The New York Times: I’ve taught the same course to a class of undergraduate, M.B.A., medical and nursing students every year for over a decade. While I didn’t change my lectures or teaching style, somehow the students’ evaluations of last year’s class were better than ever before:
“This course taught me more than any course I’ve ever learned at Penn. …”
“The best course I have ever taken.”
“Amazing class!!”
7 comments:
This is an article that did not surprise me in the slightest. I have seen or heard about many professors / teachers who have been the use of electronics in the classroom, or have only banned the use of phones. It is a concept that I somewhat agree with. I personally struggle with handwritten notes, and find that being able to type my notes allows me to focus better on what the instructor is saying without worrying about weather or not I will have enough time to write down what was said or shown during a class or lecture. I do not have the best handwriting and I quite slow at it, so typing is simply a easier choice for me that allows me to keep up in class. Though I do agree with the points about information retention. I do find that I remember things better if I hand write them, but the counter argument for this is the fact that you can quickly search a typed document for specific words or phrases. Which makes going through typed notes even easier than deciphering hand written notes that may be paraphrasing what was said during a lecture.
In times where our every task relies on technology, I can understand why it is important to step away from these distractions in a learning setting. However, I do not think that the removal of phones from a classroom should be the only step taken to make a class more engaging. Struggle to focus in class has been an increasing issue for a while now, and when the societal consensus is that it must be the phones that are distracting, teachers and administrators often overlook the needs of their students in order to engage in the class. I appreciate the growing interest in education that caters to different learning styles or needs, and I believe that it is the implementation of tasks that best work with different methods of learning that can truly make the information in a class stick. While I appreciate that distraction, as caused by cell phones or talking, can be one of the struggles in a classroom, I believe this is a chance to continue asking what makes it difficult for students to speak up and engage in the classroom.
I think that banning phones in school settings can be a good thing for sure. phones can be such a distraction. It reminds me of an ongoing discussion at my cousin's high school about banning phones during the day. Most people think that the phone ban is a bad idea, but she is very much in support of it. She is already pretty detached from social media and those kinds of things, and doesn't like to spend a lot of time on her phone. In fact she recently started using a flip phone some of the time when possible so that she doesn't have the distractions of a smartphone, which I think is a really great idea. All that to say she finds it difficult sometimes to engage with her peers because they are too distracted by their phones. Personally, I often forget to check my phone, and will ignore it if I'm doing something else, but find it distracting if I'm trying to do something I don't want to, or have empty time.
I have been in a few classes, and am currently in one this semester, in which technology is not allowed without explicit permission for an activity. I have also been in many in which teachers do not care what you are doing. I find myself having pros and cons with both. On one hand, you are forced to engage more with class when you have no other choice but to be present and I can understand why students felt as though they learned more. On the other hand, I enjoy the ease that technology allows when it comes to finding answers and sifting through notes because sometimes I would love to be able to fact check myself before speaking about something allowed in class. I also think though that people who want to pay attention in class will, and those who do not will not, regardless of technology practices within the classroom.
When I was in high school, a lot of my teachers adopted a similar policy. While we could have the devices on us, they were generally expected to be put away and be silenced during class. Overall, I think it was a good thing, as I found eliminating the phone as a distraction was very effective. I also had several teachers that made me take notes by hand, and that was even more helpful as I wouldn’t be able to see a text notification pop up on my MacBook Air. While I certainly don’t think this is a one size fits all situation, I think it’s particularly helpful in the humanities classes, when there is no reason to have a computer at all. For other classes, such as physics, neuroscience, or other advanced scientific courses, computational devices are often needed, but even then at least the phones can be kept out of the classroom.
What excites me most about this article is not necessarily the positive impact it had on these students or the increased learning it produced (even though this is a great feat to celebrate), but instead that it reflects a data-driven, psychologically mindful approach to education and simple rules to exist in classrooms to better support students and set them up for success. As someone who has grown up through the digital age, I’ve been able to slowly watch how these processes have changed and how divided our attention gets. Especially at Harvard, when pre-professtional extracurricular activities take high priority, it is easy to see many students use their computers as both their note taking device, but also how they remain productive during class on other assignments or to-dos. While it is also important to provide accessibility measures for those who need it, requiring students to not just devices and instead process the information they’re taught is commendable and something I hope to better incorporate into my own education.
I have mixed thoughts about the no devices in classes thing. I mostly think it is a good idea especially when it comes to preventing distractions. I know for myself as soon as my phone or laptop is in front of me I am going to start multitasking. The thing this article touched on that I also agree with is using things like ipads for note taking. I think this should be allowed. It still provides the benefit of writing by hand which I agree with but allows the benefits of doing this digital. Things like being able to send notes, add lecture slides, write on lecture slides, etc. And it is much more difficult to multitask on an IPad and it is much more obvious. I think banning laptops and phones is good practice but in this day and age it is hard to enforce. I think we are responsible for learning the consequences of using and caring about our education enough to make the changes ourselves.
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