Lecture Hall Back-Channeling

emmastory writes "The New York Times is running a story on the phenomenon of lecture hall back-channeling - now that many conferences and universities have wireless access, some people discuss lectures via instant message or weblog as they happen. Although the article quotes an instructor at NYU, I haven't seen much of this in lectures I've attended there. I would guess it varies from department to department, but laptops aren't yet as common in classes as one might think. Either way, some people consider the practice rude, others consider it progress, and good arguments can be made on either side."

Re:Google link (no reg)

[Anonymous Coward]

google [216.239.53.104] in case of slashdotting.

Hope they dont get that at my university...

[acehole]

The keystrokes from students using IM clients or blogging would keep me awake in lectures.

It's already enough I have to put up with that strange guy at the front talking loudly about stuff... sheesh.

Passing notes?

[Lane.exe]

Isn't this just like passing notes?

[annoying IM noise]

"Are you passing notes, Mr. Smith? Forward that to me so I can read it out loud to the class... hmmm... a slash s slash l slash pick wan two cyber? What is this crap?"

Giving students too much credit

[hoggoth]

Everyone is talking about how back-channel discussions will allow students to discuss the lecture in real-time, refining their questions and improving their understanding....

Come on!

Has it been THAT long since you've been in school?!

Here's a typical back-channel discussion:

"Heh heh the professor said BUTT"
"No, he said BUT, moron"
"Check out the rack on the girl in the third row on the right"
"Sweeeeeet"
"Yo, that guy with the stupid hair fell asleep. HAHAHA look he's drooling on his desk!"
"HAHAH! Thats awesome! Hey is anybody on this channel near that guy? Throw something at him"
"Yeah I'm behind him. Watch this." ...
"HAHAHA"
"Hee Hee Hee Hee"
"Score!"
"Yeah! ROTFL!!!"

A typical in-lecture chat

[icemax]

StudentFoo: Boy, this prof sure is boring<br>
BarStudent: Yeah, whats this database shit he's talking about<br>
StudentFoo: Who cares, wanna sneak out and head to the bars?<br>
BarStudent: Yea, lets bust this joint<br>

Seriously, all our in-major lecture halls have Laptops w/internet access and AIM installed. I have yet to see a usefull discussion take place with these tools during a lecture

I can imagine it now

[wiggys]

K00lDude: God this is boring. Anyone wanna cyber? I'm sitting on the end of row 24

Wikkid84: asl?

37337: Dudes, my warez server is up, some and get some pr0n!

Best of Both Worlds

[notcreative]

Either way, some people consider the practice rude, others consider it progress, and good arguments can be made on either side.

And there are some people who consider progress in general to be rude.

stop him!

[zephc]

stop him! he's trying to learn for free!

Back-channeling Shirley MacLaine

[hoggoth]

Dude, the other day I was like back-channeling in this new-age general education requirement class when HOLY SHIT Shirley MacLaine starting typing through my fingers. I was back-channeling channeling. It was like, woah.

I'm all for IM in class

[GillBates0]

Does anyone else think it would be a good idea if we all had IM available to us during these lectures?

*frantically raises hand*
Yes! Yes! I think it is a great idea. I'm all for IM in class. It is probably one of the few reasons I stay awake through class. The only persistent problem is the professor's droning voice which keeps distracting me from my engaging conversation with Blondebomb25 and Super_gal22.

PowerPoint

[TheMidget]

As the speakers ran through their PowerPoint presentations, the room hummed with the tip-tap of IM chatter.

Let's see, there is another use for these laptops: blue screen the speaker's Windows box, or better, change its desktop background to somethin, uhmmm, more interesting. Should teach him to use Powerpoint!

Also useful if the speaker accidentally types passwords in the wrong field (visible) during a demo: now you can make use of these passwords during the lecture, before the speaker has a change to change them to something else!

not like it used to be

[D0wnsp0ut]

I remember, back in the day, when we would sit in the back row and sleep.

Kids these days...where are their priorities?!

Re:I can imagine it now

[tomstdenis]

37337: Dudes, my warez server is up, some and get some pr0n!

Who would use their zipcode as a handle?

Yes that was a lame joke.

-1, retarded.

Laptops in class

[joshsnow]

I was at university from 1992 through 1995, (Computer Science and Information Systems Design).

I can remember hearing about one guy who had a laptop computer which he took to every lecture.

This was so unprecedented back then that he was nicknamed "Laptop". We're talking the days before mobile/cell phone proliferation and the days before widespread use of the World Wide Web.

This machine used to "bleep" regularly, royally pissing off some of the lecturers.

One day, it bleeped in the middle of a lecture about Industrial Relations (don't ask) and the lecturer shouted, "If I hear that thing make one more noise I will break it over your head!".

Laptop retired from the course shortly after this incident.

Don't know what happened to the lecturer, but if he's still there, he can't be enjoying life too much in these days of mobile device proliferation. Either that or he's suffered a few apoplectic fits...

Re:Distracting - The age-old question ...

[fshalor]

It really depends entirely on the method of delivery. I've had a few classes with an outstanding professore here who makes every effort to tailor his lectures to the students he's teaching. He has won several awards for his methods of pedagogy (sp). Like anything else, the addition of laptops to the classroom is a tool which can be abused, misuesd, or manage to become very benificial.

If implimented correctly, all that clickety-tatp-tap-tappety could be no more distracting then the sound of pens scratching across the paper and calculator buttons being jammed to the contact pad.

I still can't shake the image I have of the first laptop I saw in a class... The guy was looking at porno on the second row of a C programming class on his new dell. After a little while, and due to several laughs from those behind him, the professor came over and walked up behind him.

After that, the embarresd student was given the task of being the note monkey at the front of the class for the slides. The proff never let him live it down. I don't think that kid will ever look at porno again without remembering the look on the professors face. :)

No, the kid was not me...

My writing class sort of did this

[ColGraff]

One of the required gen-ed classes at my school is Writing, which is taught in a computer lab. To give the professor credit, she really did try to integrate the technology into her class - for example, all her lecture notes were made available on the message board, there was a message board which was used for graded in-class discussion, and a couple times she had us use an IRC room for an in-class discussion. None of this really added anything of substance, though - and conducting a large-scale class discussion on IRC seemed to be more awkward than just having people use full-duplex analogue audio transmitted/recieved using built-in biological components.

On the plus side, I was able to browse slashdot during lectures. That was cool.

Re:Laptops unnecessary

[Anonymous Coward]

Distinct advantage of a computer: it doesn't get crumpled up in the bottom of your backpack as you shove it in to race across campus for your next class, thus smudging everything you wrote.

Re:No, the kid was not me...

[Clover_Kicker]

>During a first year maths lecture in Cambridge, a member of my college
>fell asleep - head leaning on hands - and awoke when his head slipped
>out of his hands. The sound of this collapse drew the attention of
>almost all - in particular of the lecturer who commented humourously
>upon the occurrence

Wow, your profs are pretty good-natured.

A buddy of mine (Jimbo) fell asleep during a lecture, sitting right next to a window. When the prof noticed, he got pissed. Since he had a piece of chalk in his hands, he threw it at Jimbo.

The prof made an honest attempt to bounce that chalk off Jimbo's head, but he wasn't a very good shot: it missed Jimbo and went BANG! off the window. Jimbo sat up, and looks around to see the whole class was staring at him. Serious embarassment.

Another story I heard from my high school was about a guy who fell asleep in class. The teacher let him sleep right through, when the bell rang he didn't wake up. The teacher told everyone to leave very quietly, and met the incoming students at the door and told them to enter very quietly. When the poor bastard woke up, it took him a few minutes to realize that he was surrounded by a bunch of people who weren't usually in his physics class :) So what's more embarassing, getting up and leaving, or sticking it out to the end of the class?

(I know people who witnessed the chalk-throwing incident, but I only heard about the other one third-hand, so maybe it's bull.)

Re:Laptops unnecessary

[CGP314]

Good note-taking has nothing to do with the medium on which the note is recorded

I tested your theory today with a chisel and some stone tablets.

Conclusion: new theory needed.

Re:Distracting - The age-old question ...

[stephanruby]

One of my Computer Science Professor used to anonymously instant message his missing students during lecture. It was pretty easy for him because all the students were assigned a class unix account with a common prefix. He used to ask general questions about the class, the professor, and then he would always finish with a clincher by asking "How come you're not in class right now?"