Secret Student Code Busts Socratic Method?

 Well, this is my first post ever on a blog. Thank you to those at the Faculty Lounge for giving me a (temporary) platform. I hope you don’t regret it. As my first post, I thought I’d share something interesting that I heard on the running track at Temple – not exactly the faculty lounge, but close enough...

Apparently laptops are making the Socratic classroom more collaborative. One of my colleagues told me recently that when students are called on in class and don’t know the answer or haven’t read the case, they say “Let me check my notes” and this is code for other students to help them by emailing information via their laptops (apparently the medium of choice is GChat, a service of Google mail). I don’t teach by the Socratic method, certainly not by the old-fashioned “one person on the hot seat” method, and I wonder how those who do teach that way feel about this. Although I can see how this facilitates people not doing the work of the course, and it certainly is deceitful, on some level I am happy to see students helping each other as opposed to competing – collaboration is a useful lawyering skill.

 Also, I confess, I had a few professors back in the day who taught by the strict, old-fashioned Socratic method – “teaching” by humiliation – and this soured me on the whole technique. I didn’t learn effectively this way and I never saw the point, even -- especially -- after I began teaching. Yes, we professors know more than the students (no kidding, we’re lawyers! As one of my friends put it: it is like going all out to prove that you can beat a 2 year old at soccer). So, to the extent that this laptop loophole is making an end-run around the more draconian version of the Socratic method, I confess that part of me is saying ‘viva la revolucion.’

Comments

[Al]

Welcome, Kathy. Looking forward to your posts.

Ah, the call for help to headquarters! It has a distinguished in lineage in American history. Pretty creative--and, hey, if it means other people are engaged in class, the probably makes it the discussion all the more productive.

[anonymous]

At least 2/3 of my professors have told the class explicitly on the first day that they know students do this and that they don't really have a problem with it, so long as students still do the reading.