Few things should be as important to our community as regaining and establishing our common sense that the classroom should be a place for learning and interaction. Visitors to classes, as well as many of our students, report that the rate of distracting Internet usage during class is astounding.
Remarkably, usage appears to be contagious, if not epidemic. Several observers have reported that one student will visit a gossip site or shop for shoes, and within twenty minutes an entire row is shoe shopping. Half the time a student is called on, the question needs to be repeated. I confess that as I have researched this subject, I have been made aware how offensive it often is when phone calls are taken in public and when Blackberry and other e-mail devices are consulted during meetings. I have promised myself that I will no longer check my Blackberry under the table at University meetings.
Byron Davis on 07 Jul 10I recently saw an episode of The Colbert Report where Nicholas Carr carefully examines the most important topic in contemporary culture; the mental and social transformation created by our new electronic environment. The challenge will be to stay off the web long enough to read his book! This is an interview about his previous book (same topic). Here is a link: http://www.colbertnation.com/the-colbert-report-videos/185695/september-25-2008/nicholas-carr
