https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2016/05/13/allowing-devices-classroom-hurts-academic-performance-study-finds
I found this article and found it interesting. It explains how a West Point study found that slowing technology in the classroom is detrimental to a student’s learning ability. The reasons why are unclear, according to the study, but they feel it can either be that students are distracted, or typing notes isn’t as effective as writing them down.
I feel that a combo of both are true. Having a laptop in class presents the opportunity to go on Facebook and other sites (not with Brooklyn college wifi but in other colleges this remains true). However, I do feel whenever I type out my notes I don’t remember them as well as when I write them in a notebook. So I want to ask you guys, which do you think is the cause of the adverse effects of having technology in the classeoom?
Ian, your post is very interesting to me, because the college that I chose to create for our final project was actually an institution that highly promotes the integration of technology in the classroom. From personal experience, I can attest to the idea that technology can improve academic performance. However, it obviously depending on the individual. I feel that students who are generally more comfortable with technology would perform better while using technology as opposed to the typical note-taking learning style. Personally, I am more comfortable writing notes on a computer than I am in a notebook. When I used to write notes by hand, it took me so long to copy from a professor’s slide, that I couldn’t really focus on what they were saying to add any important details that aren’t present in the slide. Hasn’t that happened to the most of us? That a teacher speaks so quickly that they skip to the next slide even if you weren’t finished writing the details in your notes? I type notes more quickly on my laptop than if I were to hand write notes in my notebook. Therefore with my laptop, I can copy from a professor’s slide rather quickly and then listen to what the professor is saying to add any of my own notes. As far as distractions are concerned, I feel like it’s simply the students responsibility to refrain from getting sidetracked. I feel like a student having the opportunity to “go on Facebook because they’re on their laptop” is kind of the same as a student having the opportunity to “use their phone because it’s on their desk.” It’s the student’s responsibility to keep focused and not let these opportunities get the best of them.
Ian, your post is very interesting to me, because the college that I chose to create for our final project was actually an institution that highly promotes the integration of technology in the classroom. From personal experience, I can attest to the idea that technology can improve academic performance. However, it obviously depending on the individual. I feel that students who are generally more comfortable with technology would perform better while using technology as opposed to the typical note-taking learning style. Personally, I am more comfortable writing notes on a computer than I am in a notebook. When I used to write notes by hand, it took me so long to copy from a professor’s slide, that I couldn’t really focus on what they were saying to add any important details that aren’t present in the slide. Hasn’t that happened to the most of us? That a teacher speaks so quickly that they skip to the next slide even if you weren’t finished writing the details in your notes? I type notes more quickly on my laptop than if I were to hand write notes in my notebook. Therefore with my laptop, I can copy from a professor’s slide rather quickly and then listen to what the professor is saying to add any of my own notes. As far as distractions are concerned, I feel like it’s simply the students responsibility to refrain from getting sidetracked. I feel like a student having the opportunity to “go on Facebook because they’re on their laptop” is kind of the same as a student having the opportunity to “use their phone because it’s on their desk.” It’s the student’s responsibility to keep focused and not let these opportunities get the best of them.