Posts
Technology in the Classroom
While the use of personal technology like smart phones, MP3 players, and tablets has led to an increased comfort level with technology in all parts of modern American society, the ubiquity of this technology also poses challenges. Today, it is not uncommon to see couples having dinner in a nice restaurant, but spending most of the time looking at their phone instead of talking to each other. Many shoppers wander up and down aisles talking to someone who isn’t actually present and discussing what would normally be considered private topics like the details of their most recent surgery or current gossip about friends. Some churches resort to blocking cell phone signals during the service to prevent pop songs and beeps from phones that have not been turned off. In the business world, employees will often interrupt a conversation with a customer to read a text message on their phone, and managers struggle trying to have a productive group meeting when most of the participants are reading Facebook updates on their tablets instead of paying attention to the discussion at hand.
This attitude that a user can use personal tech whenever they want to without regard for the situation or people around them extends into the educational environment as well. In a K-12 environment, many schools ban electronic devices completely, if not effectively. In a college environment, policies that forbid the use of personal technology (including phones, computers, tablets, and any other device that a student can bring with them to a classroom) are widespread, but rarely followed. It can be difficult for a professor who is trying to present information to a large group of students when it is obvious that most of the students are paying no attention at all to the lecture. Thirty years ago, it was not uncommon for students to sleep through lectures or to doodle instead of paying attention, but those activities rarely affected the students sitting near them. Today, though, if a student chooses to watch a YouTube video during class or play a Facebook game, other students behind and next to him may get engrossed in watching the activity as well. The leakage of music from the headphones of an MP3 player or the buzzing of a device notifying the user of an incoming message lead to further distractions for those students who really do want to pay attention and participate in the classroom discussion. Bugeja (2007) from my bibliography gives specific steps that some professors take to reduce access to technology during class, with the implication that this control has improved the students' ability to do well in the classes. However, I believe that for today's college students, a complete ban on personal tech in the classroom is impractical for most classes.
This problem has two potential solutions, but neither is exclusive of the other.
One solution: Embrace the use of personal technology in the classroom. Encourage students to use their device to record lectures or to share the material being discussed in class. Develop activities that require the use of technology during class time, like scavenger hunts, online discussion boards, etc.
Another solution: Have students understand the appropriate use of personal technology in various public places (stores, class, meetings, restaurants).
In my own classroom, I am likely to use both of these solutions. However, for the sake of creating an assignment for the class, I am opting to focus on the etiquette of personal technology. I believe it is useful for students (and the general populace) to know that there is a time and a place for everything, including the use of personal technology. While guidelines for using personal tech in public locations are changing with the technology itself, the overall concept of being aware of how personal tech affects how we interact with people around us and physically present is an important one. I believe that students should at least be aware of how their use of technology affects others in the classroom.
My assignment document is posted at WeissK_AnnotatedBib
