Students at the University of Denver created a parody video essay — in the style of the popular TV show “The Office” — to show their frustrations with technology in the classroom and urge professors and students to work together to make classes more lively.
Many of the scenes in the six-minute video will probably seem familiar to anyone who has sat in on a college class in recent years: a professor funbles with his PowerPoint presentation, a student goofs around on Facebook during the lecture, and another student complains about being required to buy laptops when the devices are rarely used for assignments.
“Now the class is about technology, and you’re really not using any,” says a student assistant to the bumbling professor in the video. “The board doesn’t really count. Maybe you can add more technology to the classroom, like show them actual uses of technology. I know you can get it.”
The video was inspired by a recent survey of classroom technology use at the university. Over all, the survey found that while many students wish for more technology, others would be happy with less, considering it a distraction. And while some professors are Luddites, others have eagerly jumped on board and wish their students would catch up.
“I think what the students wanted to convey was a more hopeful message, to show that students and professors can work together to solve these problems,” said Lynn Schofield Clark, an associate professor of journalism studies who teaches the course whose students created the video as an assignment.
While Ms. Clark served as a kind of project manager for the production, students wrote the script, directed, acted, and shot and edited the video. The 18 students spent just three weeks putting it together. No technology training was provided because the professors assumed that at least some students would be familiar enough with the borrowed video cameras and editing software to make it work.
How did professors who saw the video’s debut take the critique?
“The professors who saw it recognized some truth in it and were able to laugh,” said Ms. Clark. “We all have those moments.” Some said students’ expectations that they use technology can feel overwhelming.
Ms. Clark said the production led to lively discussions about the pros and cons of technology in the classroom. For her, the lesson was that she could trust her students to take more of a leadership role in class than she had in the past.
The inspiration for the video was a series of video essays by Michael Wesch, a Kansas State University cultural anthropologist. He was speaking on the campus when the video was released, and he wrote on his blog that more professors should try similar projects in their courses.
“Now the students have a number of characteristics that we all want for our students: They’ve bonded. They are comfortable with one another,” Mr. Wesch wrote. “They respect one another. They are engaged and excited. They want to learn more, and they know that they can and will be responsible for most of that learning that is to come.”
19 Responses to Class Produces Parody of ‘The Office’ to Highlight Challenges of Teaching With Technology
11342016 - February 9, 2010 at 4:47 pm
Interesting
jflores - February 9, 2010 at 4:51 pm
This video parody is hilarious. I will be showing it to my Freshman Composition course. Bravo!
cmolnar - February 9, 2010 at 4:52 pm
So true!
11272784 - February 9, 2010 at 5:30 pm
I’m sending it to the tech folks who work with faculty on our campus. The YouTube link is easy to find: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6svk_R_rVhA&feature=player_embedded#
rphulser - February 9, 2010 at 5:34 pm
Interesting that the University of Denver has a re-constituted library and information science program whose graduate students and faculty could likely mitigate the technology challenges in the classrooms there, but clearly are not utilizing these valuable resources. And they aren’t the only university with such programs that continue untapped. Could be a great way to advance technology use in education, especially in these challenging economic times.
pazhernandezdiaz - February 9, 2010 at 6:02 pm
Very challenging. I shared this with colleagues in the University of the Philippines Open Unversity. I also shared in Facebook
schotteh - February 9, 2010 at 6:33 pm
This is great!My congratulations to Ms. Clark, her class at the University of Denver. The production is well done, entertaining but makes the point. I work at using the technology that I have available but often feel that the students are pushing the boundries further and further out. I am inspired to keep up with them.
cronknews - February 9, 2010 at 9:40 pm
A clever parody of a clever parody. This is an academic Escher painting. Nice job, gang.~CronkNews.com
11211250 - February 10, 2010 at 7:43 am
I’m sending to our training and communications department. Lots of new ideas for technology here.
pcsce - February 10, 2010 at 8:19 am
This video should be required viewing for all faculty! Congratulations to the class on a great piece.
22058726 - February 10, 2010 at 9:16 am
Huhhh? Can’t believe I just wasted 5 minutes on this asinine stuff. I kept waiting for all the sparkling, witty moments the previous posts chortled over. Who posted these comments? Friends and family of the video’s creators? It is a GREAT reminder of a poignant observation: “Dying is easy; comedy is hard.” Cute, kids, pointless video.
jrosterhout - February 10, 2010 at 9:40 am
Yes, some educators do a terrible job of connecting thier learners, their classrooms, and their technology. Maybe episode two can help us understand why this fact is bad and good?
jmonday - February 10, 2010 at 10:13 am
The video was a bit long, but a great use of student generated content to prove a point. Let your students create the rich media content as part of your course deliverables and put the technology in the hands of your creative students. http://www.studentgenerated.com
kkfungc - February 10, 2010 at 11:22 am
This video is contrived and boring. The worst of professor technology is their indiscriminate use of PowerPoint and failure to disengage from lecturing in classes.
beaugard - February 10, 2010 at 5:16 pm
Wow, this is exactly the kind of article that I’d post to using text from the post-modern generator, that is, post some gibberish to make my satirical point.However, since no one has said this, I’ll be the first:”There is no need for computers in the classroom.” In fact, they should be banned from schools entirely, except for those needed for science, mathematics, etc. Further, students have no need for the internet, except to find books at books.google.com or at Gutenberg. To restate: The use of computers, showing movies, other multimedia nonsense in either college or schools is destroying education.
rcosgrov - February 10, 2010 at 6:29 pm
Why would beaugard even participate in this forum? This would be precisely the kind of comment students wouldn’t be able to see, however, so maybe he has a point. I know that I feed dumber for having read his post.
beaugard - February 10, 2010 at 9:04 pm
rcosgrov:”…I feed dumber…”. I can see my post is already having an effect.
acctteach - February 11, 2010 at 8:37 am
rcosgrov, I agree. Beaugard, if you do not believe computers belong in the classroom, you might want to consider retirement. If students do not learn to use technology in school, how do you ever expect them to compete in the job market?
beaugard - February 11, 2010 at 1:19 pm
rcosgrov:Because, in general, what students need are ideas, they need to develop their conceptual intuition, a feel for the “right” approach to whatever problems they will face in their profession.I’ve seen first-hand the use of smartboards in high school math classes and I can tell you they are a huge distraction. The image dominates, and the students don’t have to think. They need to read books, turn off their TV sets, and stop playing computer games if they are going to learn to think, especially abstractly.Learning an accounting package or Excel, or MS Access, or God forbid, Powerpoint is something that comes AFTER real understanding has been obtained and is only incidental to the real work.The only use I can see for whiteboards and that kind of thing is that they save the teacher/professor the work of having to write everything on a blackboard. And don’t get me started about dry erase boards.And why the snide remark about retirement? Did I make fun of your strange username? I also reject the idea that education is about “equipping our students to compete in the job market”, there has to be something else going on for education to be worthwhile.