“A few years ago,” says Jason Fertig, an assistant professor at Southern Indiana University at Evansville, “something changed in class.”

I customarily taught classes where my students read multiple books, wrote thoughtful reflective essays, and came to class prepared to engage in rich discussions. I’d often come to class with a few notes and the goal of being extemporaneous for the duration of the class. Every student was not a Rhodes Scholar, but the majority stayed engaged for classes up to three hours long. Even though my job was draining from facilitating the conversations in real-time, it was the most fun I had in a classroom.

Then, all of a sudden, the fun stopped.

Fertig then goes on to tell what is now a familiar saga of students who are more distracted, less engaged, and from whom it is harder to elicit a discussion.

Read his article at the James G. Martin Center for Academic Renewal here.

Categories: Exordium