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Computers in the Classroom

Have there been any studies about whether having computers & wifi in a class improve or diminish the success of teaching? I’m a bit of a luddite on this front: I suspect that students get distracted by their technology, and the great brain sucker, the Internet.

But I have no idea.

On the other hand, as a teacher (especially at university level) you should be able to be interesting enough to your students that lolcats will seem boring.

Anway, I’m of two minds on this, but sympathetic to teachers and profs who don’t want the web in their classrooms. From Language Labs Unleashed:

A professor I had last semester had a bad experience with her undergraduates and laptops, banned them, and noticed a dramatic change in her classes. She then decided that she would do the same thing with her Educational Psychology graduate course on CMC, (a course full of 30 and 40-somethings), due to seeing someone in class doing e-mail next to her and her being distracted by the typing sound. Needless to say, I was very upset. I simply cannot keep up when trying to write by hand, and the Internet access allows me to better challenge points raised in class that need challenging. I think I understood her position, but I didn’t agree with the policy.

When I put on my teacher cap, I can understand the urge for faculty to ban everything they can’t control, including the technology of the time. We’ve all heard the stories of the ballpoint pen being banned by faculty in the late 1940’s in favor of the fountain pen and the calculator in the 1950’s in favor of the slide rule. Faculty do have legitimate authority to control the classroom environment, and to eject students from class for anything they choose, including staring at a laptop screen instead of the professor, I guess. [more…]

4 Comments

  1. Jay Moonah Jay Moonah 2009-03-09

    Hugh, I’m not aware of any studies on this myself but I think once you get into any kind of post-secondary environment in particular, it’s going to be very hard to generalize.

    A few years ago I taught a class at Ryerson to IT management students about the uses of “multimedia” (that probably dates it, when was the last time you heard that term?) in business. It was a lab with computers, 40 students with BIG-ass 17″ CRTs. I know for certain that many of them were not listening or looking at me when I spoke, but at that level I always figure the students break out into basically 3 groups 1) those that will pay attention, 2) those that are already ahead of you and don’t necessarily need to hear what you have to say and 3) those that don’t care and won’t care, no matter what you say.

    That said, I do think teachers should be able to control their classroom environments, but I feel that for adult students, the responsibility to learn is their own, and there’s only so much you’re going to do to overcome distraction and/or apathy.

  2. Laurence Miall Laurence Miall 2009-03-09

    I would generally side with those who believe an instructor should be empowered to ban any electronic device they want in class, unless that device has a specific purpose. I have sat in classes with grad students and 3rd/4th year undergrads, and seen people simply surfing the Net, checking their email, updating their Facebook — not only while the instructor is talking, but also while other students are giving presentations. It’s enormously distracting and disrespectful, and undermines the learning atmosphere we strive to build. The Internet is, of course, a wonderful thing — or else I wouldn’t be here! — but it does tend to shortern people’s attention spans. Students especially would benefit from learning to sit still and pay attention for long periods of time. Even if they’re bored, that’s good for ’em, I say. It’s when your mind wanders that you come across wonderful discoveries of your own. We don’t need endless amusement.

    For the record, I believe so strongly in this that last year, I took a fellow student aside after class and chastised him for his disrespectful computer use during a student presentation. He didn’t have a single good excuse for using the computer in class. I bet he’s far from alone.

  3. Laurence Miall Laurence Miall 2009-03-09

    I would generally side with those who believe an instructor should be empowered to ban any electronic device they want in class, unless that device has a specific purpose. I have sat in classes with grad students and 3rd/4th year undergrads, and seen people simply surfing the Net, checking their email, updating their Facebook — not only while the instructor is talking, but also while other students are giving presentations. It’s enormously distracting and disrespectful, and undermines the learning atmosphere we strive to build. The Internet is, of course, a wonderful thing — or else I wouldn’t be here! — but it does tend to shorten people’s attention spans. Students especially would benefit from learning to sit still and pay attention for long periods of time. Even if they’re bored, that’s good for ’em, I say. It’s when your mind wanders that you come across wonderful discoveries of your own. We don’t need endless amusement.

    For the record, I believe so strongly in this that last year, I took a fellow student aside after class and chastised him for his disrespectful computer use during a student presentation. He didn’t have a single good excuse for using the computer in class. I bet he’s far from alone.

  4. Hugh Hugh 2009-03-11

    You know, thinking back to my big first year lectures, where Queen’s packed 250-300 students into a lecture hall to “learn” Physics or Chem from a better or worse prof slapping on the overheads … maybe this is a question of reaping & sowing. If you give students an unengaging learning environment, then is it their fault if they are not engaged? Some lectures I just did not attend because there was no point: it was easier to learn from the textbook, rather than suffering through class. Other classes were the same.

    But I think there is a big difference between university, where the students are supposedly adults, and elementary & high school. though there again, maybe there is a bigger question about how to better engage students.

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