Instructional Technology in Higher Education

Comment

Comment by Brian Burns on February 1, 2012 at 4:59pm

What about students who are using technology to go deeper, or look up term and concepts that aren't making sense to them at that time?  I recently sat in a lecture on the hostory and building of the great cathedral at Chartres.  Very interesting, but as the lecturer was discussing some of the finer points of the architecture, I was able to use my iPad to find out what a "flying buttress" was.  I found a very simple definition here and was able to understand the discussion at a higher level.  Now those checking out Facebook or ESPN.com aren't helping themselves, but chances are they don't help themselves outside of the classroom either.  Let's enable those who care and thirst for more knowledge, thus assisting the higher end students, and stop disabling those who don't care, which amounts to an aim toward mediocrity.

Comment by Michael D Kanner on May 14, 2010 at 12:39pm

The real kicker for me on adopting a policy of no technology was finding out that is the policy for GOOGLe as well as for EMI. Even though people are paid to go to those meetings, they found that they pay less attention when they have all the tech.

A friend in State Dept. has said that many of their offices have the same policy -- no tech in meetings.

Comment by Phil Ray Jack on May 14, 2010 at 10:22am

Whenever my daughters would tell me that they were bored, I would tell them that was their choice. The world was not created to keep them entertained. The world is not boring unless we choose to not be interested.

Having said that, as an instructor, I do realize part of my challenge is to help my students understand why they should be interested in what I am doing in the classroom, and I employ a variety of techniques to accomplish this. One of my techniques is to point out the difference between being engaged and being entertained. If they want to be educated, they need to pay attention and think. If they want to be entertained, they should go to a movie.

I'm sure we can all remember daydreaming or being distracted in class. Sometimes it was because I was stressed about money, other times it was because the sun was shining and I wanted to be outside. I'm not sure how to compete with that.

Putting a computer in front of a student and then expecting them to pay attention is a little like putting a bowl of ice cream next to a salad and expecting a child to eat healthy.

Comment by Dawn Wilson on May 14, 2010 at 9:24am

I agree with Arlene as well. I find that the problem is that we are enabling students to not pay attention. We post notes and PPT presentations and then want them to come and sit and listen. How boring...I would check out any way I can as well. Why pay attention when I can study the notes later.

Faculty need to make the students responsible for the learning in the class. Spend the time in class asking students to process the content they read to prepare for class. If it is required that they participate then maybe they will not be on the computer. I teach classes both in and out of the lab. Occasionally during down times I may catch an occasional student on facebook, but as soon as I change the activity and require their participation they hop off.

I think that the problem is our teaching - not their use of computers to multitask. They are really cueing us - they are bored. Engage me please!

Comment by John Tenny, Ph.D. on May 14, 2010 at 9:17am

I wonder if there was a similar discussion when pencils were first introduced. This sounds like an idea for a research project - is there a range of off task time across various classes, subjects, and teaching styles? What changes results in less off task time? Does the off task time result in non-learning?

Comment by Michael D Kanner on May 14, 2010 at 8:43am

I would agree on the necessity of being engaged. However, the problem is that technology has made the bells and whistles more intriguing. Pop-ups, notices that you have e-mail, an IM request makes it too easy to lose track. Since I already have a policy about no phone calls or texting, see this as a natural extension.

Yes, distractions occur, but computers have just too many that are too engaging.

Comment by Jeana Rogers on May 14, 2010 at 8:08am

Arlene, you're exactly right and I really like your idea of setting student expectations for learning early in the class. Student centered and collaborative learning is the model that students these days relate to. They navigate toward social learning mediums and often learn as much or more from their peers than anyone else. Yes, we do live in interesting times!

Jeana

Comment by Arlene J. Lowenstein PhD, RN on May 14, 2010 at 7:58am

Jeana, as i hope you can see from my previous post, I definitely agree with you. We cannot control student distraction unless our lectures engage them. As instructors we do need to avoid controlling and give the responsibility back to the student. That is not easy to carry out, but I strongly believe that the learning is more effective that way.

ARlene

Comment by Jeana Rogers on May 14, 2010 at 7:52am

On the one had I know that some students use technology in the classroom to multitask and probably don't comprehend as much of the material as they could if they stayed focused on the instruction for the entire hour. On the other hand, I used to multitask and get distracted when I was in grade school all the time and I didn't need technology to do it. Day dreaming, doodling, passing notes in class. I think we have to put some of the ownership of this on the student and teacher and not blame the technology. If the instructor is engaging then no matter what I have available to me as a distraction I will pay attention to what's going on at the front of the room. Thoughts, comments, opinions?

Comment by Michael D Kanner on May 14, 2010 at 7:41am

Thank you all for the input.

My own experience is that there has been only one class in which student access to computer has been a plus and that was a honors seminar.

Based on all this, I am going to see what the effect and reaction to not allowing technology in class (with exception of iClickers).

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