Group items tagged

Gadget use is an etiquette issue to be addressed formally in the syllabus. This article (and the links in it) have some interesting suggestions. Perhaps the most intriguing idea to me is the "laptop-free zone" of seating - I've noticed that I can be as distracted by the person a row or two ahead of me checking email (or worse) as by the urge to check my own.

Professors and students respond to a New York Times editorial laying out the case for bans on laptops. Among the responses, Justin Martin '19.

Interesting failure to replicate the 2014 study suggesting that longhand notetaking may be more effective than typing on a laptop. Perhaps we should expect our efficacy at using different writing tools to shift over time!

I noticed a number of tables at yesterday's Celebration of High Impact Practices where students were displaying their work on small laptop screens. How can we improve this experience for the next celebration - and what other venues for showcasing student work could we be using?

As we think increasingly about the use of screencasting software for laptops and desktops, we should also consider those small computers in everyone's pocket.

Provocative questions from Rick Godden and Anne-Marie Womack regarding recent studies about the benefits of paper-and-pen notetaking and resulting calls for screen bans in classrooms. "Are people with disabilities, then, doomed to substandard learning?"

Interesting studies about students non-academic use of computers during class time. On one hand, we need to remind students that multitasking (of this kind) is a myth, and that they need to learn the skill of occasionally being "disconnected". On the other hand, if the student is "fighting boredom", it's not actually the device's fault...

Good models from James Lang for ways to talk about productive and distracting uses of computers and cell phones in the classroom.

The author says "information that is best determined collaboratively with students, should not be prescribed by the professor on day 1." What do you think of his examples?