Tip:
Highlight text to annotate it
X
[Big Ten Network opening credits]
>> Mike: OK, so let's talk about Facebook. So Facebook on this campus, as you know, it's
estimated that over 95 percent of students, college students, have a Facebook account.
So what do you guys think - good? Evil? Personally I think that it's good and evil. Good on the
side that, you can do a lot of advertising - it's free advertising - you put up an event
for an organization, you send it to everybody, coast to coast, but it's bad because you have
people, going through, you know, your accounts seeing what are you doing? People live their
life on Facebook. I just don't like that. Live your life in reality.
>> Jeff: Do you think it's personally invasive in that sense? I mean, everyone, all your
friends, can see what you're up to all the time.
>> Mike: Not even just friends. It's like random strangers. It's more of the fact that
people spend their lives, like, 'I have an extra hour, let me go through everybody's
accounts and see what everybody's doing and how they feel'
>> Alex: Instead of actually calling them, and saying 'hey how are you doing?'
>> Mike: How about this? We're in college. Go to the library. Read a book.
>> Andreall: I think Facebook allows you to interact with people that you went to high
school with. But the thing that's kind of weird about it, is when you see people's parents
on Facebook. And then it's like, what's my mom doing on Facebook?
>> Meredith: My parents don't yet, but...
>> Anreall: Or, like, they have Facebook accounts for their babies. Or their dog. A dog.
>> Mike: Yeah yeah, I know people who have Facebook accounts for their dog. Like, nobody
likes your dog that much.
>> Alex: I think one of the plusses to Facebook is just being able to organize events and
stuff. I know that might sound silly, but being able to organize an event...you used
to have to go and call everyone or go and individualize emails, now you just go down
this list, click on the names of people you want to invite, and all of the sudden it's
put together.
>> Meredith: It's a great networking thing, too. I mean, honestly, depending on what you
put on there, because everybody's different - people will put like, their party pictures
on there and stuff - but if you taylor it to what you want people to see I think it's
fine. It's a really good way for people you work with, or people you want to work with,
to find you. And classmates. I think it's good.
>> Jeff: What's interesting about that is that there are social costs to not going on
Facebook. 95 percent of college students are on Facebook, and you're not a member, you
lose out on things that are going on. It's an online social community that's organizing
people and all of your friends.
>> Andreall: I think it really allows you to be more accessible. It allows you to do
more research on other universities, to see what kind of events they're putting on, because
I'm for real, I see people on our campus all the time who have parties, and it's like,
I thought I saw that at another school. But it was successful here. So it kind of gives
you that outlook to see what other people are doing.
>> Mike: It's a good way to share ideas. It's just the fact that people go through, like,
it's just such a waste of time. Facebook stalkers.
>> Alex: So another social network, Ratemyprofessor.com, personally I love it. I base all of my class
decisions off of it, you can get different ratings on it so you can say, you know, is
this class easy? How clear is the professor? Is the professor hot or not? And people can
give all sorts of different opinions. I think it's great, I think it's really useful, being
able to see how other students have reacted to the professors.
>> Mike: There really is 'is he hot' ?
>> Alex: Oh yeah, you can have a little chili pepper next to the professor's name. Yeah.
>> Meredith: I've never used it, and I've heard of it, and I've purposely never used
it because I didn't think it was gonna be that helpful. I don't know, but apparently
people like it.
>> Jeff: I think one problem of RateMyProfessor is that the number of people contributing
to any individual instructor can be really small, so sometimes you're basing your decision
just on the reviews of two or three people.
>> Mike: Plus, it's anonymous. What if somebody was like, oh, I got an F. So you know what,
this teacher is horrible, never take him, he's ugly. Somebody could really go in there
and mess up your profile.
>> Alex: And there have been issues with libel, too. With professors trying to sue ratemyprofessor.com
just because they feel like they're being unfairly represented.
>> Andreall: yeah, I think to myself, students are like 'oh it's too much reading, it's too
much this and that.' I've never really based any of my classes off of that but I've gotten
on it just to, you know, skim it, and I thought to myself, well what if you were just lazy?
Like, that's your opinion, you didn't go to class. Like 'oh I didn't go to class and I
failed this class, but this professor was hard.' It's because you're lazy. That's why
you failed.
>> Mike: It's definitely something to consider, but I think the best thing for me at least,
is word of mouth. If you ask one person, like, how was this class? And they haven' taken
it, they're gonna know somebody who has taken it. And they can tell you face to face, I
though this.
>> Meredith: Or just show up to the first day of class. You can pretty much gage, you
know, ehhh I don't think so...
>> Andreall: And you know your friends better than anybody. If you've got a friend that's
a slacker, don't ask them about it, because they probably weren't going to have of their
classes or doing their homework or reading books. But the good thing about it, is it
allows you sometimes, for people who put their names on their books, you can kind of see,
and I keep going back to Facebook, where you can see what people have taken what class.
And you can get those books off of those kids.
>> Meredith: I don't know, I mean, what if the professor goes on, himself or herself,
and they're like 'I'm awesome.'
>> Mike: I would. I'd be like, I'm the best. I'm awesome.
>> Andreall: Yeah I'm a hot tomale.
>> Jeff: Yeah, stack your reviews.
>> Alex: You know, they've actually found a really high correlation between the actual
reviews that students are giving out in classes in the end, when you're doing teacher evaluations,
and the evaluations that are put on RateMyProfessor. So they're pretty accurate. That's an important
thing to think about.
>> Jeff: OK we're going to shift the debate on technology to academia. Some people are
proposing that all technological devices be banned in the classroom. The university of
Chicago actually has a comprehensive ban on laptops. I personally think banning laptops
isn't necessarily a bad idea. But maybe all devices is a step too far. I don't know what
do you guys think?
>> Meredith: I see where you're coming from, maybe, but I think it's not an all bad idea,
but I use my laptop in class. I type way faster than I write. I take more notes. True, I see
other people and myself kind of wandering off, checking news, going online, a lot of
people checking Facebook...
>> Mike: No Facebook in the classroom, that's what I think.
>> Meredith: Well then I get more out of it. And honestly, if you're not going to pay attention
in class, you're not going to pay attention in class. Whether there is something in front
of you or not.
>> Andreall: Yes, but I think it's really disrespectful to be a student in a class and,
it's like, I'm taking short-hand notes, it's not that I can't use a laptop, but I chose
to take shorthand notes. And if there's somebody who if Facebooking, or doing bank statements,
or blogging, it's disrespectful. You might as well not even be there. You might as well
be sitting in the back on your cell phone. I feel like if you're gonna waste the time
in class for that, you might as well have stayed at home. Stay in your dorm and do it.
>> Mike: It's disrespectful, but I think to ban laptops, though, in the classroom, it's
probably reaching a bit too far.
>> Alex: I think it's excessive, for sure. You know, going off of what you said Meredith,
the most crucial part I think of having a laptop there is you have professors sometimes
who are talking so fast. So fast. And when you can't keep up with it, the only way of
getting good notes out of it is using your laptop.
>> Mike: Well you take shorthand, Dre was saying she takes shorthand notes, and plus,
we've been doing it, we went to kindergarden through twelfth grade.
>> Andreall: My parents, it's like my mom said, it's not that it can't be done. She
- my mom is a family nurse practitioner - it can be done. OK. You can take shorthand
notes and get through college. Your professor is not telling you like, OMG, you're not gonna
pass my class if you don't type your notes, you know.
>> Jeff: At the same time, though, I think using laptops does effect the way you process
information. If you can type faster, it means you are almost practically transcribing it
verbatim. Which means you're not processing what the professor is saying, and kind of
organizing the thoughts in a useful way.
>> Meredith: I disagree with that, though. Because I'm different. If I am writing it,
I write and I'm thinking about what I'm writing and how much space I have left on this page
and if I need to flip the page. Seriously this is what goes through my mind. It's a
lot.
>> Jeff: Don't you need to prioritize though, if you're writing?
>> Meredith: Not prioritize in a good way, though. Prioritize into like well, I need
to put this on the next page because it's not all going to fit. Seriously that's what
goes through my mind.
>> Andreall: I can see it being a lot more cost-effective.
>> Meredith: Alright, well on the other hand, or the other side, I should say, of banning
technology, what do you think about online courses? Because a lot of universities now
want to mandate that they put classes solely online. And I've never taken an online course,
so.
>> Mike: You've got experience with it.
>> Andreall: Yeah, I've taken an online course probably every semester since I've been here
at school, Ok? I love it. I might have even taken two. I'm telling you, it's convenient,
you can do it on your own time, and very few of them require face to face. And some of
them require minimal face to face which gives me, as a student, I don't pay my own tuition
but it allows me to work more hours, to volunteer, and to do things with my time that I would
rather do than sit up in a stuffy class with people who give me colds in this kind of weather.
>> Alex: I've never taken an online course, and I have to say, I feel like they're impersonal.
There's a certain experience and a certain relationship that you get out of being in
the classroom with your professor and with other students. And not being able to have
that, I feel like you're losing out on something when you're doing it online.
>> Mike: But what about those people who are single parents, or whatever? Like, my mom
for example. She just got her masters degree and, you know, she did all her work in her
room. And I'm proud of her that she got her Masters degree. So it's one of those things
- you can do it, but you have to be extremely dedicated to it. And there's professors that
you can talk to online - they might even have phone numbers, I don't know, but there's actually
a professor, and there are lectures that oyu can do online. But personally, I couldn't
do it. I'd be like oh....Facebook. Or something like that.
>> Jeff: It is a tradeoff, though. I mean, there's no replacement for instruction in
the classroom. You process information differently. And, I would think, in a better way. Maybe
I'm wrong. You've taken online courses.
>> Andreall: I think that most online courses do have, where you have office hours where
you can actually physically go in. Or they have online chat. I had a class that I loved.
The teacher had an online coffee hour, where we would get in and just kind of IM back and
forth, where she'd have it open for one or two hours. Which was really, um, really personal
to me. And I chose to go to her office hours. But I understood that she was doing research
outside of the university. So she, it allows professors, I think, to be able to go out
and do more things than just sit in the classroom.
>> Meredith: I think it's a good option for some people, but if you mandate that some
courses only be online, you don't have that choice anymore. And that would be really hard
for someone like me. I mean, I don't know, maybe it's just that I wouldn't be disciplined
enough to go and, you know, do all my coursework online. Or the impersonal factor. I just,
I don't know.
>> Mike: The way the world is changing, we're becoming more solo. Like we don't need to
be in a big group. We're more disconnected so we're more independent. A lot of people,
like now, in the corporate world, they work from home but also have an in-home office.
So I don't think it's necessarily, it's not a necessity. And if it is like that, I love
it. I think it's great.
>> Andreall: Well in the tradition of talking about books, people think that print is dying.
And as far as print goes, and as far as newspapers and as far as books, how do you think the
thought of print dying, how do you think that would change us and the way we learn?
>> Mike: I think that, you know, it might be sad to some people, but honestly I don't
like necessarily sitting here reading a book all night long. Plus, all the money that you
pay for a book, I just spent 100 dollars on one book. You know, if you get rid of books,
I'm happy with it. That's more money in my pocket.
>> Andreall: I think about it like this, though. I vow to have a personal collection of books
for my own home.
>> Mike: To look at? To look nice?
>> Andreall: Exactly. But as far as textbooks go, I think print, you know, for newspapers
and magazines and things, I think that a lot of that, for our generation, we want instant
gratification. Across the board.
>> Alex: I disagree though. I want to have my textbook in front of me. I want to have
something I can write on. Something I can highlight, something I can go back and reference
later and I know it's exactly where it is. And also, think about the strain on your eyes
when you're sitting on the computer all day. I don't know about you guys, but I get headaches
all the times from looking at the computer.
>> Mike: You can cut the light down. Yeah, you can cut the light down. I've got an old
computer, my other one shut down. But...it's been a rough semester...you can press two
buttons and it turns the lights down. A little dimmer.
>> Andreall: Exactly, you can change the text size on a computer. Some books you even get
to read back to you. Depending on you know, if you have a disability. So I don't know.
>> Jeff: But I don't think that signals the end of print. I think there will always be
sort of an inherent need to have something tactile in your hand. TO read and look at.
>> Mike: But that's not even green. You know, we have all this talk about, you know, killing
trees for all these news....I could read these online, for free.
>> Meredith: but the people like we were talking about before, with the eye strain and everything.
I agree, I have that too. They'll print out all that stuff. So the paper is still being
used. And sometimes even more paper, because they're only printing on the one side. Also,
I have to say, that when I read online, I take notes faster. Going back to the whole
typing faster thing. I read it, I can type it all on the same screen. I don't learn much
if I'm highlighting things.
>> Andreall: Yeah, but I feel like a lot of people really are crippled on the fact of
having print. I mean, if I can get online, and I hear about a news story, I don't have
to wait around to see what my town or my city is printing about that story. I can get online
and google the topic or whatever - sorry if I'm plugging Google- but you can get on and
I can search and see for the next, you know, every area around me, every county, and see
what is going on with that.
>> Mike: I think that it's gonna happen. You have to just get used to it.
>> Alex: So with the rise of technology, and all the stuff that we're talking about about
going online, etcetera, is that creating a disconnect, do you think, among our generation?
Personally, for me, I guess one of the first things that comes to mind is text messaging
and BBMing, which is just text messaging with blackberrys. I can go days without actually
talking to my friends on the phone, and actually hearing their voices or seeing them. We're
just chatting via BBM. I feel like that just creates a huge gap in your relationships.
>> Mike: People forget how to talk.
>> Alex: Exactly.
>> Meredith: I mean, I'm guilty. People will call me, and I don't really feel like sitting
on the phone for five minutes. And so I'll ignore the call, and I'll text them back.
Sorry.
>> Andreall: Busted.
>> Mike: Yeah, you know everybody's gonna see this, and go, you know what, I thought
you were...
>> Meredith: I have friends who are the same way, you know. They will not initiate a phone
call. They'll text it out in six different text messages. And, even if you call them,
if you're like, I'm sick of listening to this, I don't want to type it out, I'll call them.
And they won't answer.
>> Andreall: I don't know how I feel about people who are passive aggressive and hide
behind text and emails and things like that. But I do believe technology is a lot more
streamlined. As far as being able to chat with people, send pictures instantly, you
know, have people like, me and my friend, we share a blog together. She's in Tallahasse
right now, Florida, so I might send her an e-mail, and she'll read the story, and she'll
send it back to me with the edits, and we'll post it. It's out there, right away. So I
don't know.
>> Jeff: On that point though, do you think we're becoming less social, then? I mean,
are we, over time, going to start lacking certain social skills? Basic skills of communicating
in person.
>> Mike: People forget how good it feels to talk to somebody else, you know, even in offices,
there's instant talk, you can talk to somebody right next door to you. Even with iPods- that's
the one thing, especially on this campus - the iPods. You can say 'hey, how do you
feel?' and nobody hears you. They're at a concert or something. Yeah.
>> Alex: There needs to be a clarification, though, between communicating with somebody
that's actually in your town, somebody that you can actually go see, and then, for example,
I was studying abroad in Spain last semester, and we had Skype. And I used technology then
to actually connect more with my friends and my family.
>> Mike: There's gotta be some type of relationship there. Like, that's a great example of how
technology is helping us, but at the same time, is it crippling us?
>> Meredith: Yes, I think there's a line between utilizing it, and it taking over your life.
>> Alex: Right, right.
>> Andreall: I think that technology can definitely be abused as far as when we create these relationships
with individuals. I don't know, I really do think that...
>> Andreall: So, do you think the web has changed the entire concept of cheating? In
reality, I feel like the internet has - the internet that we use today - is considered
this Web 2.0. And so it's this entire environment that's conceptualized around personal interactions,
flipping ideas off each other, going into cites like Wikipedia, creating blogs, and
things like that. Individuals can go though, you know, I was just thinking about buying
a new Blackberry storm, so I got on to see what's the difference between the Storm and
the iPod. You know, going through and seeing what those ideas are. And I don't think that
that would necessarily be cheating, I mean, Ok.
>> Meredith: This is what I think of with online cheating. When I think of online cheating,
I think of plagiarism. Ripping things off the web. People taking pictures, they search
for an image, they rip it, they don't give credit for it. They don't give credit where
credit is due. And that's what I think is really cheating in the form of the web. And
also, cites where you can buy papers.
>> Mike: See, that's going far beyond, like taking a picture and copying and pasting a
picture, like I don't have a digital camera where I can go take pictures of the Alps.
So I don't think that's cheating. But that's just what I think.
>> Andreall: Yeah, as far as pictures and stuff go, I could be a culprit of stealing
pictures but who is to say that that person wouldn't think it was OK for me to borrow
it? What if it wasn't even their picture in the first place - what if they just posted
it on their website?
>> Alex: Getting back to what you said though, has cheating changed in it's definition, I
don't think it has. You're still taking somebody else's work and giving yourself the credit
for it. I've seen people take papers, look at Wikipedia, copy and paste it into their
own papers and call it their own.
>> Mike: People are going to cheat regardless. I know plenty of places up and down this campus,
where you can go, and you can buy a paper from somebody. You can just go to somebody
and say hey, you took this class, can I see all your old notes? Personally, I have a collection
of all my old notes that I keep. One day I might use them, probably not, but, you know,
I still keep them.
>> Jeff: At the end of the day, plagiarism is plagiarism. If you get it out of a book,
if you get it offline, I mean, it's illegal. It cannot be done, and there are actually
deterrents to doing it. Some professors use software programs now. I had a professor who
stood up in front of our class last semester and said, I'm going to run all of your papers
through this software program, I will know if you're using anything online. I was like,
OK. There's the line.
>> Mike: If you're that bold, you're gonna get caught. But if you go to WIkipedia, and
say, oh you know, it says this. If you do happen to look at somebody else's paper, and
you want to take a fact, you should cite it, but I don't think that's cheating. That's
just relaying ideas. That's the kind of world we live in. We relay ideas off each other.
We all have an iPod, we can do that.
>> Meredith: Well, for our final segment, I have a list of words here. And I want everyone
here to give me their one word, one phrase response. OK. First word, first phrase. Bloggers,
blogging. My term: overrated.
>> Andreall: Fascinating.
>> Alex: Bloggers? Anonymous. In not a good way.
>> Jeff: Controvercial.
>> Mike: I think, who cares. They're not that important.
>> Andreall: Really? I'm a blogger.
>> Mike: I'm just saying.
>> Meredith: I thought mine was kind of harsh. Alright. Online stalkers.
>> Jeff: ***.
>> Alex: Pathetic.
>> Andreall: Lonely. Too lonely.
>> Meredith: Super creepy.
>> Mike: I think of Big Brother. You know, like somebody's watching you all the time,
you're living in a glass bubble.
>> Meredith: What about privacy? Online privacy? I think nonexistent. If you're online, you're
all out.
>> Andreall: I think completely over-rated. I mean, privacy is something that's...you've
gotta live in a box to really be so private.
>> Alex: I just think it's almost impossible to kind of obtain this air of privacy in this
generation, looking at Facebook and stuff. IT's up to you to make sure you're keeping
what you want private, private.
>> Jeff: Yeah. Facebook is an argument against privacy. I mean, people are publishing their
lives essentially, so.
>> Mike: I agree with Meredith. I think it's non-existant. It still exists, but...nonexistent.
I'll stick with that.
>> Andreall: The anonymity is not there anymore.
>> Meredith: Kind of getting back to distance learning, what do you guys think of online
universities?
>> Mike: I think it's great. I think it's a perfect opportunity for parents, or people
who have other obligations, to go to college.
>> Alex: Impersonal. I think you lose out on a lot of relationships and the social development
that we need as college students. You know, learning to find yourself.
>> Jeff: And proliferating. I don't think it's necessarily a good thing that these are
sprouting up all over the place.