This is my fifth trip to Italy (fourth as an adult), yet I made my first visit to an authentic Italian classroom yesterday.

I want to preface my remarks by stating that I know that a single visit to a single class is not necessarily a reflection on all courses in that department, that university or (heaven forbid) does not provide a comprehensive view of all Italian higher education. I would hate for someone to visit one class session at Ball State and assume that all Ball State classes are like that, or that all American universities operate that way. With that disclaimer, I want to report on what I observed.

I attended a class on the Sociology of Communication, taught by Lucia D'Ambrosi. She's a young faculty member (30s, I'm guessing) who has co-authored a book and has chapters included in another. She lives in Rome and commutes to Macerata via public transit each week to spend Tue-Thu teaching. The class I sat in on meets twice/week, 8:30-11 a.m. Actually, they started about six minutes late and quit at about 10:45, which I take to be the actual ending time, not just getting out early. When she started class there were probably only about 35 students in the lecture hall (seats 105 in 15 rows of 7) but by the time she took a break halfway through, the number had doubled. Students trickled in and at the break she commented. She said she certainly understood some tardiness, especially with such an early class, but that if students were going to be more than 30 minutes late they ought to just wait for the break so as to be less disruptive to others. Every student who walked in did in fact disrupt, as the door latch was quite loud and room acoustics were poor (Lucia used a mic). With one or two exceptions, all the students who arrived on time were concentrated in the front rows. Late arrivers filled in the back of the hall. There was one obviously older student (gray hair), but I forgot to ask about the non-traditional student population.

The subject matter was quite familiar to me. She continued her lecture from the previous day, discussing communication models. She first reviewed some of the previous lesson and then moved on to new material. For the most part it was a PowerPoint lecture, with Lucia elaborating on each slide as she progressed through her presentation. After a very long time (perhaps an hour) she asked a question of the class, and it took some cajoling on her part to get anyone to respond. At the break, a couple of students went up to the prof's desk, I assume to ask questions. No questions were asked during the lecture. The introductory mass communication class is a prerequisite to this one so the students must be at least in their second year, but Lucia told me later they're so timid because they're still "so young."

After the break, Lucia continued with her PowerPoint for a while, the topic moving to communication effects. She finished her lecture by using four film clips to illustrate different communication settings. She used the check-out scene from You've Got Mail where Tom gets the cashier to take Meg's credit card, a scene on a bus from Stranger than Fiction, the uncomfortable restaurant scene from Lost in Translation and a clip from an Italian film, Il Medico Della Mutua, where famous actor Alberto Sordi communicates matter-of-factly with nurse and patients until one woman he has an interest in enters. She tried to engage the students by asking them about what they had seen after each clip, about what was going on in the communicative act, but only a few students spoke up.

In this particular class, the entire grade is tied to a single exam. I know that is not the case for all courses, but it was the tradition and is still followed in many cases (that's the way it was for many classes in Slovenia in 1995). When I asked if she had considered short quizzes at the start of each class she commented that she had so many students it was too hard to manage. She passed a roll sheet around (not quite sure why if all the grade is attached to the exam) and it probably had about 100 names. She also teaches another class.

Lucia is obviously comfortable with the technology, moving easily between her PowerPoint and the film clips. The laptop/projector were already in the classroom ready for her. She attached her thumb drive and external hard drive with God knows how many video clips on it.

The idea of full-time faculty who live far from town appears to be a bone of contention among some people. The local economy benefits little from people who live in town only a few days per week and use their income to support their lives in remote locations. I met a political science professor this morning who commented that she chooses to live here (though she is not from the area) because she feels it is the right thing to do.