Colin Mixson's Articles: Commentary

Digital Manifest Destiny
Colin Mixson

I’m surrounded by top of the line computer’s with flat screen monitors, high-speed internet, a ceiling mounted HD projector and an automated, drop-down movie screen. The combined raw computing potential present within these narrow walls could send Apollo 1-17 to the moon and back, simultaneously and with fewer malfunctions. I’m nervous, because I can barely move my feet without knocking into large, plastic boxes that hum with hundreds of volts of electricity and surge protectors brimming with long tangles of black, rubber cords. I’m just waiting for the day when I knock over my coffee, and fry myself in a pool of hot Joe. You would think that this legion of technology, being expensive and pretty much everywhere, could improve any situation, especially a classroom. The truth is I’m not sure who’s more distracted, the students, or the teacher.

Having been a full time student since the 90’s, I’ve seen a gradual increase in the level of technology present in the classroom. It began with the “monitor,” known to most people as a television, which rolled from class to class on its high, plastic perch brimming with School House Rock and National Geographic. Then came the computer lab, where students marched single file to type essays, and explore the new and incredible world wide web. From what I remember, it was alot of fun. T.V. in school was a great little treat, one that would come along maybe two, or three times a month and break up the class routine. Computer labs were the same way, a welcome diversion where kids could learn about technology, and then play stupid games like Oregon Trail. The important thing, however, was that the learning enviornment was not saturated with technology. The "monitor" was mobile, shared by many rooms and never stayed put for long. The computer lab was its own little fortress, forbiden to lowely students without explicit teacher permission. Technology, so to speak, was not encroaching on my territory and distracting the shit out of me, my class mates and my teacher.

At Champlain, technology is so pervasive I can't hand in most of my assignments without an internet connection, a good half my classes have a computer at every seat and they all have beautiful HD projectors. This would all be great, if only people were capable of useing them correctly. We've all heard of people spending their time at work playing frogger, or surfing facebook. I've seen students in class watching youtube, or surfing the web on their laptops during class, oblivous to what the teachers saying. However, what really riles me up is when teachers fall back on technology to supplement their inability to teach.

Everybody knowes how boring power point presentations can be. I had one teacher this semester, who shall remain nameless, that began every class throughout October and into November with an incessant rain of student made power point presentations. No lectures, no actual teaching, simply students giving their own amatuer power point presentations on ill researched topics that they were not passionate about. It was light watching Night of the Living Dead meets 60 minutes for hours a week, week after week, in a mind numbing persuit to destroy my spirit and zeast for life. Of course, we've all had to do power point presentations in school, and we've all had to watch our class mates crumby presentations, but most teachers usually supplement these heartless, experiments in monotony with actual teaching. But no, not my teacher. While the first half of the class was reserved for power point presentations, the second half was movie hour, every single day. Not once a month, not once a week, but every single class. By my reckoning, I could have saved about $2,000 dollars by skipping that dreadful course, and going straight to Blockbuster.

More and more, our society seems to be geared towards taking the human element out of the works; be it in school, at home, or in the workplace. Mothers leave their childrent in front of their television all afternoon, while fathers stare into computer screens for hours on end. Meanwhile, I'm paying $13,000 a semester to teach my class about Peak Oil, while my teacher grads papers and watches T.V.. In this industrialized age we live in, people are constantly fighting to keep their jobs in the face of technology making their labor obsolete. Until now, teachers have found their job security largely unaffected by technology. However, if professors like mine continue to sit back and let T.V. do their job for them, I think they'll find themselves regretting their lack of passion in equal measure to their lack of a pay check.