In Defense Of Laptops In The Classroom
Is technology a distraction to students or are we, the students, bringing upon ourselves to get distracted through technology, specifically laptops? Why do people want to demand updated technology in the first place? It is simply because technology is dynamic in which provide numerous information to us to enhance our knowledge and help us accomplish various tasks. As technology is improving, using technology is irresistible to students’ later lives due to our society and technology combing together. The innovative technology is merely a neutral tool that we, students, can choose to use anyway we wish. In the article In Defense of Laptops in the Classroom, Rebecca Schuman states that banning laptops would not teach 13th-graders, college students,
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how to pay attention. College Students are adult, college infantilizing them will not teach them how to be adult. In fact, they should learn through consequences of using laptops during the class. In contemporary, where technology is most essential, banning laptops in the classroom to students is like “standing very sternly on the beach, wagging your umbrella at an encroaching tidal wave.” (Schuman, 2014) It is irresistible for banned laptop policy students not to cooperate with Internet and when those get jobs, they will be consistently interacting with laptops to complete their tasks. As technology advances, it influences our society in various outcomes. In Clay Shirky’s article, at first, she had a laissez-faire attitude toward using technology due to subject material of her class. However, as years go by, she saw the difference in class that seemed to be more related to the “rising ubiquity and utility of the devices themselves.” (Shirky, 2014) Currently, social media severely arouses distraction to students that the alerts and pop-ups are impossible to resist. Thus, students now multitask, believing it will be more productive and efficient. A study form Stanford found that heavy multi-taskers often wander aimlessly. (Shirky, 2014) Not only it degrades the “quality of cognitive work” by over-consuming too much information but also it affects peers nearby. (Shirky, 2014) Shirky proved through test scores of students who multitask and students who were around by multi-taskers. Both multi-taskers and peers nearby got lower score compare to who did not. (Shirky, 2014) Those two articles by Schuman and Shirky had repelling ideas of technology uses. However, both of them were informed with the contradictory side of using technology. Rebecca Schuman is a social determinist since she argued that college students are old enough to decide in what way to use technology. She also leans towards to techno-optimist side who thinks technology can enhance students’ lives. Consequently, she mentioned how technology can save money for poorer students by not having a need to buy and print materials. (Schuman, 2010) Her aspects of being social determinist and techno-optimist, she had influenced her argument vigorously. Technology itself is neutral tool and students are responsible for how they use. On the other hand, Clay Shirky himself is techno-optimist by teaching subject related to technology. But when it comes to teaching, he is almost techno-pessimist due to social application and media consistently distracting his students. I was able to observed Shirky as techno-determinist through the elephant and rider metaphor. These spectrums led him to portray students as a rider and elephant as technology. He addressed that “rider, [the students,] can see and plan ahead, but the elephant [technology or media] is far more powerful,” which determines that technology rules the society. http://ns.umich.edu/new/releases/7711 Instead of adopting banning laptops policy, utilizing technology system to engage students’ participation will avoid the disaster. Perry Samson, University of Michigan professor, implemented LectureTools in which it led half of students to engage in response or question without feeling judgment. (Samson, 2010) Samson surveyed approximately 200 students from his past three semesters about whether using laptops with LectureTools made students more “attentive, engaged and able to learn.” (Samson, 2010) Close to half of students answered using laptops made them stray out from lecture and spend time on unrelated tasks. Though, approximately seventy percent of students had a “positive effect on their learning.” (Samson, 2010) Significantly, LectureTools improved the interactivity between students and instructors to perform enriching class environment. These implications are important that if students and professors and technology idealistically work together, it will bring satisfactory result. http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/a-learning-secret-don-t-take-notes-with-a-laptop/ Primarily, why do students bring their laptops to class? There can be various answers to that. Generally, nowadays, students use laptops to class to take note. It helps them write note faster and write down every last word of their professor. Although, technology offers innovative applications that improve educational experiences, students often perform better learning with their long handwritten note. Cindi May, the author of A Learning Secret: Don’t Take Notes with a Laptop, claims that students with handwritten note have deeper understanding in their knowledge and materialized it. (May, 2014) New research by Pam Mueller and Daniel Oppenheimer reports that compare to students taking notes on laptops, students with handwritten note had “stronger conceptual understanding” and more effective in “applying and integrating the material.” (May, 2014) Even though, it takes more time and cumbersome than typing, it successfully captures the core substances of the information, helping students to materialize the learning.
While Perry Samson proposed that well used of technology can improve learning outcome, Cindi May argued that even if hand-writing note takes slower pace, it is certainly better for cognitive work which have longer lasting of learning.
Perry Samson, techno-optimist, who implemented the LectureTools technology to enhance interaction between his students and professor is in between of techno-determinist and social determinist. The effect of technology system will have impact on society; the behavior or other factors of society will influence the technology. Implementing LectureTools brought positive outcome that both technology system and students collectively combined to earn benefit. (Samson, 2010) In contrast, Genuinely, reflecting on what Cindi May addressed, she is far more on the techno-pessimist due to arguing that there is a limit to typing note. Although, typing note can save time to write more and write everything that professor lectures, writing note by hand exercise cognitive work by synthesizing the materials. (May, 2014) In fact, it allows “brain to engage in some heavy mental lifting and these efforts foster comprehension and retention.” (May, 2014) Therefore, she is a social determinist who believes that outcome of our own engaging in mental work is stronger than the outcome of using technology. However, she is aware of the advantage side of typing note and she believes it is not much effective due to students not thinking once again to encode the material. By …show more content…
comparing and contrasting and respectfully considering where they lie on the spectrum, their arguments helped readers to be aware of both good and evil side of using technology to help them choose how they want to use their devices.
By humbly reading articles about whether to ban laptops in the classroom or not, I got to be aware of variety side of technology uses.
After reading those articles, through my experiences in college, I was able to vividly retrospect my behaviors and results from using or not using technology. When I first joined college, my friends and I had new laptops carrying around to school taking note with them. Due to ban laptop policy in high school, I was so pleased that I got to look at my computer screen and write down what professor said. Sometimes, I stray out from the lecture and spent time doing other unnecessary activity, but I did not think that it was because of my laptop. Even if I don’t have my laptop around me, sometimes I zone out thinking about something else. I believe that regardless of using technology devices, it is my own or students’ responsibility to manage and pay attention in any
situation.
how to pay attention. College Students are adult, college infantilizing them will not teach them how to be adult. In fact, they should learn through consequences of using laptops during the class. In contemporary, where technology is most essential, banning laptops in the classroom to students is like “standing very sternly on the beach, wagging your umbrella at an encroaching tidal wave.” (Schuman, 2014) It is irresistible for banned laptop policy students not to cooperate with Internet and when those get jobs, they will be consistently interacting with laptops to complete their tasks. As technology advances, it influences our society in various outcomes. In Clay Shirky’s article, at first, she had a laissez-faire attitude toward using technology due to subject material of her class. However, as years go by, she saw the difference in class that seemed to be more related to the “rising ubiquity and utility of the devices themselves.” (Shirky, 2014) Currently, social media severely arouses distraction to students that the alerts and pop-ups are impossible to resist. Thus, students now multitask, believing it will be more productive and efficient. A study form Stanford found that heavy multi-taskers often wander aimlessly. (Shirky, 2014) Not only it degrades the “quality of cognitive work” by over-consuming too much information but also it affects peers nearby. (Shirky, 2014) Shirky proved through test scores of students who multitask and students who were around by multi-taskers. Both multi-taskers and peers nearby got lower score compare to who did not. (Shirky, 2014) Those two articles by Schuman and Shirky had repelling ideas of technology uses. However, both of them were informed with the contradictory side of using technology. Rebecca Schuman is a social determinist since she argued that college students are old enough to decide in what way to use technology. She also leans towards to techno-optimist side who thinks technology can enhance students’ lives. Consequently, she mentioned how technology can save money for poorer students by not having a need to buy and print materials. (Schuman, 2010) Her aspects of being social determinist and techno-optimist, she had influenced her argument vigorously. Technology itself is neutral tool and students are responsible for how they use. On the other hand, Clay Shirky himself is techno-optimist by teaching subject related to technology. But when it comes to teaching, he is almost techno-pessimist due to social application and media consistently distracting his students. I was able to observed Shirky as techno-determinist through the elephant and rider metaphor. These spectrums led him to portray students as a rider and elephant as technology. He addressed that “rider, [the students,] can see and plan ahead, but the elephant [technology or media] is far more powerful,” which determines that technology rules the society. http://ns.umich.edu/new/releases/7711 Instead of adopting banning laptops policy, utilizing technology system to engage students’ participation will avoid the disaster. Perry Samson, University of Michigan professor, implemented LectureTools in which it led half of students to engage in response or question without feeling judgment. (Samson, 2010) Samson surveyed approximately 200 students from his past three semesters about whether using laptops with LectureTools made students more “attentive, engaged and able to learn.” (Samson, 2010) Close to half of students answered using laptops made them stray out from lecture and spend time on unrelated tasks. Though, approximately seventy percent of students had a “positive effect on their learning.” (Samson, 2010) Significantly, LectureTools improved the interactivity between students and instructors to perform enriching class environment. These implications are important that if students and professors and technology idealistically work together, it will bring satisfactory result. http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/a-learning-secret-don-t-take-notes-with-a-laptop/ Primarily, why do students bring their laptops to class? There can be various answers to that. Generally, nowadays, students use laptops to class to take note. It helps them write note faster and write down every last word of their professor. Although, technology offers innovative applications that improve educational experiences, students often perform better learning with their long handwritten note. Cindi May, the author of A Learning Secret: Don’t Take Notes with a Laptop, claims that students with handwritten note have deeper understanding in their knowledge and materialized it. (May, 2014) New research by Pam Mueller and Daniel Oppenheimer reports that compare to students taking notes on laptops, students with handwritten note had “stronger conceptual understanding” and more effective in “applying and integrating the material.” (May, 2014) Even though, it takes more time and cumbersome than typing, it successfully captures the core substances of the information, helping students to materialize the learning.
While Perry Samson proposed that well used of technology can improve learning outcome, Cindi May argued that even if hand-writing note takes slower pace, it is certainly better for cognitive work which have longer lasting of learning.
Perry Samson, techno-optimist, who implemented the LectureTools technology to enhance interaction between his students and professor is in between of techno-determinist and social determinist. The effect of technology system will have impact on society; the behavior or other factors of society will influence the technology. Implementing LectureTools brought positive outcome that both technology system and students collectively combined to earn benefit. (Samson, 2010) In contrast, Genuinely, reflecting on what Cindi May addressed, she is far more on the techno-pessimist due to arguing that there is a limit to typing note. Although, typing note can save time to write more and write everything that professor lectures, writing note by hand exercise cognitive work by synthesizing the materials. (May, 2014) In fact, it allows “brain to engage in some heavy mental lifting and these efforts foster comprehension and retention.” (May, 2014) Therefore, she is a social determinist who believes that outcome of our own engaging in mental work is stronger than the outcome of using technology. However, she is aware of the advantage side of typing note and she believes it is not much effective due to students not thinking once again to encode the material. By …show more content…
comparing and contrasting and respectfully considering where they lie on the spectrum, their arguments helped readers to be aware of both good and evil side of using technology to help them choose how they want to use their devices.
By humbly reading articles about whether to ban laptops in the classroom or not, I got to be aware of variety side of technology uses.
After reading those articles, through my experiences in college, I was able to vividly retrospect my behaviors and results from using or not using technology. When I first joined college, my friends and I had new laptops carrying around to school taking note with them. Due to ban laptop policy in high school, I was so pleased that I got to look at my computer screen and write down what professor said. Sometimes, I stray out from the lecture and spent time doing other unnecessary activity, but I did not think that it was because of my laptop. Even if I don’t have my laptop around me, sometimes I zone out thinking about something else. I believe that regardless of using technology devices, it is my own or students’ responsibility to manage and pay attention in any
situation.