One of my classes this semester is an internet-based science and technology course. It’s a 200-level course, so the analysis done in the web-based discussions isn’t supposed to be particularly in-depth, but it should reveal some sort of reflection, synthesis, and learning. For the majority of students, though, nothin’ doin’. Here’s is the whole of a representative reply in response to a question asking for thoughts on the artificial sexual reproduction process that is the premise of Aldus Huxley’s Brave New World.
I felt the way they came into the word was artificial. There was no conception between two individuals. I felt that the way that they were produce in the Brave New World was not natural but artificial. The world in which they lived seemed artificial to me.
I have one more class on Monday, exams start Monday night, and, come Friday night, no more of this.
Brilliant!
At least you’re paying in-state tuition rates…
Oh, my … is this attributable to teaching the SoLs, as opposed to teaching that requires thought and extrapolation?