[Air-l] laptops and Internet access in class

[Suzana Sukovic]

>
>The experience also highlighted how difficult it was to sit BEHIND
>someone who has graphical content on their laptop. I consider myself a
>fairly animated speaker, but I apparently resemble an animated
>character popular with undergrads these days, and it was distracting
>for students to see that animation on screens several rows ahead. That
>is, I have a feeling laptops are far more distracting to others in the
>room then they are to the users.

I've heard students repeatedly saying that they like full f2f engagement 
and technology used for particular purposes, but it may depend on a course. 
There are different levels of engagement while listening and taking notes 
or listening and multitasking, but lecturers can't control that. I agree 
that laptops can affect students who don't use them. Recently, I was 
sitting in a dimly lit room waiting for a public lecture when someone with 
a laptop sat in front of me. A glare of a small screen was quite 
unpleasant, especially that there was a large screen switched on to be 
viewed during the lecture. I had to move to another seat. I imagine that 
interesting things happening on someone's screen can be distracting to 
students.

This is not to say that laptops and mobile phones can't be used 
successfully in the classroom. Sam's example shows a successful use of 
technology integrated in class activities and used by everyone. Has anyone 
tried to use mobile phones in the classroom? A couple of years ago mobile 
phones were successfully used at UTS to boost popularity of some very 
unpopular but compulsory 1st year finance courses. Students were asked to 
send answers to questions, which were diligently reviewed during a break 
and presented to the class. It turned to be a really good way to engage the 
students.
Suzana

Suzana Sukovic
_________________________________________
Information & Knowledge Management
Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences
University of Technology, Sydney

PO Box 123
Broadway NSW 2007, Australia