By Darren Mcvey
In a recent message to the student body, University of Louisville President Dr. James R. Ramsey expounded on the effect Gov. Steve Beshear’s budget cuts will have on the university.
Obviously, the administration must prioritize and streamline. The advances the university has made in becoming a research-based institution cannot be reversed. The academic progress of units like the business school must continue. Important projects like the heart disease research center and medical laboratory cannot be sacrificed.
The reality is that there is no way to make $25 million out of thin air. Sacrifices must be made. Beautification can take a back seat to academic and research priorities. Unnecessary programs like Women’s studies and Pan-African studies should bear the burden of budget cuts in favor of the more important programs of natural sciences, business and traditional humanities.
It is vitally important that the university be creative in dealing with these cuts. As Kentucky’s former budget director, Ramsey can guide the university through this challenging time without extensive damage.
As students on the front lines of this battle, however, we need to assist the administration by providing creative solutions from the perspective down on ground zero. Allow me to offer a solution that may save money and improve education at the university.
Stop excessive technology in the classroom.
The worst thing to happen to education in the last century is Microsoft PowerPoint. As soon as the screen descends and the projector starts humming in a lecture hall, half of the class turn their brains off and the other half mindlessly copy the slides verbatim if they have not printed off 45 pages worth prior to the lecture. PowerPoint seems like an effective method of lecturing, but for some unknown reason, the consequence is inattention and inevitable delays.
The only appropriate application of PowerPoint is courses where visual aides are essential, but those are few and most presentation visuals come directly from the textbook. To be fair, PowerPoint is not the only culprit. Most students have battled the menace of “clickers” at some point in their first few semesters. Clickers are a waste of time and money that only work half the time and distract from learning the other half. The clicker is a $40 way of taking attendance.
The excessive intrusion of technology into the classroom is the most frustrating issue of education in my generation. In addition, probably the most expensive mistake as well.
The most effective courses are always, without exception, ones in which the professors lecture from a podium or Blackboard with aides from only their expertise, fluorescent light bulbs and central heating.
It is unfortunate that the cost of equipping classrooms with projectors, screens and other useless electronics cannot be recovered short of a campus yard sale. In this time of belt tightening, however, the university should evaluate the ineffectiveness of most classroom technology and stop spending money on this menace.
Where technology enriches the educational experience, the costs are worth it. Most of this technology, however, is just bells and whistles.
