Disappearing Ink - Todd Gitlin

Disappearing Ink

By Todd Gitlin

The internet has a wealth of knowledge at the click of a button and with the same click of a button you can download notes to core classes and term papers. Todd Gitlin writes of his experience with canned notes and the effects on class attendance, class participation and student education in "Disappearing Ink."

"Disappearing Ink" was written after Gitlin heard about an internet company offering free notes for core courses at several different universities. This reminded him of when the student government started a note-taking service called, Black Lightning, back in the 1980's when he taught at the University of California at Berkeley. Black Lightning would have a graduate student attend lectures of different courses to take notes, -- with the teacher's approval of course-- and then offer the notes to students for a price. Gitlin although apprehensive decided to allow the note-taking service in his classes.

Black Lightning sent a graduate student to take notes for Gitlin's class. After reading the students copy of notes, he was impressed; saying "My thinking looked tidier in his transcription than in my own notes." Gitlin goes on to say that if a teacher wanted to re-use those same notes class after class he would have those "nicely printed notes the next time and the next." However Gitlin started to notice that class attendance was down, and that questions in class were less frequent.

"Now that the notes were available in cold black type, the students were less available in spirit" Gitlin says. He has always encouraged students to interrupt a lecture to ask questions. In part to help increase a student's understanding, keep students thinking and to get students debating over the material. During an eighty-minute period usually students did get involved to liven up the class with debates, but now with the new canned-notes students were less apt to participate. After that semester ended Gitlin decided to stop allowing Black Lighting to sell canned-notes for his class.

It is now a hot topic of discussion that universities are shortchanging their students with over crowded lecture halls and impersonal lessons. Gitlin asks the question, "If they're already shortchanged with impersonal instruction, what's the harm