A Picture is Worth a Thousand Wrist Movements

Posted Week 02 by David · No Comments

I was in the middle of a lesson the other day when a student pulled out a digital camera and took pictures of what I’d drawn and written on the whiteboard. This was odd. Never before had I been faced with this situation. What to make of it. I asked the student, a Swiss German gentleman, if he intended to circulate the photos on the internet, possibly for sale. The same way certain universities sell lectures through iTunes, this student could potentially make a bit of money selling photos of teachers’ boardwork.

The Swiss German student answered no, he did not intend to sell these photos. They were for personal use only, study aids and such. I noticed he hadn’t written anything on the lined paper before him. Turns out he didn’t believe in writing anything down. Not when he’s a “visual learner.” His best method is to take pictures then zoom in on the material on his computer at home and study that way.

So should I allow this? I’m thinking: No. Part of being a student is taking notes, right? I mean should that change? Is taking pictures of a teacher’s boardwork the new way to study? Is it going to catch on in the next few years so that by 2010 students all over the world, in all different kinds of academic settings, will be snapping digital photos and uploading them onto their desktops? Enlarging the information? Touching the pics up? If that does catch on, as I fear it probably will, what’s then to stop students all over the world from distributing these photos–and photos of their teachers too–on the internet, posting them to blogs, social networking sites, and the sites of for-profit educational competitors?

What’s to stop them from altering the material?

A scary thought. Why do I feel like Carrie Bradshaw here?