W
ith
the
semester
nearing its end and
the standoff between
the
Graduate
Employees’
Organization and the University
of Michigan raging on, there’s no
better time than now to reflect
back on how this school year has
gone academically. For some,
this year was filled with packed
schedules, long study nights and
never-ending amounts of work;
for others, classes may have been
an afterthought. Personally, I
tried to find a middle ground:
balancing a moderate course load
with time to socialize. Regardless
of how the year played out for
you, what unites many U-M
students’ experiences is a general
feeling that the traditional way
we learn has changed.
It is important to first define
the traditional way we learn
at the University of Michigan.
This idea refers to the lecture
and
discussion
format
that
makes up the overwhelming
majority of courses provided by
the University. These are the
classes where students have the
opportunity to take part in both
a large learning environment and
a closer, conversational section.
This structure is largely the
norm.
The
first
major
problem
with this system has to do
with attendance. While some
courses make attendance in
lecture compulsory, there are
many where that is not the case.
Scores of students skip their
lectures, choosing to spend their
time sleeping in or socializing
rather than learning from their
professors. For example, in an
astronomy lecture of mine, only
10 students showed up when
more than 100 were registered.
It appears that as of late, students
are not showing up to class in the
same capacity they have in the
past.
Why, you might be asking, has
this become so widespread? The
simplest answer is laziness. It’s
much easier for a busy college
student to stay in the comfort
of their own home than to walk
10 minutes to a lecture hall.
Furthermore, with the rise in
Lecture Capture spearheaded
by the pandemic, there are many
students who prefer to watch
lectures on their own time rather
than attending them in-person.
But laziness cannot be the
sole reason why students skip
lectures, especially when our
coursework and extracurriculars
become more strenuous over
time. There must be something
greater at play here, something
that can be better understood if
we consider the changing ways
U-M students complete their
schoolwork.
The days when completing
schoolwork was a strictly human
process are over. When tasked
with essays to write, worksheets
to fill out or projects to work
through, many students are not
turning to their lecture notes,
textbooks or even the internet
for help. They are looking to their
pal ChatGPT and other Artificial
Intelligence softwares to get the
work done for them. One in five
college students have turned
to AI tools in order to complete
their
assignments,
and
this
figure will only be exacerbated
if the traditional learning system
remains
stagnant
while
AI
continues to innovate.
It is the digital age that is
leading traditional college classes
down the path to antiquity. This
explanation, though, is only
half the story. The problem has
much more to do with the way
technology has impacted human
behavior than it has to do with
the technology itself.
For starters, convenience has
become the name of the game.
With just a few clicks on a screen,
we can buy anything we want,
talk to whoever we want and
practically see or hear anything
we want at a moment’s notice.
Students will turn to ChatGPT
to complete their assignments
for the same reason millions of
people use Amazon each day
to shop: They want things to be
quick and easy. If this is what
people desire for practically
every other facet of daily life,
why should education be any
different?
On a similar note, technology
has led to a growing desire for
personalization. We personalize
our phones with applications
that are tailored to our personal
preferences
and
needs.
We
carefully
watch
videos
on
TikTok so that our For You pages
are customized to our interests.
More than 70% of consumers
expect companies to deliver
personalized interactions, and
students want the same from
their education. In the busy
lives of college students, it is
much more attractive to be able
to customize learning by fitting
lectures into their own schedule
than it is for students to have
to abide by a fixed learning
environment.
Opinion
Are traditional college classes
becoming obsolete?
Average pet owner
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
10 — Wednesday, April 12, 2023
C
ourse scheduling time is
one of my favorite parts
of the year. Say what
you will, but there’s something
very exciting about finding out
about new classes being offered
or which course your favorite
professor will be teaching next
semester. Equipped with multiple
spreadsheets as I comb through
the course guide, I am simply
way too thorough and way too
over the top about the whole
process, but what can I say — I
enjoy it. What I do not enjoy are
conflicts — when there are two
or more classes happening at the
same time and I have to pick just
one. In those moments, not only
am I disappointed, but I begin to
spiral.
Indecisiveness has been a
trait that has plagued me for
as long as I can remember. You
can try and put a good spin on
it by saying things like, “It just
means you are more cautious
and pragmatic,” but the truth is,
it’s a problem. Every time I am
faced with making a choice, I will
move heaven and earth to make
it so that I don’t have to make
that choice, and I believe that
that is a very undesirable trait
to have. If you do not think that
you suffer from indecision, this
column may not be your cup of
tea. However, if you feel similar to
how I do, then I would urge you
to continue reading. It’s high time
we are honest with ourselves and
address the elephant in the room:
our indecision is holding us back.
From personal experience, I
find that anger is one of the first
byproducts of indecision. Not
only does the frustration from
not being able to take a stand ruin
your day, it takes up a lot more
of your mental bandwidth than
it should. It can be extremely
tiring to have to mull over the
same thing over and over again,
sometimes for days and weeks
on end. This makes your decision
even harder, it increases the
chances of making the wrong one.
The Bhagavad Gita, a religious
text of Hinduism, suggests that
one of the most undesirable traits
is indeed anger, mainly due to its
ability to drive one further away
from their normal self. In other
words, when you are angry, you
are a shadow of your true self —
less able and less likely to make
the right move.
But if a religious text written
centuries ago isn’t convincing
enough, let’s try Forbes magazine.
According to Forbes, one of the
most important traits for success
is accountability, and the second
thing indecisiveness breeds is a
lack of accountability.
Your indecision is holding you back
MAX FELDMAN
Opinion Columnist
RUSHABH SHAH
Opinion Columnist
Design by Sara Fang
Design by Hannah Willingham
Read more at MichiganDaily.com
Read more at MichiganDaily.com
NURIA
CALVET
Helen Dodson Prince
Collegiate Professor
of Astronomy
Watching
Stars Grow
A public lecture and reception; you may attend in person or virtually. For more information,
including the Zoom link, visit events.umich.edu/event/103676 or call 734.615.6667.
Wednesday, May 3, 2023 | 4:00 p.m. | Weiser Hall, 10th Floor