As faculty, do we just provide customer service?

We are generally told as faculty members that we should try our best to teach tomorrow's leaders and give forth our knowledge to our students. We take courses and enrich our teaching skills when possible. Most of us teach because we love our field and want to give back to society. Not many of us truly just teach because they pay us so much. Of course these statements are just my opinions.
Interestingly, I was speaking with some University students the other day about this subject and about their perceptions of faculty and the relationship that they have with faculty. I was frankly stunned by what I heard.  It seems that these students perceived faculty as customer service "clerks" who only wanted to do the very least in teaching.  Students felt that when faculty tried to motivate them to do better (i.e. get better grades, learn the materials, do their assignments) that there was an ulterior motive. The ulterior motive was that faculty try to get students grades up "so that they can look better and make more money".  Once I picked up my jaw from the floor, I asked them "seriously do you really think that is why we want you to do well in college? So we could get raises from the good evaluations?"  They replied, "yes, why would you be in a profession if you weren't trying to get a raise?"
This (Millennial) generation, as someone wrote recently, "values money and what it can buy."  When we teach, we "render customer service, a somewhat menial calling, to a society that doesn't value abstraction, intellectual discourse, or knowledge for knowledge's sake."
As I ponder how to make my class on Friday more meaningful for my students, I would love to hear others' thoughts.

Oktoberbest- University of South Carolina October 1, 2010

Oktoberbest at the University of South Carolina was a success last Friday.  I was pleased with my session entitled "A Multi-faceted Approach to Teaching Freshman Students- UNIV 101".  I showed the pros and cons of using several types of communication/community building tools in Blackboard as well as my classroom Facebook presences. The session participants were active and we had some meaningful discussions on what inhibits students engagement and how we can get students to participate in the discussion forums.  Thanks to everyone who came to my session.

Special thanks go out to my University 101 students- I have attached a few photos of them here!

Interesting event coming up at the University of South Carolina

Here is an interesting event coming up at USC later on in October.

Voyages into the Technology Frontier:  Mobile Applications for Teaching

 Thursday, October 28, 2010, 2:00 - 3:15 p.m.

Center for Teaching Excellence, Thomas Cooper Library, Room 511

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Description

iPhones, iPads, iPods, Blackberries, Droids. They’re everywhere, no matter how far we travel. They’re an integral part of our students’(and often our own) lives. If these communication devices are so prevalent, how can we harness this mobile wave to enhance teaching and learning? This session will demonstrate three mobile applications that can be used inside or outside the classroom to expand the learning experience beyond the brick and mortar. Dr. Joe Johnson, Distinguished Professor Emeritus in the Department of Physics, will demonstrate QRECT, an application for classroom assessment, using the iPad. The development of a virtual tour smartphone application will be discussed by Dr. Duncan Buell, Professor in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering, and computer science student, Maliek McKnight. Chris Brown, Director of Teaching and Technology Services, will present the new Blackboard mobile building block. Please join us for a voyage into our mobile technology as we showcase pioneers at the University of South Carolina.

Please RSVP by email cte@sc.edu , phone 803-777-8322, or CTE RSVP form.