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Web 2.0 & Education: Meet your Prof

Web 2.0 & Education: Meet your Prof

The Professor as Open Book
Interesting piece from NY Times about Profs who share information about themselves (their backstage private life) online for students to see. I think it's good. Too often Profs are situated in a hierarchical relationship with students; a top down approach that dehumanizes the educational process. Using web 2.0 tools (which I think all Profs should be incorporating into their classrooms in some capacity) is good for connecting with students on a different level - you're sharing something with them: "Look Ma, I'm a Prof and I'm human too!". What are people afraid of? That students will actually see that we're not all perfect? That we actually have a life outside academia?

These days, the clues are usually digital and are broad invitations to get to know the person behind the Ph.D. It is not uncommon for professors’ Web pages to include lists of the books they would take to a deserted island, links to their favorite songs from bygone eras, blog posts about their children, entries “written” by their dogs and vacation photographs.

While many professors have rushed to meet the age of social networking, there are some who think it is symptomatic of an unfortunate trend, that a professor’s job today is not just to impart knowledge, but to be an entertainer.

No, I don't expect us to be entertainers, but we do have lives and we are human with interests. Why not share that with students and develop working relationships with them? Are we not here to mentor future academics? We don't do that by simply stuffing information into their brains, it's much more than that.

posted by Netwoman @ 10:03 AM