Teaching in the Era of YouTube

Today I found myself wondering how teachers ever made it through a school year without YouTube. The answer is somewhat fuzzy, and I believe it involved something along the lines of "V H S." (Whatever that is!) I have implemented YouTube videos into two difference courses this week, underscoring concepts in a way that would not otherwise be feasible within the time constraints of the classroom. While I'll deal with the second use later, I must share this first: ENG 262: World Literature II deals with poetry and drama (World Lit. I tackles short stories and the novel). My students have covered closed and open form poetry, rhythm and meter, sound in poetry, and figurative language this semester. I wanted to broaden their concept of poetry, however, so yesterday I introduced them to John Ecko's and Apollinaire's interpretations of concrete (or shape) poetry and to poetry as spoken word. Shape poetry is fun; it's visual and engaging. Almost every American child learned what a "diamante" (diamond-shaped poem) was back in elementary school. Moving on... Spoken word is new-ish on the scene of poetry in some ways, but in many ways it is the oldest form of poetry. Before man began to write, he spoke. Epics like The Iliad, The Odyssey, and Beowolf were not the only types of poetry--or even literature--to be passed down orally. Poetry has a long and illustrious history as an oral art. If you mention "spoken word" to some older lit. profs, you may hear scoffing, or note memories of smokey coffee shops, espressos, hash and and snaps flicker across the face of your listener. One never knows the secret lives of professors! To introduce spoken word to my students, I begin with this stereotype: students in berets, black jeans, and turtlenecks, sipping gourmet lattes, smoking lazily, and listening intently to an identical speaker at the focal point of the cafe. Snaps can be heard at the finale of the artist's poem, then silence as each digests what he or she has heard, sipping and smoking all the while. My students laugh; this is a scene they recognize from the movies. Good, I've made a connection. I then note that while this is how some spoken word poetry is still delivered, it has become something of a sensation now in the U.S. Poetry slams begin at school levels and end on live, televised, national events introduced by celebrities. Spoken word poetry has always been largely in the first person, dealing with social commentary, pop culture, or personal angst. Having thus introduced my students to and engaged them with spoken word poetry, I turn to YouTube. As an aside, I note that we will watch, then take a moment to absorb each piece before moving to the next. I have good reasons for these pauses, my class soon realizes. First: Sierra DeMulder's "Paper Dolls" We discussed the role of poetry in feminism (and feminism in poetry) at the beginning of the class session, so this connects with the Sexton and Rich poems we've discussed. Students are visibly affected by young Miss DeMulder's condemnation of society's treatment of women, culminating in a passionate call to raped women not to accept society's handling of their "situation." I cried the first time I saw this, several years ago. I had a difficult time keeping everything together in class. Moving on... Second: Joshua Bennett's and Justin Reilly's collaboration "Women" Again, this ties into the theme of women's role in the world and in poetry. Last: Miles Hodges' "Maskless" This affected some students more than others, but none were entirely unaffected. To hear a young black man talk so nakedly, so unapologetically about his fair skin tone on an island where nearly everyone is black and skin tone still matters--even if no one will admit that out loud--was disturbing at a foundational level for many students. Without YouTube, without immediate access to these young poets and their relevant, striking, evocative works, the discussion of spoken word poetry would have been nearly pointless. Not only did students react to the works, but many of them also understood--for the first time--that poetry IS relevant, not just in the classroom, but to the world, to THEM. This poetry moved my students. I cannot take credit for that, but I can take pleasure in knowing that I opened up the world, just a little bit, more for those twenty-five students. Without YouTube, I could not have done this.

Dissertation Schmissertation

I know I've already pointed out that the "lecture-less" idea isn't exactly patented mine, but this article on MLA's consideration of changing the format of the Humanities post-graduate dissertation feels relevant. "Dissing the Dissertation" not only deals with the problem of how long it takes for doctoral candidates to earn their dissertation-requiring PhDs, but also the format in which they are required.

We live in a digital, instantaneous time period, so why are dissertations, the products of what is presumably new, relevant and applicable research, still so old-fashioned? I think this fits in wonderfully with the idea that not only are we teaching our students (at every level) wrongly, but also that we are misleading them in the meaning of what it is to truly learn!

I have sat through some wonderful lectures in my day, both as a student and as a faculty member, but even I must admit that I found myself thinking about what I was going to make for dinner when I got home at least once in the course of the talk. The educational and academic systems must change how we (I include myself in this) approach learning and teaching. If we don't know how people learn, how on earth can we effectively teach?

The Beginning

For years I have joked that I am "ADD." I am acutely aware that this is, in fact, a very serious epidemic affecting multiple generations now, and I do not take it lightly. The truth is, I am not ADD, and while I occasionally get distracted (should I make more coffee?), for the most part, I focus rather well on just about anything (except for faculty meetings).

Depending on who you ask, the average attention span of a typical adult is anywhere from 5-8 minutes. All the sources of these statistics do agree on one aspect: that timeline is shortening--rapidly.

English classes range anywhere from 45-75 minutes, so how am I supposed to engage 20 non-Liberal Arts majors for longer than 5 minutes? Putting aside my own ego and belief that I am, quite certainly, the most entertaining English professor any student could ever wish for, I realized I had a problem: What happens for the rest of the class time if I only get 5 effective minutes?

Recently, both The Chronicle and Inside Higher Ed (as well as other publications, I'm sure) have pointed at and discussed the flaws in lecture classes. The result of these discussions is hard for us higher education teachers to hear, but it rings true: students just don't learn effectively from lectures. Ouch. So what good am I, then?

Then, the aha moment: I will no longer lecture. Read: I did not say I will no longer talk. I really do enjoy the sound of my own voice, and I think I have fabulously useful ideas to share, so I will not shut up. But, I will talk less, and seek more interactive and small-group ways of working with my students.

The Spring 2012 semester began yesterday. I have three sections of ENG 120, totaling about 65 students. Let the experiment begin!