in the classroom.....

[netwoman]

some things we've been talking about:

The use of notebooks/laptops in the classroom here's an article:

http://www.itu.dk/people/barkhuus/barkhuus_classroom.pdf

Question at the table was asked: Should we allow students to be online while they are in the classroom?

Tracy: I allow my students to bring their laptops and I don't have a problem with my students being online and potentially doing other things such as msn, playing games etc. I don't want to police their behaviour in that respect; if they dont want to pay attn to me, that's fine.
But there's others who are - what are they doing?

Following what’s going on in the classroom, but adding to it;
Supplementing the lecture;
Back channeling both for clarification but also for social that’s not content related
-WebShop people talked about this at AoIR last year - i will find the paper in a minute

what about Highschool vs university
-less attention by younger students? can they be 'trusted' to stay focused?
Sometimes you learn more by not staying focused; different kinds of learning - between students etc

Bryan notes - there’s a continuum –
Following what’s going on, but adding to it;
Supplementing the lecture;
Back channeling both for clarification but also for social that’s not content related

Wojciech - go to txtip.info
-study on the use of this technology in the classroom
-grades went down – but not statistically significant
-you can get lost while you are surfing and looking….

Should we use filtering technology or something to help keep students focused?
Tracy notes - could be problems with the type of things that are filtered – ie sex and health education

-increase in the digital divide act
-it’s not about access as much, it’s about literacy too, we know this

Schools and learning –
How can this be useful?
You need to teach people how it can be useful; it’s a social process
-ie: Bryan talks about effective organizing of say bookmarks etc – how to use the internet well to suit your own needs…

more soon....

[Joanna Robinson]

Being online in class....yes definetely a tough one.
My first instinct says "Yes of course", for many of the reasons you have been discussing, discussing silently with other students in the class, and for searching relevant or related information on the web to enhance their lecture experience.

However, there is certainly going to be some level of 'abuse' of this by students who wish to get their 'brownie points' (or in some institutions attendance marks) for being in class, but then shut off completely from lecture content.

As the number of laptops increase in the classrooms and hallways of my school (you even seen people sitting in the halls on the floor with them!), I wonder how/if the school is going to deal with this.

Perhaps one way is to have a 'no-laptops' part of class, every week. A discussion period that is verbal only...or for classes that do have seminars, try to encourage a lids down policy, unless wanting to make notes or search concepts, so that verbal discussion is still the primary?

I don't think we can tackle this in too many other ways until every student has a laptop in class, so that it can be better integrated with the course work and class in general. But with the situation I am currently seeing, which is 1-5ish laptops per class, it's difficult to integrate online activities without booking a computer lab for the day's class (but this is a good idea to do!)

Looking forward to reading more of the discussion!

[mstern]

Great discussion, thanks for the highlights!

I recently gave a talk on community to a class at a law school where every student had a laptop. After teaching only undergrads it was a little strange. I think they were taking notes but I do not know.

Now, I teach stats and there is a fear (for me and among my colleagues) that if it is taught in the lab (where the software is) that the students will simply write emails or play on the web the whole time instead of listening to the lecture. This may be true, but the reality is that most of what these students are going to be asked to do in the future (assuming they use their new statistical accuity) will be computer driven, not worked out with a notepad and calculator.

In addition, I agree that the "new digital divide" is proficiency not access and classrooms are a good place to gain those skills.

Mike Stern

[netwoman]

good points - i've just noted your points at the roundtable here....

I can see that in the classroom, pedagogical changes are needed/necessary. We need to learn how to 'effectively' incorporate computing/internet into the classroom - whatever that means; for information, for social interaction etc etc but also creative ways of using technology

table discussion - are there studies on whether laptops are truly 'benficial' to students and students learning?
but again, we're left wondering how do we measure this? sure, we can look at grades - higher lower etc - but i think there's more going on; enhancing tech skills, working with computers period to gain experience - skills & literacy

[netwoman]

Power - i think that 'letting' or 'allowing' students to use their laptops in the classroom can be empowering. can they guide or shape their own learning process ?
subversive? if you're boring as a teacher/prof - students can take control of the material and search - or ya, they can go and play games...resisting and challenging..

Controlling technology in the classroom - should we? how do we do it?
-students not being about to bring cell phones etc to the school
This really defeats the whole purpose of why I bought my son a cell phone for example...tyler notes that the teacher can see everyone's screen contents, can shut them down at anytime - and there's stuff you cant get to from his class.

We talked about privacy issues – who can see your screen; negotiating public/private etc.

Also, what about proxies? anything/everything private is public....

still talking......

[mstern]

Cell phones in the classroom and at school are very different issues, I think. I think there is no problem with students having phones at school, however, I do believe that when one enters the classroom that the phone needs to be turned off. I have colleagues who do not care whether students in big lecture rooms are on the cell phone or not. I do.

Call me a cycnic but when I see a student on their cell I rarely consider whether or not they are asking someone for anything concerning class.

Thus, I draw a distinction between in-class computing (or the potential for it) and solely the need to be available through a cell phone (emergencies notwithstanding).

[netwoman]

http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=06/05/12/1850217

"BusinessWeek looks at the flaws in the bill proposed by the House of Representatives that would block access to social networks and Internet chat rooms in most federally funded schools and libraries. One big problem with their bill is it is much too vague, it 'could rule out content from any number of Internet companies, including Yahoo! and Google.' What's more, DOPA would prohibit sites that enable users to create their own content and share it. That covers a wide swath of the online world, known colloquially as Web 2.0, where users actively create everything from blogs to videos to news-page collections."

http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/may2006/tc20060512_299340.htm

[netwoman]

yes, i agree - the cell phone is another issue - not totally related to computing in the classroom - but we noted it within the context of controlling technology and controlling children and youth - instead of teaching them social etiquette etc....and also teacher perceptions of technology