Faculty begin adopting new educational media

Author: Simran Bhalla

Next semester, you may be reading The Campus on your Amazon Kindle, after getting a Google Alert on your iPhone about the arrival of the latest edition, and you'll probably have a few classes at Middlebury where you are asked to blog, post to Segue or a Wiki and perhaps even spend work-related time on YouTube.

More and more professors at Middlebury are opting to incorporate the use of Internet media into their courses for the combined benefits of ease of use, more wide-ranging and informal discussion and the ability to extend discussion outside of class. Associate Professor of American Studies and Film and Media Culture Jason Mittell uses novel technology for several of his courses. One of them, "Watching the Wire," has students respond to episodes on the class blog; for another titled "Theories of Popular Culture," they post their project and paper ideas and can help evaluate and give suggestions on other students' ideas.

"Class blogs allow discussion to continue beyond the confines of the classroom," said Mittell. "Some students are also more comfortable with expressing their opinions on a blog than they would be in class."

He also emphasized the benefits of having a blog as a tool to further discussion beyond what was talked about in the classroom, and as a way to include the opinions of outside participants.

"It not only extends the time and space of the discussion, but also brings in more [people]," said Mittell, such as a film director who commented on a student's blog post about his film. That is a rare occurrence, but is only made possible when student content is shared on a medium such as the Internet.

Mittell also has his own blog, "Just TV," on which, in addition to his own thoughts on television and popular culture, he posts links to student projects and blogs about his class experiences. Often, "my readers will go to them and leave comments about their projects," he said, thus bringing in more opinions on students' work. "We have the ability to publish everything - why not put more things out there?"

In addition to widening the contributions to discussion, Mittell feels that class blogs generally help students improve their writing. It provides an interactive medium for students to express their views on what is being read and watched in a course, albeit with the knowledge that their comments will be read not only by their professor, but also by the rest of their class. While this idea may not appeal to some students at first, said Mittell, it "forces them to think about self-presentation."

Further, blogs tend to be far more informal than other class assignments, which allows students some choice in where they want to go with their ideas and how they express themselves. Some courses, like Mittell's "Television and American Culture," have class blogs that function as short response pieces to the reading. This ensures that the reading is actually being done, which, at least for professors, is another merit of using blogs. In addition, "you learn more as you write," said Assistant Professor of Political Science Quinn Mecham, and students can write what they feel in response to the readings without fear of being graded.

The use of media in Mecham's "Introduction to Comparative Politics" course extends beyond blogging; he also runs a government simulation on the online role-playing game Second Life to help students learn interactively how parliamentary politics work and how political cycles play out. Mecham initially used Segue as the platform for this, but it was not very successful. He was wary at first of using the virtual reality community Second Life, and tried it for the first time in the fall of 2008.

On his simulation, students form political parties, conduct campaigns and run for office in a mock-parliamentary system of government, and once the government is in place, they suggest and vote on legislation. Live debates and speeches are also held in class. Mecham feels that the simulation has been successful enough to continue, although the number of students who participate beyond the minimum is still low.

Students are divided in their opinion of the simulation: some, like Alex Russo '12 (currently Minister of Entertainment in Terra, Middlebury's Second Life nation), are very enthusiastic about the idea, albeit aware that it would be more effective once students begin to participate in it more. (Currently, there is student-suggested legislation in Parliament which, if passed, will force students to spend at least 10 minutes a week on Second Life.)

"I think the simulation will prove to be a very helpful tool in demonstrating the effects of government to the classroom once the project can really get rolling," said Russo. "Right now there is a group of individuals who are very interested with Second Life and its capabilities and another group who put it on the back burner."

Others, such as Member of Parliament Katie Thacher '11, feel that while the simulation is amusing, it is not helpful in furthering students' understanding of comparative politics. However, Mecham believes that it lets students see the real-time effects of how electoral systems work and how parliamentary governments are formed. He is also doing a study on his observations of the project.

"Initially, students were reluctant to form parties," said Mecham, adding that two major parties - the Freedom Alliance and the Arbitrary Governance party - were created by him. He has noted the role of charismatic leadership - such as that of former prime minister Ross Brockway '11 - in swaying independents, as well as the role of party discipline in Terra mirroring real-life politics.