Overcoming the laptop wall
Summary: Yesterday, I asked for input on university IT issues and received several emails, Tweets, and talkbacks. The first email in my inbox was about the laptop wall with which so many lecturers are confronted at universities.
Yesterday, I asked for input on university IT issues and received several emails, Tweets, and talkbacks. The first email in my inbox was about the laptop wall with which so many lecturers are confronted at universities. Since this brings up a whole host of issues, I'd actually like to start a series on it. For now, my take, with a few thoughts from my emailer for good measure.
I'm actually at a meeting today of the X2 Advisory Council. This is a group of users and administrators that our SIS vendor brings together to help establish priorities, consider the product roadmap, and provide additional feedback. Guess what I'm bringing to the meeting? A laptop. So is everyone else. In fact, here I am, sitting around a conference table, eating the free breakfast, and typing a blog about laptop walls.
At least I'm not on Facebook like most college kids in a lecture. I'm also checking email from the office and working on high school scheduling as I attend this meeting, so I'm being productive, but at times I'm not fully engaged. I'm disciplined enough to close up my laptop when it's time to focus. So are all of the other professionals here. Such is not the case for the average college student.
As my emailer pointed out,
... too many of them are using them for social purposes, working on other 'homework' or distraction. I'd be tempted to let them pay no attention and take their own chances, but these behaviors are disrespectful and more importantly distracting to those who can also see their screens.
She's right: unlike in a K-12 setting where software is commonly used to limit non-class-related work, college students are (appropriately) far more latitude. Again, she notes,
...the occasional student is using their laptop to take notes or other activity related to class (I've had a few that do google or find out answers to questions raised in class or offer enriching information).
The key word, of course, is occasional. So do you just ban them? I don't think so. Although my emailer suggested that students need to improve their handwriting anyway, I'm inclined to disagree on that point. Students (whether primary, secondary, or post-secondary) need to be able to quickly take notes on a computer, grab relevant information from the web, and be able to use those notes later.
Killing WiFi would help with the social/distraction piece, but plenty of student would just get a mobile broadband card and wouldn't be able to link to relevant information either.
The alternative is finding a way in lectures to make the laptops tools of engagement. Using them as interactive response tools or projecting a discussion or Twitter feed from the class can at least put the laptops to use and distract from Facebook. Content filtering (perhaps in effect during class hours) could also be effective, but obviously puts a damper on students (unfairly?) who aren't in class.
What's the solution here? Has anyone encountered anything that has worked well? Students, weigh in here, too: what's fair? Obviously lectures should be times when students are listening to and, potentially, interacting with their instructors. What is the best way to facilitate this in the context of the laptop wall?
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Talkback
Seems fairly simple
Construct the firewall and proxy services of the university properly so that the wireless network that students can connect to is tightly limited on what websites they can access, or potentially only the intranet. Only allow full inet access to hard wired connections.
OR disallow all inet access to laptops, I don't think people are really that willing to pay fairly high costs to use mobile broadband, it's not very cheap.
Depending on the campus you could...
Neither of those solutions will work.
Phone is way too slow on todays Flash heavy web and ...
3G not needed sometimes
Cell phones are an entirely different matter for a different column and rant.
How about letting them fail or just ignore them.
You are in college, you are an adult, they are not your babysitter.
How about personal responsibility. I know its a tough topic in this increasingly socialistic thinking society, but sometimes, you have to let people fail on their own. Most will learn from the mistake and grow up.
If you try to control everything around you, you will end up being controlled.
A pipe dream...
I disagree on the rudeness
in? Is it a service industry? I worked sales
for a couple years in high school and I've done
consulting work when I was an undergraduate AND
I've taught university courses (like, taught-
taught, not TA-tuaght). The way I see it, the
students are paying to be there, the professors
are employed to teach. The consumer has the
right to do what they will (within legal
restrictiions) with the product they buy. When
I was a consultant, if my client took forever
deciding what they wanted to do, just chatted
with me, whatever, I didn't care. Were they
"wasting my time"? Maybe, but they were paying
me. They bought my time at a rate equal to me
doing work. If they waste it, I'm still
getting compensated. Professors (college level
and above only) are hired by the students. The
students are the consumers, they have the right
to do what they want with the lecture. As long
as they don't impede other student's abilities
to learn and digest the information by talking
or bringing babies to class the professor has
no right to complain about it being rude
behavior. They're not the consumer, the
student is.
I once had a very brilliant professor make two
very stupid remarks. The first was that life
just got busier outside of school (last I
checked, none of my jobs [other than teaching]
have had "homework" or "tests" that I needed to
worry about once I got home). The other was
that students are the worst consumers because
they want the least for their money (they don't
want to have classes, homework or tests but
they're paying to learn). The problem with
that idea is that the more proliferated
"higher" education becomes the less it is about
education and the more it becomes about just
having a degree.
Maybe the real problem is that they way we
educate people is becoming outdated as we have
more and more raw information available at our
fingertips. Literally.
Your professor was right
I agree.
They're not in high school any more, time to grow up.
Time To Grow-Up
Well Said
Also, respect their time.
So, yes, let them fail. But also make sure you are using their time wisely if they show up. I'm not sure if this is common practice now, but I think they should post their slides prior to class so students can print them out and take notes right on the hard copy.
Slide posting
RE: Overcoming the laptop wall
I think the solution is the exams.
Guess what, those people generally failed, or at best took summer school. If the tests are not "dumbed down" (bell curve getting easier and easier), well, they learn a life lesson. I ran across this issue at my old alma matter. One year, 2/3 first year university students failed Physics I in Engineering (aside, that was one tough "weeder" course). There was a hue and cry from parents to "bell curve" the results and make 2/3's pass.
The University refused, on the grounds that "If we dumb down to match students inabiltiies, 100% of our graduates become marginalized). When the students who worked and passed and common sense took over from the "we can't let them fail" crowd, the issue quickly died.
Leave the exams the same, hard, let students do what some have always done, slack off and fail, learning (sometimes) their first real hard life lesson, if you want something, work for it, if you don't work for it, you fail.
TripleII
P.S. the method of slacking off may have gone high tech and maybe easier/more enjoyable, but it's been happening since post secondary education started.
Oh boy
I agree
Give the kids the freedom to choose- slacking off or good grades. And use frequent tests to drive the message home.
This is a non-issue
RE: Overcoming the laptop wall