Being WATCHED!

An enthusiastic student comes into my office - he's one of those die hard Apple fanatics, the lifeblood of this industry. This fruit lover makes a compelling case to transform academia for the students through simple Apple software. He wants to tape the lectures through his camcorder and upload it on the Apple video site for students to watch and learn. He argues (point well taken) that students can refresh their memories on certain concepts covered in class and basically grasp material better. He says that he gets that universities are inherently bureaucratic and for immediate action, students need to take initiative. He promises that students will appreciate getting this material through a range of mediums and applications -podcasts to Facebook, listening as they commute or when cramming in study groups.

Yes. So true. Although nothing original here actually. It's already being done in some universities, albeit the sexy brands expanding their reach through new media. TED speakers today have a worldwide audience; some lecturers are gaining celebrity status. Besides, this phenomena expands democracy in education by providing access to the great and well, not-so-great minds as they pontificate on micro specimens to urban design and 16th century art. Mediocrity has a place here..in fact, its the very substance of such online academic democracy...everyone gets heard across board who are CHOSEN to be heard.

So why hasn't this caught on?

Couple of reasons...

1) Academics are human too - we fumble and stumble and bullshit our way sometimes through material...this promises to capture that vulnerability. How does one "erase" miseducation and misrepresentation when captured through online posterity?

2) Academics are narcissistic - the last thing we need is to be reminded that we're aging and nerdy and have high pitched or flat monotonous teaching styles. God forbid, we watch our own lectures online and fall asleep through it!

3) Academics are forced to perform- this is a sort of academic whoring where we are meant to appease to a larger audience when being filmed; the camera creates a self-conscious performance, sometimes geared more towards form than substance.

That said, students are more forgiving than we'd like to believe. Besides, fear of such possibilities are NEVER a good reason to turn such ideas down. The camera may just teach us something in turn. And who knows, we may one day start to enjoy our online alter ego!