[Air-l] laptops and Internet access in class

[Steve Jones]

I just finished an interesting book that addresses these questions  
(except for technology related ones, and in fact technology is  
conspicuously absent, which is one of several possible flaws, but  
nevertheless the book provides some interesting insights). It's title  
is "My Freshman Year," and it's by Rebekah Nathan, a pseudonym for an  
anthropologist who spent a year as an undergraduate student doing  
fieldwork. It's a very quick read, and would probably be of interest  
to anyone teaching undergraduates in the U.S. (or teaching U.S.  
undergraduates elsewhere, I suspect).

Sj

On May 19, 2007, at 11:31 PM, Dr. Steve Eskow wrote:

> Dr. Johns,
>
> I can't imagine someone paying for concert tickets and then  
> choosing not to
> attend the concerts.
>
> But students pay their money for our courses, and if we didn't  
> compel them
> to come, they would not.
>
> But we--and they--spend much time communicating with each othe
> voluntarily--online.
>
> What does all this mean, if anything?
>
> Don't they find value in our face-to-face classroom encounters?
>
> Did they feel differently about our classes before the laptop?
>
> Steve Eskow
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Mark D. Johns" <mjohns at luther.edu>
> To: <air-l at listserv.aoir.org>
> Sent: Saturday, May 19, 2007 7:45 PM
> Subject: Re: [Air-l] laptops and Internet access in class
>
>
>> Dr. Steve Eskow wrote:
>>> ...
>>> Do most faculty members here require class attendance?
>>
>> Yes, absolutely. I take attendance and take away points for unexcused
>> absences. But once in awhile I will declare that our class will  
>> have a
>> "silent discussion." Everyone sitting in the classroom is told to log
>> into a Moodle chat session, and I pose a question by typing it  
>> into the
>> chat. It's an interesting dynamic. And sometimes instead of typing  
>> "LOL"
>> they really *DO* laugh out loud.
>>
>> The classroom IS an information environment, just as the chat room  
>> is.
>> Both spaces have different characteristics that can be exploited for
>> learning. It's always fun to talk about the differences between what
>> kind of interaction takes place online and how it differs from F2F.
>> -- 
>> Mark D. Johns, Ph.D.
>> Associate Professor and Head of the
>>  Department of Communication Studies
>> Luther College, Decorah, Iowa USA
>> http://academic.luther.edu/~johnsmar/
>> -----------------------------------------------
>> "Get the facts first. You can distort them later."
>>     ---Mark Twain
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>
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