Apparently, our university is pushing forward on the whole "one template for a particular class will fit all such classes" idea. Do they not realize that, by taking away our responsibility for our own course design, they are not only giving tacit permission but enabling those who are the lazy fucks giving online instructors a bad name?
I can guarantee that, once a professor is handed a template for his or her class, there will be about two thirds of the professors that do nothing more than grade the work that comes in. They won't interact with their class (and likely won't be familiar with most of their course's content) site, and won't interact with their students, not even to answer questions.
I've worked damn hard for four years designing, redesigning, and tweaking my course for my students. I've tossed the things that don't work, and now the administration, in its infinite wisdom, is going to piss away what I've found that does.
Bureaucrats. Mouth-breathers, the lot of them.
43 minutes ago
Academic freedom? Every time that sort of thing is pushed here, a lot of people make a lot of noise about academic freedom.
ReplyDeleteAnd of course, there's also the concept that different students have different "learning styles," so having different people teach differently might just be, you know, better?
I freaking hate bureaucrats. The problem is they have to keep coming up with crap to justify the existence of their position, and usually that crap winds up flying into the orbit of the people who are actually doing the useful work.
Well, they want to fully automate Blackboard. I'm just waiting until a virus gets into the campus servers, f**ks everything up, and demonstrates why newer ideas aren't always better.
Deleteoh, years ago, when we first had Blackboard, before I used it? A disgruntled former employee hacked it and totally screwed the thing up. A colleague on maternity leave lost all the stuff she had pre-loaded for the time she was on leave. It was awful.
ReplyDeleteI have copies of everything I load, and it's the work of minutes to re-do it all. If I have access. And control.
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