogant drop out that just rants about pointless complaints about a particular institution. He makes a very good point and has a solid purpose in mind for this video. I enjoyed it very much!
Hi Morgan!
My name is Sherik Butler and I am a student in Dr. Strange’s EDM 310 Class. I am glad I was assigned to read your post. I am not a typical college student, I am taking this course for professional development. I graduated over 13 years ago. After reading your post, it sounds like college hasn’t changed a bit since I was in school. I agree with you and Dan Brown that institutional learning is quickly changing with technology and the monetary value of it is decreasing. As a mother of two whose children will be in college at the same time, I am hoping that college will be free – or a lot cheaper than it is now when they enter. I agree that institutional education needs to enter the 21st century. It is a change that will take time to adjust. Most will prefer the black and white, right and wrong method. The new offers lots of ambiguity which can scare some – probably the teachers more than the students.
Hi Sherik,
I hope your wish comes true and University is much more affordable by the time your kids are in college! I also think it’s fantastic that you are taking EDM 310 for professional development. Ten or fifteen years down the road if I feel that there is a lot of new technology to learn that I need to become up to date on to teach students effectively, I would feel lucky to be able to take a course such as yours (which sounds similar to my ECMP 355 course)… I feel I’m learning so many new skills as well as new methods for my own learning. One of the biggest things I think I’m learning in ECMP are the skills to keep myself more current, because through technology I am connected to the world as it happens now.
Thanks for your comment
Morgan
I am Carl Herring from the University of South Alabma. This found this video to be very “eye opening” and true. The price of information is free, and text books are not needed in my opinion for most classes. Unfortunetly I don’t believe that the our educational system is going to change any time soon.
Hi, I’m part of Dr. Strange’s EDM 310 class. I just wanted to say that I do agree that the information that we are being taught at universities is free and can also be found online, rather than having to sit in a three hours lecture coarse.
[…] with Professor Strange’s Classes 23 03 2010 A while ago, my post titled An Open Letter To Educators sparked the interest of John Strange, professor of Professional Studies at the University of South […]
I agree completely with what you have to say about Universities. There is potential for every class to be productive, but most teachers lecture for 2 or 3 hours, allowing little time for activity and interactions. It makes learning uninteresting and almost impossible.
Hi Chelsea,
I agree there is so much more that could be done with our valuable time! We’ll get there. The good thing is that we know we can change the path of static learning for our future students as new teachers.
Hello my name is Carlecia McIntosh and I am in Dr. Strange’s edm310 class and reading and commenting on your blog is apart of my assignment. I totally agree with you about the long lecture class. Dan Brown was very true when he described the college classrooms because I have and have had many like that. I really enjoyed reading your post.
Hi! I am a student of Dr. Strange’s EDM 310 class at the University of South Alabama. I really enjoyed reading your post. You made some great points about pointless time in class and the way class should be. There are so many things I have learned with hands on experience in my computer class that if I had simply been told how to do it, I KNOW I would not remember a thing. I have had several classes that I thought “What am I going to take from this class? or Do I really need this class?” Dan Brown hit it right on the head: Education these days has lost its value. I have a degree in Marketing already and for the past 6 years I have tried to get a job….to no avail. I was told I “didn’t have the experience needed!” This was for a starting position. What experience would I have for a starting position? This point alone shows that society no longer cares what “credentials” you have, but what you know from the working world. Sure, it helps to have a degree, but without the experience you have nothing. I am continuing my “education” to attain a degree in Education so that I can give my students not only those credentials, but also the experience they need to make a difference in the world. Thank you so much for sharing your thoughts. It really made me think about my own personal situation and how things should be.
Hi Leigh
Wow that is such a classic cycle young people can get caught up in: trying to get a job with no experience, so you can get experience, so you can get the job….etc, etc. It’s inspiring to hear that you are becoming a teacher so that you can carry different educational values forward with your students. Breaking the cycle!
Thanks for your comment,
Morgan
University does just seem to be about memorizing facts. It’s so weird to think about how technology is going to change that way we learn so that we won’t be able to recognize it anymore.
I’m from Dr. Strange’s EDM 310 class. I look forward to your Skype call.
Hello,
I am from Dr. Strange’s EDM 310 class at South Alabama. I really enjoyed your post. I feel the same way about my classes, but when we mention it to our teachers, they start to go on a rant. Your post is very truthful and relevant!
HI Amberly
Thanks for your comment. I think it’s so important for teachers to make spaces for students to talk about what they are not enchanted with about their schooling, not just the objectives they have learned and the things they like about it. Hopefully you’ll get some teachers who aren’t afraid to hear your opinion!
I am from Dr. Strange’s Edm 310 class, and have read your post as an assignment. I was really intrigued with what you wrote. What an honest post! I have often felt the same way but have never really voiced my opinions about the educational system. The addition of Dan Brown’s video to your blog really made an impact on me. Thank you for sharing your thoughts.
Hi Rachael
I’d glad the post and Brown’s video made such an impact on you! Blogging is a good outlet for honesty about your education, because often as students I think we feel like we can’t be honest and still get the grades. Here, I feel like what is sought are my opinions and my thoughts, not my complacency.
Take care
Great post! I’m also in Dr. Strange’s EDM 310 course. Though a little exaggerated in his approach, Dan is right in that we do need to revolutionize the way we structure education. Sitting through lecture after lecture does get boring and what is being gained. Sometimes I feel like college is just a game of Memory, just like when we were kids.
You make a pretty good point about the exaggeration. Dan Brown is obviously feeling at least a little biased and possibly slighty over upset about his education. But then again we’ve all been there! Thanks very much for your comment.
Oops that was from me, not ‘anonymous’
Hi! I am in Dr.Strange’s EDM class at the University of South Alabama. I really enjoyed what you had to say and Mr. Dan Brown’s thoughts. I agree that as time changes everything else needs to evolve with it. Technology is a wonderful tool and instead of listening to lecture after lecture it should be hands on experiencing it for yourself. I am studying to be an elementary teacher and can’t wait to get in my classroom and teach!
Hi Brittany,
Thanks for the comment! I’m glad you enjoyed the video. Good luck with your teaching!
Hi my name is HEather Ludwig and I’m a student of Dr. Strange at the University of South Alabama. I’m glad you found this video and have shared it to your readers. Dan Brown is true when he described the college classrooms in schools today. I’ve had classes like that and feel drowned. All teachers need to make a stand to universities and change their classes to todays students. Thank you for the insight.
Thanks for your comment Heather!
I am reading this post as an assignment for my EDM 310 class at the University of South Alabama. I am majoring in Elementary Education and this is a very interesting piece as we battle this debate on a daily basis. It seems as if our school would already be on board with actually educating the students. We are being “schooled” to tell the truth. Well, not all classes, but most of mine now are just “burp back” classes. It is very true that when you are forced to memorize facts and burp them back, odds are you will forget them. The Educational Media class I am taking now has forced me to try, explore and research new things about new opportunities being offered to us. Yes, I do realize I said forced, because if I had not been obligated to take this course I probably would never had known. However, I am thankful now that I have become a more critical thinker. If I do not know the answer, I will find it for you. It has really opened my eyes to a new way of life. I can only dream that you can change the way we are all educated and the generations to come. I thoroughly enjoyed the post as well as the video. I am very thankful for people like you trying to change the way we teach, therefore changing the way we learn.
Hi Amber!
Thanks for your insightful comment. I like your term ‘burp back’…it certainly does seem like that sometimes. You might enjoy a book I’m reading called “Rethinking Early Childhood Education” by Ann Pelo. The entire series of books is incredibly inspiring and easy to read. It’s a collection of stories told by teachers…most of the stories describe moments or students that changed their lives and pedagogy…it’s a great read! They’ve got a website as well: http://www.rethinkingschools.org/index.shtml. Cheers!
I mentioned my daughter to you previously. She is a classic example of the issues I have with schools. She dropped out of High School without completing Math or Science beyond Gr.9 because they had no idea how to deal with her severe dyslexia but at 22 she has been working successfully in the film industry, including developing budgets. One of her projects just got released on a major Hollywood DVD. She is a self directed learner with tremendous research skills that were rarely recognized in her formal school experience but have paid off big time in her career.
Take a look at this website for an approach to education that I wish I was involved in http://us.iearn.org/collaborate/projects/project_videos.php and don’t give up on teaching just fight to have it done differently.
Thanks Deirdre for your insights. I’m happy to hear your daughter is doing so well in the film industry! I hope all the students I teach in the future will become such self-directed learners, and I think that global digital citizenship is a strong step in the right direction.
I took a look at the iEARN site and I know now that I want to spend some time looking more closely at what’s going on there. The webcasts in which students are teaching others how to use solar cooking and solar ovens are great!
Thanks again
I am going to assign my students your post about this video. They will have to leave a comment. It will start in about a month. They are all just beginning the College of Education program at the University of South Alabama.
Now for a few comments of my own.
To Ira Socol:
Your possibilities are : educated rant mostly true
not educated rant mostly true (your classification of Dan Brown’s video)
educated rant mostly untrue
not educated rant mostly untrue
I wonder what your criteria are for the classification scheme? I’ll bet we would disagree!
Point 2 to Ira Socol:
If Universities could not grant degrees learning might take center stage. I think that would be an excellent movement to undertake!
Point 3: Nathan Lowell hit the nail on the head: “The interesting shift is that school has become less about education than it has about credential.”
Point 4: To MBayda “I tool feel cheated sometimes at University”
I am not surprised. What would happen if you asked for a refund? My guess is that you would be denied a refund – since you attended and may even get a degree! Sit at your desk long enough, behave yourself, don’t rant, pay your bills and presto – a degree! What makes me feel better about all of this is that I think you know other ways to learn and that you will be an active participant in the effort to either radically change education or to replace the current system with an entirely different system of learning that is yet to be completely invented. Do it! Make it happen. My thanks in advance!
Thanks very much John for sharing your thoughts! And thanks for showing this to your students, I will look forward to hearing from them!
I think you have an interesting point about what would happen if Universities could not grant degrees. If “masters” hadn’t become the new bachelor’s degree, if “phd” hadn’t become the new masters. Seems like some people think the longer you are in school, the smarter you get!
This isn’t to say that I’ve resented my entire education! I am the person who has always liked school, always done well. But lately, I am realizing that my doing well was not always getting me anywhere. I can do well without actually being engaged.
This year I started work as a research assistant, with a focus on cooperative, reciprocal relationships between families and schools, rather than schools coming from a place of knowing- giving knowledge to families. I find this work very interesting and engaging, not to mention relevant and international. Doing work that I find challenging and engaging, where I really need to think hard and explore my beliefs and those practices of others, I realized that much of my University education to date has not encouraged me to do this. I feel like I am catching up on lost time for research and intelligent thought and sharing…how many years have I really just been taking and memorizing notes?
Blogging is starting to be a really great way for me to think deeper as well. You and others online are a whole new community that inspires me to explore what feels like whole new parts of my brain!
Looking forward to hearing from your students and keeping in touch
Your new assignments sound very interesting. After my students have had a chance to read your blog, what about Skypeing one of my classes to discuss this post as well as your new assignments? I would record the session and then make it available to all my classes. You have my web address. All my other contact points are there. Many thanks.
Dan Brown confuses political economics with communications technology, so this doesn’t seem like a particularly “educated” rant to me, yet it is mostly true.
Information has shifted between being “democratic” and “anti-democratic” across the ages as the political leadership tussled with technologies. The drama of ancient Greece, and the middle ages troubadour, were both fairly democratic (“low cost” in Dan Brown’s term – he’s read Shirky, but not well). The book, which seems more democratic, was actually a power play by the Protestant church. Books were very expensive to produce, though not to consume. So printing – and thus information delivery – was kept in the hands of the few.
And this is where Dan misses out (perhaps a little more time in college would’ve helped, but probably not). It is not the consumption of information which is the democratizing part, it is the new ability to produce and distribute information which is now “low cost” and thus democratizing.
That said, yes, before there were good, cheap, interactive communications technologies the physical campus, the physical library, were vital. Now, neither is. Yet two things remain true:
First, we need to find guides for ourselves or we learn incredibly inefficiently. Knowing how to find these guides is a skill – a socially constructed skill. Dan knows a little bit about what he is discussing, but if he found people to help him, he could learn a lot more. Does he know how to find those people? Does everyone his age?
Second, power is power, and as the first commenter says, the big thing that schools do now is limit the number of potential employees for the best jobs. They do this through distributing “credentials” while they enforce compliance. This is another way of the political economy fighting back against democratic information.
In fact, as information has become more democratic universities (etc) have placed a much wider group of professions under their “credentialling” umbrella, while dramatically raising their prices.
A white, upper middle class male like Dan Brown can probably skate around that for at least awhile. Plenty of others will not be so lucky.
Thanks Ira for your comments. I appreciate how you are deepening and adding complexity and history to the information here.
I agree with you when you speak about how the democratizing part is the new ability to produce and distribute information. And not just the people in power may do this, but it is that now anyone can have that power as author and publisher. That is a very empowering thing!
The interesting shift is that school has become less about education than it has about credential. Human Resource Departments now act as gatekeepers to employment and if your credentials are not in order it does not matter how much you know. Don’t have the requisite credential? Your application will be filed with the other failed candidates before your actual knowledge is assessed.
With any luck, the internet is going to change that. Some jobs will continue to be blockaded by the Cerberus of HR, but new opportunities are emerging.
As the economy changes – as the means of production (and distribution) become more available – more people can chose to succeed or fail on their own without benefit of employer. For those people, real education does gain in value and some of that will come from school. If/when the economy actually shifts from the current models to smaller, more flexible institutions where skill and knowledge are valued over credential, we can look to see the institutions of education actually shift to deal with that — or fail and fall by the wayside.
This idea of education getting in the way of learning is not a new one, though. I think it was Mark Twain who first noted the phenomenon. He may have been quoting Plato.
Thanks for your comments Nathan. I agree that credential has become thee building block to employment. I suppose it seems like a way for employers to ‘weed out’ people without the necessary skills, but not every time.
Thank you for allowing me to read your post. My name
is Pamela Boykin and I am a student at the University
of South Alabama. I am taking EDM310 with Dr. Strange
and reading your post was part of my assignment.
Your blog made a lot of good points, especially the
one about struggling to keep awake sometimes. I
agree some classes some classes and the way teachers
teach should be changed.