This past spring, I took an undergraduate film class at NIU. This was my first class since the late 80s, a distant era that predates the birth of most of my fellow students. A lot has changed in the classroom since then.
Thinking I'd blend in with the other students, I came to class dressed in jeans and a T-shirt. It turns out, the girls aren't wearing jeans much anymore. The styles now are pajama-like bottoms and moccasin-like shoes --more understandable if the class had been in the morning instead of mid-afternoon.
The biggest change since the 80s is the technology. Back then, we watched our films on laser disc, a short-lived video format. Now the films are streamed on computer, though I was secretly amused by the occasional freeze that required a reboot. This reminded me of the really old days when the film would break. Never happened with the laser discs.
It doesn't take long before you meet Blackboard, the university's online system. Faculty and students love Blackboard because it is a great communication tool where the professor can post the syllabus, lectures, exams, links to articles, even films. It's where we posted our research papers and learned our grades.
I must admit, I have reservations about Blackboard. It's efficient, no doubt, but it seems impersonal and distancing.
A couple of things haven't changed at all in the past 30 years. Students still sit in the same seat at every class. And it's always the same five or six students who speak up in class. Go figure.
I'm Deborah Booth, and that's my perspective.
