[Air-l] laptops and Internet access in class

[T. Kennedy]

I would hate to ban any type of 'media' or ICTs in the classroom for various
reasons.
-students have different ways of learning and absorbing classroom material;
should we continue to focus on traditional didactic modes of learning? Or
should we venture forward and incorporate new media into the classroom,
allowing for and encouraging constructive & creative interactions between
students, and between students and instructors?
-there's an assumption here that all students will IM, email, game/not pay
attention if they have their ICTs with them- not all students will
multi-task
-there's an assumption that students cannot effectively multitask
-if students don't want to listen or participate in the lecture, that is
their choice - and the repercussions will be clear when they submit
assignments and write exams 
-we have to be careful not to generalize research findings to all students.
Some students can multi-task very well -they can & will pay attention.
-we also have to remember context and situation - I would think that in some
classes you will have people who don't pay attention or their attention
wanders no matter what because of the course material itself - for example
required courses like theory and methods often turn students into
glassy-eyed zombies or perhaps the faculty member isn't engaging or just bad
at lecturing.
-if I didn't have interesting visuals and audios in class to show apply
concepts I would be bored and would be less likely to retain the material.
In my own classes I've taught I encourage students to bring laptops - I post
URLs to look at together (it's also on the big screen for those who don't
have laptops), we use laptops for in class exercises and so forth. I also
tell my students that I'm aware that people are emailing and IMing while I'm
lecturing - and that I still expect participation from them in lecture
-if I couldn't take notes on my laptop, I would be losing valuable time in
having to retype them later
In short, why fall back on archaic teaching styles when it's clear that
today's students need much more from us as faculty? In fact, they expect us
to be savvy and ahead of the game!

>From some research that a group of grad students from Webshop 2003 conducted
(myself included) revealed some points of interest (small n=not
generalizable but interesting to us anyway):

-Overall, 75% of chat entries focused on scholarly issues:
-Chat about presentations
"ID1: possible example of what he's [the speaker] describing: when Sculley
replaced Jobs at Apple." 
-Chat about related research
"ID2: Is anyone familiar with Karl Weick's theory of organizing and sense
making? What he is going through right now sounds very familiar, but I don't
know Weick enough to ascertain. Anyone?"
-General methodological
"ID3: the link has a good explanation of why GDP is a tough indicator in
particular cases (such as gross comparisons between states)." 
-Chatter's own research
"ID4: i did some research inside razorfish and like firms--never publishes
b/c they all collapsed when we were in the midddle of it."

-users perceived the impact of the chat room on social cohesion as somewhat
or extremely positive; Chat room users reported a slightly higher opinion of
overall WebShop experience
-On occasion, the chat room transcended the physical space of the classroom;
Example - WebShoppers involved in chat room discussion even when they
weren't physically present in the classroom (people were ill and in their
dorm)
-For this particular group of students, we found some evidence that wi-fi
access in general, and chat participation in particular, was a positive
addition to their classroom experience.

I really hope that people reconsider banning ICTs in the classroom. 
Tracy 

-----Original Message-----
From: air-l-bounces at listserv.aoir.org
[mailto:air-l-bounces at listserv.aoir.org] On Behalf Of Bonnie Nardi
Sent: May 21, 2007 10:40 AM
To: air-l at listserv.aoir.org
Subject: Re: [Air-l] laptops and Internet access in class

I have not done any research on laptops in classrooms but I have had 
two undergraduate student groups study this topic.

They have found that students lose track of what is being said in 
lecture when they get involved in interactions with friends on IM or 
they play games or do homework for other classes. These are not 
activities that lend themselves to keeping an ear open for the 
important bits of the lecture.

The students also reported that 50% of the students said they would not 
bring a laptop to class if there were no wireless access. This wireless 
access is for games, etc. not looking up what the professor is talking 
about.

An important issue I have not heard mentioned is that the presence of 
other activities in the classroom --  activities that require attention 
and separate the student from the classroom -- changes the culture of 
the classroom as a whole. Students are not engaged with each other in 
the same way. They are no longer a "body" of students but individuals 
selecting their own activities, virtually leaving the classroom. It's a 
subtle but pervasive effect.

Students who need help with English can make a special arrangement to 
text a friend or they can bring unobtrusive dictionary devices (one of 
my students has one).

See also Gay and Hembrooke's Activity-Centered Design. There's a good 
chapter on wireless in the classroom there.

--

Bonnie

On May 18, 2007, at 6:49 PM, Matthew Bernius wrote:

> I come at this issue from both side: as a PhD student (at Cornell) and 
> as
> professor teaching undergraduate classes (at RIT, btw, so I'm pretty
> familiar with the scenario Alex laid out).
>
> Next year I will be banning cell phone, ipods, etc. in my undergraduate
> classes. Laptops will be allowed for specific assignments, but 
> otherwise not
> to be used as well (especially in Freshman classes). This ban extends 
> to
> myself as well (unless unavoidable, I'm going to rely on lecturing and 
> white
> boards -- no more ppt). As Alex suggested, my biggest issue with 
> laptops is
> the distraction that they cause to other students. Geyond that (and 
> outside
> of lab activities), I am increasingly coming to the belief that they 
> present
> a barrier to students developing certain skills that will, down the 
> road,
> better allow those students to use those same devices. And, at least 
> for a
> school like RIT, that prides itself on preparing it's students for the
> workplace, basic technology etiquette needs to be stressed. The sad 
> fact is
> that a lot of the technology behavior I've seen isn't appropriate for 
> the
> workplace.
>
> As far as upper level undergrads, depending on the class makeup, I may 
> allow
> it. But right now I'm more concerned about raising physical engagement
> rather than passively encouraging virtual engagement.
>
> Now for the possible hypocrisy -- I fully intend to use a laptop to 
> take
> notes when I attend class. That said, if a prof doesn't allow it, I 
> won't
> mind. And I'm confident that I'm at a point where I can use the laptop
> responsibly.
>
> - Matt
>