{"id":15063,"date":"2017-11-29T09:00:02","date_gmt":"2017-11-29T17:00:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/?p=15063"},"modified":"2017-12-05T09:19:52","modified_gmt":"2017-12-05T17:19:52","slug":"open-space-camosun-instructors-need-to-stop-relying-on-the-internet","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/2017\/11\/29\/open-space-camosun-instructors-need-to-stop-relying-on-the-internet\/","title":{"rendered":"Open Space<\/em>: Camosun instructors need to stop relying on the internet"},"content":{"rendered":"

Why are Camosun teachers telling students to go look on Google or lynda.com for answers to questions raised in the classroom? I decided to forego places like lynda.com in favour of a formal education. I took the plunge and, like many students, I\u2019m going into debt to the tune of almost $5,000 per semester to come to this school and be taught. It\u2019s going to take me 10 years to pay it back. I made many sacrifices to get here, and I continue to do so in order to stay. In the end, I\u2019m hoping to walk away with enough new skills to sell me to potential employers in my chosen field.<\/p>\n

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This story originally appeared in our November 29, 2017 issue.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

But lately, I\u2019m left wondering what I\u2019m paying for\u2014and whether this was a big mistake. After all, anyone can look things up on the internet at home, for much cheaper.<\/p>\n

Maybe I\u2019m just disillusioned. Or perhaps I don\u2019t understand the concept of \u201capplied learning,\u201d but I thought it meant that I would be taught material and given the chance to apply what I\u2019ve learned. I\u2019m definitely feeling short-changed.<\/p>\n

For starters, most of my classes don\u2019t have textbooks. The instructors told us this was partly because they are trying to save us money, but I have to wonder about that. I\u2019m burning through my third set of printer cartridges, at just under $60 a pop, in order to print off all the material they recommend I bring to class. It\u2019s also because they said they just couldn\u2019t find that one book that had everything we needed, so they opted for none at all, reminding us that you can find just about everything you need on Google now. Interesting, because in the same breath we students are told to be mindful of the sources we use from the internet, because they\u2019re not always accurate or scholarly.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve spent multiple classes watching YouTube videos and then being asked to watch more YouTube videos at home in order to be tested on the material. I\u2019ve received assignments with terms on them that we\u2019re expected to know, yet the teacher fully acknowledges that we\u2019ve never discussed these in class and flippantly tells us to do our research, referring to the mighty Google again. I\u2019ve asked if there is a recommended glossary of terms and been told to make my own. And the kicker: an instructor assigned a project that will take up half of our semester; when asked if we would be learning how to do this in class, the response was, \u201cNot really,\u201d followed by a referral to lynda.com.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s the problem: students aren\u2019t experts. We don\u2019t know what we don\u2019t know. It\u2019s very hard to discern what I am supposed to be looking for on Google or whether the information is even relevant. I need some guidance and direction. I need something to refer to and a starting point.<\/p>\n

It seems that the instructors feel that we\u2019re able to figure all this stuff out on our own. And although I appreciate the vote of confidence, I have to admit that I\u2019m struggling. Some days I don\u2019t feel like I\u2019m learning anything at all.<\/p>\n

If only there were a place I could go. A place where I could learn this material, read books, and access experts in the field to have them share their knowledge and answer my questions.<\/p>\n

Oh, wait, there is. I\u2019m there already. But I just keep getting sent back to the internet.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Why are Camosun teachers telling students to go look on Google or lynda.com for answers to questions raised in the classroom? I decided to forego places like lynda.com in favour of a formal education. I took the plunge and, like many students, I\u2019m going into debt to the tune of almost $5,000 per semester to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":15062,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[14,203],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15063","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-views","category-november-29-2017"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15063","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15063"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15063\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15065,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15063\/revisions\/15065"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15062"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15063"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15063"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15063"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}