Ryan ChartrandThe perms.
The old school Apple computers.
And those absolutely awful wide-rimmed glasses.
The ’80s are still alive around Cal Poly, and we’re not talking about the fashion.
We’re talking about the VHS videos that many professors continue to use in their lectures. You know the ones – the outdated segments, intended to supplement instructional material, that the professor somehow thinks is still relevant. Perhaps after teaching the same class for 15 years, quarters tend to seamlessly run into years and they don’t realize that the world has changed since that “20/20” episode from 1992.
Some may argue that the information provided by the women wearing dresses with NFL shoulder pads hasn’t changed as much as the fashion. But things have changed and there must be new videos on the same subject that were made in the last couple of years – maybe even on DVDs nowadays – that get across the same message in ways that today’s students can relate to.
Professors are probably well aware of how technology-savvy their students have become. We check cell phones when you give us bathroom breaks, we type up our homework on laptops after researching on Google and we leave messages on facebook walls instead of calling friends on landlines. So when we see girls with frizzy hair, hoop earrings and bright neon orange T-shirts tapping away at a computer with a screen the size of a Pop-Tart that has a black background and green text, we tune out. To many of us, things must constantly be updated to seem relevant.
Professors, whether you like it or not, this is reality, and we’re asking you to keep up with us. We’ve been doing all we can to keep up with your assignments – using LexisNexis, getting together with strangers over the weekend for PowerPoint projects – so in return, we’ve got a couple ideas for you:
Go to youtube.com and you can probably find videos on anything related to your classes. From engineering to public speaking, all you’ll ever need is there and it’s on a medium that many Cal Poly students waste hours on every week.
Your other option is to find more current videos to replace the ones you taped 12 years ago. You have so many options with the Internet that you may be ready to throw your old videos – which you’ve probably memorized by heart – into the trash yourself.
Editorials reflect the opinions of Mustang Daily editorial staff.