McMaster profs should get with the times

L.R. Wilson Hall opened last week, complete with state-of-the-art features ranging from active learning classrooms, to lounge space, to students highly trained in the arts of Microsoft PowerPoint and group discussions.

Just before classes were scheduled to begin, the Faculty of Humanities sent an email to upper year students advertising a job opportunity. The job? Working as a “Student Partner” with a professor in the ALCs for a first-year Humanities course. According to the email, “the student partner will help prepare for and facilitate in-class activities,” for four to five hours a week, a task perhaps, a TA could perform. Or, dare I say it: a prof?

The issue of technology use in the classroom is not a new one. The start of every semester brings with it a series of angry tweets and Facebook posts about instructors banning online note-taking or refusing to accept digitally submitted assignments. At a school that prides itself on its forward-thinking as much as McMaster, it’s farcical that the instructors who are eager to use the new spaces in the Wilson building are so reluctant to embrace the tech features that make the building stand out from the other lecture halls on campus. Why did the university bother spending tens of millions of dollars on L.R. Wilson Hall if faculty are shying away from its most coveted features?

Ultimately, the gesture of the job comes across as disrespectful. It seems as though professors do not see the need to meet students where they are or expand their own skills and breathe new life into their teaching material. Furthermore, it can be interpreted that instructors do not feel that their course’s content is relevant or important enough to be updated to make adequate use of the ALCs.

The integration of upper year mentors is a great idea in a class designed to introduce first years to Humanities-focused inquiry and show that university is not an inherently “scary” experience. However asking those mentors to “prepare and facilitate” technology-based activities goes far beyond that. Add to that the fact that these students are performing tasks similar to those of a TA for about half the hourly earnings (undergrad TAs earn about $23 per hour while these facilitator roles pay $12.75) and this job “opportunity” becomes yet another slap in the face to young adults trying to develop a diverse skill set.

Over the course of a semester, these jobs will pay a total of around $637. This does not even cover the cost of a three-unit Humanities course, and is less than two months’ worth of rent.

If the Faculty of Humanities is truly proud of L.R. Wilson Hall and its classrooms’ potential to impart inspiring knowledge, its professors need to get with the times and get their hands dirty with the touch screens at their fingertips.