Student workflow

By On August 3, 2010 · 2 Comments

Yesterday I sat down to work some analytical mechanics problems as a part of my preparation for teaching the course for the first time last fall. I settled into a local Starbucks with supplies not really that different from when I took the course as an undergrad: textbook, legal pad, favorite pen, a latte, and the Wolfram|Alpha app on my iPod touch. Wait, what? An iPod touch?

It occurred to me that my mechanics workflow today is much different than when I was in college. Back then, I would normally sit down in the library (no coffee shop there) with the first three items, along with my beloved 1959 edition of the  CRC Standard Mathematical Tables and Formulae for looking up integrals. My workflow was decidedly analog. I don’t even remember looking up reference information online for most of my undergraduate classes (and I’m not that old. I’m a proud member of the King College class of ’03.)

Today, digital sources figure regularly in my preparation for classes. The Wolfram|Alpha website and app is helpful for looking up those integrals, as well a myriad of other information and procedures, even solving second-order differential equations. So far, I feel that I’ve kept reasonably up-to-date with innovations in digital sources and tools that relate to the classes I teach (a major exception being using a smartphone, but that’s on my radar.)

But I wonder what it will take to keep up. As an instructor, I want to stay mindful of how my students’ workflow will change as the years go along. Who knows what kind of tools they will be using 20, 30 years down the road? Recently, the Chronicle of Higher Ed charted faculty use of technology in the classroom.  At least for the faculty who participated, the majority don’t use tech tools such as blogs or collaborative editing software in their classrooms.

Technology in the classroom is one thing. For me, however, just as important is knowing how my students work outside of class and how I can either support that workflow or suggest gentle changes that can support their understanding of the material in class. I hope that in my classroom we can cultivate a culture of sharing ideas and tools so that I know more about their own personal workflow.

How has the workflow in your academic field changed since your days as an undergrad? Are you working to keep up-to-date, and if so, how?

 
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  • http://www.alissawilkinson.com Alissa

    This is such a good thing to consider, Heather. I teach a very different subject, but the question of technology and workflow comes up a lot. For instance, do I encourage and teach a citation software for their papers? How do I teach them to properly use the internet to enhance their writing? (For instance, I regularly encourage them to Google words they might be misspelling.) I also found myself strongly recommending software like Freedom for the Mac to the students who seem to be writing distractedly.

    I’ll put on my fake old-fogey hat here and say that it sure is a different world than we experienced when we were undergrads (and I graduated not long after you . . . )

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