“A Vision of Students Today“, done by the Digital Ethnography folks at the University of Kansas has been making the rounds for a couple of months.

Today, they posted a thoughtful, plaintive response from a UK lecturer. The full post is worth reading – a few of my favorite peices:

What is it like being a lecturer today?

66% of my students

Bother to come to the lectures

I spend all Sunday carefully preparing.

I spent five days researching and preparing.

A carefully considered reading list

Of which my students read

20% of the items.

I spent the summer

Creating an online learning environment

Full of amazing study resources

That only 30% of my students visit

And she ends simply:

Of what school teachers earn

I spent 5 years writing my last book

Which was well reviewed

And got me interviewed on TV

But I only made £50 in royalties

So you have to ask

Why I do this job?

And my answer is

Because I believe

all that stands between civilization and barbarism

is education.

Students Today” suggests that students are dissatisfied. This lecturer’s response answers in kind.

Chicken and egg?

I love learning. From books, from experiences and most of all from people. I think this is normal.

I had trouble with my engagement while in formal education settings. This is common.

I’ve been both the bored student and the frustrated lecturer.

That their is so much annoyance on both “sides” seems a little pathetic. We can do better.

In this conversation about education reform the frustration can be a motivator initially. Over time it’s hard not to become overwhelmed, by the sheer size of the idea of education reform, or the pace of change, or the politics of any given institution.

I think communities are the solution. A combination of blogs like this, conferences, and even Facebook groups, to get like minded people to break down this frustration into small task lists. Small steps with a bigger vision in mind.