Laptops in the Classroom
In recent semesters I have noticed more and more students bringing their laptops to class. I am certain that many students do use their laptops simply to take notes but I can also tell as I lecture, engage in group discussions, or even listen to my students make presentations that many students are using their laptops to begin surfing. I do not need to see their computer screens to know what they are doing, it is all completely clear in the way students type, stare, point-n-click relative to the pace of the content being discussed orally.
I do not necessarily object to students surfing during class. A student surfing aimlessly is perhaps no more or less impolite than a student who doodles. Moreover, as a doodler myself, I know that I am often able to pay attention better while doodling. In other words, I have grown up constantly filtering multiple sources of information simultaneously. In fact, I often find it hard to watch television without performing at least one or two other tasks at the same time. Of course, as a scholar, I try not to doodle while attending a lecture so as not be viewed as rude.
A few students actually gleefully use the Internet during class to look up facts or terms and then report their findings to the rest of the class. There is a hunt-and-peck instinct which seems to be triggered whenever I or a classmate mentions an odd factoid or unfamiliar conceptual term. I find this behavior amusing at times, but also problemmatic when it happens repeatedly.
The problem, from my vantage point is that students who engage in this hunt and peck behavior are robbing themselves of an education. Or more precisely, they are substituting a critical learning opportunity with a rote learning method. They are taking the easy way out of earning their education.
My partner once told me about a Christian academy in southern Florida she visited as a child where the teacher would read the first half of a Bible verse and the students would race to see who could find the second half of the verse first. This is a classic rote learning tool. In playing this game with the teacher, the student is transformed into an information gopher.
The assumption that is predicated on this teaching technique is that the truth is simply "out there" to be hunted and gathered. With the growing influence of search engines and "wikipedia" the speed with which this game can be played today is really astounding. This teaching method is the opposite of the spirit of a liberal arts education. Our goal is not to teach students simply how to find facts (although we do try to teach them to learn how to locate the information they need). Our goal is to teach students to think critically while processing information and arguments. If we are successful then students will realize the fiction of the fact-value distinction. They will come to understand that facts are made, not found. They will learn to peel back facts to reveal values. Needless to say, the skill of critical thinking cannot be found on Wikipedia or Google, it must be developed through active engagement with ideas.
I do not necessarily object to students surfing during class. A student surfing aimlessly is perhaps no more or less impolite than a student who doodles. Moreover, as a doodler myself, I know that I am often able to pay attention better while doodling. In other words, I have grown up constantly filtering multiple sources of information simultaneously. In fact, I often find it hard to watch television without performing at least one or two other tasks at the same time. Of course, as a scholar, I try not to doodle while attending a lecture so as not be viewed as rude.
A few students actually gleefully use the Internet during class to look up facts or terms and then report their findings to the rest of the class. There is a hunt-and-peck instinct which seems to be triggered whenever I or a classmate mentions an odd factoid or unfamiliar conceptual term. I find this behavior amusing at times, but also problemmatic when it happens repeatedly.
The problem, from my vantage point is that students who engage in this hunt and peck behavior are robbing themselves of an education. Or more precisely, they are substituting a critical learning opportunity with a rote learning method. They are taking the easy way out of earning their education.
My partner once told me about a Christian academy in southern Florida she visited as a child where the teacher would read the first half of a Bible verse and the students would race to see who could find the second half of the verse first. This is a classic rote learning tool. In playing this game with the teacher, the student is transformed into an information gopher.
The assumption that is predicated on this teaching technique is that the truth is simply "out there" to be hunted and gathered. With the growing influence of search engines and "wikipedia" the speed with which this game can be played today is really astounding. This teaching method is the opposite of the spirit of a liberal arts education. Our goal is not to teach students simply how to find facts (although we do try to teach them to learn how to locate the information they need). Our goal is to teach students to think critically while processing information and arguments. If we are successful then students will realize the fiction of the fact-value distinction. They will come to understand that facts are made, not found. They will learn to peel back facts to reveal values. Needless to say, the skill of critical thinking cannot be found on Wikipedia or Google, it must be developed through active engagement with ideas.
Labels: teaching, technology