This article presents an idea that, after reading about it, is something that is a surprisingly new concept to the educational system in America. At the University of Texas A&M in San Antonio, Texas, professors have now incorporated a new device called CourseSmart. This type of technology, which is published through Pearson and McGraw-Hill, is a way for instructors to keep track of the reading their students are accomplishing through digital textbooks. Teachers, along with the distributors, are able to see when students even open their textbooks. This allows instructors to see which students are following along in their reading throughout the course of the class and which ones are cramming their studying the night before an exam. It has been used at the university in San Antonio so far, along with Clemson, Central Carolina Technical College, and Stony Brook University. One professor at Texas A&M, Adrian Guardia, has been able to see many of the pros and cons of this system this semester with his class. Mr. Guardia has been able to take notice of the students who were struggling and which ones needed to develop better studying habits with the assistance of CourseSmart. Although it is still a work in progress, and there are many concerns from students and instructors at the moment, CourseSmart is reevaluating how instructors can keep up with the progress of each student, and intervene when necessary.
I Although I am not yet an educator, I think that this concept would be very beneficial to classrooms everywhere. I think that too many students today are simply doing enough work in school to pass. Students think that opening a book the night before a test and barely passing it is equivalent to getting a full learning experience. This is a huge problem to me because students are going through the motions of school while missing out on the most valuable aspect of it - learning. Even though this type of technology is somewhat of an experiment because it is still so new, I think that this is the perfect way to let instructors know who needs to devote more time to reading and who is ahead of the game. Another thing this will help eliminate is cheating on tests and exams. If a student has not opened his or her book at all and he or she made a perfect score on an exam, this could be a great indication of some cheating activity going on. With a regular text book, things of this nature may never be caught.
While this could be an excellent enhancement to a classroom and a great way to blend learning with technology usage, I can also see this as a negative aspect from the perspective of a student. I understand that this device is supposed to help educators be better focused on the growth track of each individual student, and to encourage them to dig deeper into what they are learning and not just simply "get by". However, I currently have a college student's schedule that is filled with studying, doing projects, reading, and working many days in between. I know how difficult it can be to take time out to fully read every single chapter of every book, especially when it is a subject that a student is familiar with and does not have to spend as much time with. I know that it is meant to benefit us in the long run, but I do not think students who are not reading their books as much should be punished simply because they did not do all of their reading if it is a subject that they are already advanced in. I don't think that students should skim through reading assignments, because it does cause them to miss out on parts of subjects that they need to grow intellectually. However, as a person with a completely full schedule most days of the week, I do know how difficult it can be at times. It is hard for me to really say where I stand on this matter from a student's point of view.
There are several things I would want to investigate about this type of technology in schools. If I could speak with Mr. Guardia, I would want full insight on this idea. I would first ask him what it was like for him to track his students each week. Is it difficult to monitor all of their activity, or do you find it very simple to keep track of their reading? Next, I would ask him how his students have reacted to CourseSmart. Were they very open to this idea at first, or did they act as if the college was "looking over their shoulders" as the article said? Finally, I would ask Mr. Guardia how he personally felt about CourseSmart. I would want to know if he has seen a tremendous increase in the improvement of his students' grades by being able to track their reading. I would also ask if he thought this idea would work for any classroom, particularly grade school classrooms, or is it something that would only be helpful for college students.
If I had the opportunity to ask the students in Mr. Guardia's class questions, I would mainly want to find out if this system has personally helped them. I would want to know if each student, no matter how intelligent he or she was or how much he or she struggled academically, has seen any improvement in grades or studying habits through the application of this system. I would ask them if they felt like they had been more challenged to learn and try on their own rather than just "winging it" before each quiz or test. The ultimate objective of this interview would be to investigate how much of an impact (and in what way) this system was making on the lives of the students.
After reading some of the comments that were left under this article, I was a little shocked at just how condescending some of the critics of CourseSmart truly were. I guess I am just not that cynical in my way of thinking. If I were to leave a comment, I would speak positively about this idea. Although I do see how some students could cheat this system, I see why it would be given a chance. It is just an attempt to help instructors better keep up with how each student is responding to the class and assignments, and it can help teachers reach out more to the ones who need extra attention. I know that educators should be closely watching the progress of each student regardless; however, if an instructor has a classroom with one hundred students enrolled into it, this system would better help them stay focused on each one. Because technology is growing so rapidly in our country and all over the world, the best thing to do is be more open-minded and embrace its assistance in our schools instead of rejecting it and the benefits that are included.
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