ReadWriteWeb wrote about interesting use cases for Google Wave this week. One of the articles was about how students could use Google Wave for collaborative note taking. The text goes on to say:
One concern that seemed to pop up several times in the wave was that Google Wave could make it too easy for lazy students to get by. As Justin Neitzey succinctly put it: “I don’t think kids should be allowed piggy back off the work of others.”
I bet someone said the same thing about students getting “lazy” when pen and parchment were invented.
Get that crazy stuff away from students! (Photo: Caro Wallis)
I can almost hear it – imagine two philosophers and/or monks sitting together, one old and one young and full of energy.
Then the old one says:
“This crazy new invention you wan to introduce at my school – this parchment and pen – will ruin everything! It will ruin education! Thanks to you, students don’t have to memorize anything any more! It will make them stupid and lazy, because now they can just look it all up!”
I find the argument ludicrous. It just highlights that in education we are using the wrong methods to evaluate whether something is successfully learned. We are still too focused on asking students to repeat facts or opinions – and don’t care enough whether they understand them. And fostering understanding is one of the things that collaborative note taking can help to bring along.
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