Today I ran a writing workshop in a Great Works literature class, and I was surprised to find the class is held in a computer lab.
photo credit: ·júbilo·haku·
Don’t get me wrong: I heart the web. My students and I blog together and exchange links, and I’ve been a longtime Blackboard defender. But computers in my actual classroom? I’m not so sure.
For the first five to ten minutes of the class, as I introduced myself and gave an overview of our objectives for the day, I was interrupted by thirty deafening renditions of the little tonal song Microsoft has chosen to indicate “Windows is starting up!!” Then, when I put the students into groups, the long, u-shaped computer tables forced them to sit in awkward rows, and I found it difficult to rove from group to group to answer questions. By the end of the workshop, I could see that some students were dividing their attention between me and the screens in front of them.
Rather than simply conclude that computers don’t work in a discussion-based classroom, I’m seeking some suggestions for how to make them work. How could we use computers to keep students focused on content, rather than making content compete with the computers?
Perhaps if the room’s big enough, one could speak from the side or the back, so that the screen’s not between teacher and students. Or tell students not to log in — as has been noted, it’s audible when they do. But I’m pretty sure that I remember my Mom or Dad turning off the TV when it was time for some important discussion when I was a kid, and I think the same dynamic is in play in this case. Sometimes simple conclusions happen to be the right ones: “computers don’t work in a discussion-based classroom.”
Here’s one discussion of a possible use of computers in the classroom, offered by Cole Camplese (who just commented on my post below). He uses Twitter to create a back channel for students who might be more reticent to speak up to contribute to and shape the discussion. Not easy to do, I admit.
When I teach, and students have their laptops open, I often look for opportunities to employ and integrate their connectedness into the discussion. Google jockeying, for instance, is quite effective. I’ve never tried this in a computer lab, but the opportunities for back channel research and sharing are intriguing.
I agree with Ryan, too… sometimes, as in when you’re doing design work, you just have to shut off the machine and focus on what’s in front of you. It always helps of the topic and the discussion are too interesting and relevant to allow for distraction…
Luke,
I think the “Google jockeying” term is brilliant! I did go to the site you posted for the explanation. I love getting my students search for terms or historical dates or names when I teach, especially if I catch them peaking at their iphones during a discussion. However, on the Educause site you linked, the idea is that the jockey’s finds will be “displayed simultaneously” with a given presentation that happens to be unfolding in the class. Now, how would you do that? Display the info on the main screen the presenter might be using?
Thanks guys for sharing your thoughts. I had the exact same feeling, Talia, while I was running a workshop last Thu. Somehow the smart classroom wasn’t very discussion-friendly. I might try some of the tips you all gave us next time.
Wow!
My situation at Baruch College is that I am *continuously* disappointed at the lack of ethics at every possible turn. I think ethics can include common courtesy, but after spending some years here, I sometimes dont’ know anymore. I took Great Works last semester, and we were relocated to a VC computer lab by a professor who did not want to meet in the 23rd Street building. From what I’d seen, the % of students paying attention at most at any time? 25%.
I had to turn off my computer simply because I would otherwise find myself drifting into a robotic mode where I was starting at the front of the room and somehow I was logged into gmail. And when you check your gmail, you’re automatically chattable! Oy! Some days I came in late and I had to walk by the computers, they were logged in to a gamut of sites… Facebook, Youtube, email, and so on.
I regularly see students in the front row of a class texting on cellphones that they hide behind a notebook or pocketbook. The front row? Really? I’m a student who came back to school after many years in the work force, so I guess I just can’t identify with what I think makes someone do that kind of thing.
I do not however think this is a specifically compulsive behavior, but rather I think it is related to the concept that otherwise honest people will do dishonest things if they do not believe they will be caught. We can replace honest/dishonest with rude, disrespectful or whatever word one chooses. I see other classes where the Professor discusses the activity and organizes the seats accordingly, and the class pays 100% attention. (give or take.)
It shocks me because I notice these things in the classes that are far too engaging to in any way justify any type of modern-day techno-day-dreaming. My observations are obviously only anecdotal, but it peeves me from time to time. If you took the time to read my rant, thanks.