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I went through undergrad at a time when it was relatively uncommon for students to use a laptop in class. There were usually a couple students in a typical lect
by beloch 12y ago
I went through undergrad at a time when it was relatively uncommon for students to use a laptop in class. There were usually a couple students in a typical lecture using them and they got a lot of flack from their neighbors if they were typing too loudly.
In grad school, I recall sitting in on some lectures of a course I was TA'ing. In just a few years it seemed that a technological revolution had occurred. More students had laptops open than not. It was like sitting in a field of frantically mating crickets. The subject being taught was classical mechanics (for non-physics majors), so there were plenty of equations and diagrams. The students nearest to me seemed to have a variety of solutions. Some had tablets that allowed them to draw directly in their notes. Some had a pad of paper that they switched to. Others seemed to be ignoring anything they couldn't type. Suboptimal, to say the least!
The really disturbing thing was how many laptops were not engaged in anything that remotely resembled note-taking. People were writing emails, browsing, sending text messages, watching T.V. shows, you name it. There was one kid sitting in the front row, happily watching South Park with a giant pair of headphones on. She clearly didn't care about the class, nor did she care about letting both the prof and everyone sitting behind her know about it. Why did this kid even bother showing up?
I was just there so I'd know what was being covered, but I think I missed half of that class just gawking at how technology was being (mis)used. Even once I'd gotten over the initial shock and started paying attention, my eyes were repeatedly drawn to South Park being played on a huge 17" monitor in the first row.
Hats off to Clay Shirky. I'm normally in favor of treating students like adults (even the childish ones), but laptop use has a big impact on people who aren't using them. If I'm running a lab or tutorial and people are being noisy in the hall, I close the door. I do what I can to give my students a good learning environment. Banning laptops and phones is no different.
- theoh 12y agoFYI it's "flak" not "flack". From, you know, the German.
- Tenhundfeld 12y agoI agree with you, but FYI, many dictionaries are now listing flack as a variant spelling of flak. So, I wouldn't consider the OP technically wrong, despite flak being clearly better.
- theoh 12y agoI'm in Europe and my impression is that the corrupted version ("flack") is not acceptable here. I notice that none of the web dictionaries is claiming that "flack jacket" is an acceptable variant of "flak jacket".
- lstamour 12y agoI think it's also a function of class size and class year, as well as students really understanding the dangers and social mistakes of keeping that laptop lid open. For me, as a mature student, I treat the laptop lid as something I can open before class, or during class to Google subjects related to what's being presented, or see something in more detail and add it to a "For Later" list in Safari. I choose to sit up front so I'm not personally distracted by others watching movies, and I actually close the lid and/or look at the prof to make sure he knows that I'm paying attention. In many ways I feel like this is just missing etiquette training, students not taking things seriously because they're still outgrowing their high school antics. Ultimately, the computer is a tool for learning, just as the classroom auditorium is. I wonder how this discussion would change if the learning was delivered online? Would there instead be directions on how to disable notification bars on your phone, set up auto-replies to texts and chats and recontextualizing computers as the learning tools they can be? Or without the auditorium would these issues go unnoticed?