OUR VIEW: The professors need a tutorial

It’s an all-too-familiar situation. In the middle of class, a professor decides to show a PowerPoint presentation or short video clip and turns to the video display control panel to use the projector.

The students’ anticipation builds for a much-needed break from the lecture while the professor fumbles around with the controls, pushing every button to try to get the audio or visual to work properly.

After five or 10 minutes, the professor admits defeat and either turns to the class to ask if anyone can fix it or gives up on the presentation entirely. The anticipation of the students is deflated, and an important part of that day’s lecture is set aside all because the professor does not know how to properly use the equipment.

Often professors come down hard on students for not coming to class prepared for that day’s lecture. Too often though, a professor is the one unprepared for class because they have not taken the time to set up the projector and make sure it works properly. This results in a subpar lecture and a waste of students’ time. Professors need to take their own advice and be prepared.

Students pay a considerable amount of money to obtain a quality education, and they rely on professors to be prepared to teach. If professors spend even 10 minutes trying to get the projector to work, they have wasted a substantial portion of the class and thus the valuable time and money of students.

Established professors at USU generally know how to use the projectors. But many new professors do not. This may not be the fault of the new instructors, though.

When the projectors were installed across campus, the university spent the time to teach the professors how to use the control panel properly. This was a smart move that enabled many professors to teach with tools like PowerPoint and the Internet. But new professors who want to use the same resources are restricted because they do not know how.

This could easily be solved if professors would be trained in how to use the equipment when they are brought into the faculty. The projector equipment is fairly standard across campus and does not take long to learn. In fact, many students know how to use the system better and faster than professors do.

If the university would invest a little bit of time to properly train professors, time could be saved, and professors could use those parts of their lecture that would best enhance learning.