Subjects: Group C
The last group, Group C, the Resisters, consisted of ten tenured professors, and represented the professional fields, the social studies, education, science/technology/ mathematics, and the health and medicine fields. Of the ten members, four had received the University's highest teaching award, the largest number among the three groups. There were three women and seven men in Group C. These members were identified through the snowball method (Bogdan & Biklen, 1982; Meltzoff, 1999) by first consulting college-level associate deans, and then by recommendations from members of Group A and others in Group C. Thus, they were chosen non-randomly as well. The members of this group were chosen because they resist technology or were perceived by their associate deans as being resisters to instructional technology.
Jeremy
A tenured full professor in one of the professional fields, Jeremy self-identified and scored as a Facilitator. Unlike most of his colleagues in this study, Jeremy wanted to become a professor because of the research aspect to the job.
I think why I decided I wanted to become a university professor is because I like research. And so I like the idea of taking on challenges that have been posed for hundreds if not thousands of years. As to the whole idea of being engaged in a long term dialogue with a lot of different people is very exciting to me, adding my piece to the pie.
For Jeremy, there are two aspects of his job that he finds his favorite. First, he, like many of his colleagues, favors the "light bulb" factor of his job, but unlike his other colleagues, Jeremy values the light bulb factor of his colleagues, not of his students.
What gives me the most satisfaction or I like the best? Actually, there's really two things. One is to, to find connections and get "aha" experiences from my colleagues, and that is really, I enjoy that a lot, and I'm actually very good at doing that. . . .
His second favorite part of being a professor deals with students.
And the other thing I really enjoy is challenging my students to think about things in new ways. So, in the classroom, I really enjoy really going after the assumptions my students make about the world.
To assist in changing student assumptions, Jeremy "condescends" to his students. He believes that this condescension empowers his students because he can get the students to think if "you piss them off." It is at that point, once the students are engaged, that the critical thinking begins. Jeremy believes that the important thing in the classroom is teaching students how to think critically, and then how to apply learned theories.
The more important thing to do in the classroom is to teach these kids how to think critically. How to think theoretically, how to apply those theories, and then how to use that knowledge to attack and change the world.
Jeremy believes that the use of instructional technology, in his case instructional technology defined as PowerPoint, allows him to connect his students to the real world faster and more easily in an attempt to gather and present more information. His use of PowerPoint allows him to devote his energy to other things.
Well with the power point it allows me to cover more because the things I want written down they can print out, and now students know to print them out beforehand. And so it allows me to go into more depth and give them more examples, and allows me to contact them more because we are away from, "ok let me repeat this definition six more times while you write it down off the overhead," So that's wonderful it frees me up to do what I like to do.
David
A tenured full professor in the social sciences, David has received the University's highest teaching award. One of the two members of the study to self-identify as a Formal Authority, David scored as one as well. David became a university professor because it was one of the limited avenues where he could practice his chosen profession. "I suppose it was not so much the desire to sit in the classroom and teach so much as it is the way to be a [discipline name omitted], which was the first concern." David likes the freedom that higher education affords him the best about his job. David believes that, as a teacher, it is his job to teach to the students who want to learn, and he calls these students the "front row kids." His concern is not with the students who do not want to be in his class, and for that reason, his attention and energy is focused on the front row kids.
David uses PowerPoint and the web, but says that he uses technology, "just for convenience to avoid handouts and get them out there in color and things like that." He has no solid reason for avoiding the use of technology in instruction. "Laziness, I don't know. No, I don't have a reason for not doing it. There are just a lot of things I just haven't gotten around to, and that's what a lot of this boils down to, over the years." David is slightly concerned that more use of instructional technology would enable the students to miss class and thereby lose out on instruction.
I suppose if anything it [technology] may promote a little bit of, it may take away a little bit from my insistence on, who is it Woody Allen's dictum that 98% of life is showing up? You know? You got to show up.
Although he has not incorporated instructional technology because of a self-professed laziness, David also said that he understands that many of his colleagues view instructional technology as a way to improve student learning, but he disagrees with those colleagues.
I mean for the sake of student learning and so forth, they really do think that is the best way to go. I don't agree. I really think that face to face has got to happen. If you can't see their eyes, you don't know if it is getting through.
Claire
An associate professor of education and tenured, Claire identified and scored as a Facilitator. Although not meaning specifically to become a university professor, she found herself liking the analytical thinking that higher education directed her to do. Claire was also a public school teacher and has always loved teaching. These two aspects led her into her position as a professor. Like David and others, her favorite part of her job is the freedom it affords her. This view of freedom is reflected in her views about teaching and in her role as a teacher. She believes that the freedom is necessary to stimulate thought and ideas, and then the most important thing for her as a teacher is to enable critical thinking by her students. "For me, teaching is about enabling students to always ask questions and think critically. So if I can use whatever means I can to get students to be that way. Because I think that students don't ask enough questions."
Claire sees technology as a tool, but not one for her. She uses PowerPoint as an example of technology being a tool and how this technology does not fit into her teaching style. "So my style doesn't allow me to stick to PowerPoint, though I can produce a power point presentation if I have to." Additionally, Claire thinks that many times technology can be the driving force behind teaching, and as she said, "I don't want the technology to decide my other teaching decisions." She goes on to explain how the technology has the ability to unfortunately drive pedagogy.
We get so much caught up in hitting those buttons to produce the information on the thing that we are failing to look in depth at the issues on hand. It's not technology that's doing it. It's actually how we get geared to using the technology.
She thinks that this is partly why many of her colleagues are opposed to instructional technology. "Some will argue philosophically because it is more a technological thing as opposed to--they see it as technology and not as pedagogy."