How Students Are 'Evolving' With Technology 249
Scott Jaschik writes "A new study explores how "digital natives" (today's college students) have changing technology habits — and how those habits have infiltrated the classroom. What does that mean for professors and their teaching methods?"
Note taking (Score:5, Interesting)
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My girlfriend is still in school now though, and the majority of her pre-med program class bring their laptops to class. The most interesting thing is that professors seem to be required to provide their lecture notes as a type of powerpoint presentation. Students open the powerpoint and follow along with the teacher typing notes into the file
Yeah (Score:5, Interesting)
As an engineer I stuck to desktop computers, took notes on paper, until this year. I have a Ph.D., and my comittee consists of a colleague at work, my advisor at school, and me doing work at both work and school and home. So I broke down and I use it for research, but I still take paper notes. You just can't effectively do a free body diagram on a notebook...
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That's literally exactly why I got a Tablet PC (I'm a civil engineering student). It works about as well as paper, but would be a lot better if some purpose-built software existed (imagine drawing a free body and having the software straighten out your lines, or even analyze and draw the deformed shape for you!).
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I convinced one of my teachers to wear a mic and train my speech software, in exchange I gave him paper copies of all his lectures.
Also, in the same class a few of my mates and I made a morse code buzzer where the key was in the toe of a shoe and the buzzer was a (heavily) modified pager on vibrate. The collision detection was by human brain, but it worked very very well. We showed our prof (no one in my group needed to cheat to ace the class anyway) and he though it was so creat
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What is "GD?"
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But there were only a few classes where I actually did that...most professors thought I was taking notes when I was really playing the Sims or surfing the net.
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It does seem to me that using a computer really isn't a replacement for learning to write legibly. I can guarantee you that there isn't going to be an innovation in the near future w
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But it wasn't just for keeping up with powerpoint slides. I had a lot of professors who used blackboard and chalk. When I used my laptop the way it was meant to be used, it all
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I agree with you that there is nothing wrong with laptops in the classroom, but I wouldn't say they have replaced handwriting.
I have yet to find an application that allows me to plan (say) a database structure as quickly or as easily as a paper and pencil or a whiteboard (especially if there is more than one person invoved in the planning stage).
Yes, I know if you plan it on the PC first you can convert it to SQL immediately etc... However, I always "step away from the computer" when planning any par
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The decision to ban extra noise from classrooms isn't based upon what the least distracted people think, it based upon what the more easily distracted people think. If laptops were a genuine necessity, then there would be an argument that these people
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There's a reason why any good math teacher requires a person to write their steps in detail on the way to an answer. If you can't be bothered to write out your work in a neat and tidy manner as you go, you aren't going to do it with a computer either. In the vast majority of cases an individual who doesn't write in a clear way the steps that they are doing will get it wrong eventually and have no idea why the distance to the moon is only a quarter
Novelty effect (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Note taking (Score:5, Interesting)
All benefits of handwritten note plus ultimate storeage, organization, and the ability to copy/paste large swaths of repeated information and to resize/reshape/duplicate graphs and tables. Built-in microphone is starting to get use, too. Its nice to be able to hear a lecture over again encase I missed important info during note taking.
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Starting in 7th grade up through current time, I would take notes in pencil and then transcript those notes to an electronic medium for both permanent archival (I still have the notes from 7th grade although WP 5.1 files are difficult to open these days
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I'm not a student anymore, but I'm a bit of a digital-age kid, so I'll still offer my thoughts. For me, it has always been a bit of a trade-off. If I type, I can't draw little pictures and arrows all over the place. But if I use a notebook, I can't read my own writing. I grew up typing instead of writing, and my handwriting is horrible if I'm scribbling quick notes.
My solution has been to write notes in a notebook, and then as soon as I get a chance, I review my notes in front of a computer, typing the
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Maybe it's just me, but I've tried taking notes on my laptop before and I just didn't retain the information as well as when I physically write notes with paper and pencil.
All depends on the person. I type 120wpm so note-taking is typically easier when I type. Of course, drawing diagrams is a bitch. I typically find that I retain less if I'm taking notes, be it typing or longhand. It's too distracting when i do that sort of thing, prevents me from seriously paying attention to what the instructor is saying. But in general, I suck at lecture instruction, puts me right to sleep. I suck at math, suck suck suck. I've always been a C student there, even when it's "easy" math. Had
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Calculus is a 400 year old math discipline, and regarded as a requirement for a classical education (something in which we have forgotten). One should also take philosophy and review the works of Plato, Sophocles, Aristotle, Euclid, and other Greek people.
Yet, now we barely focus on what topic of study we choose, and not much else. I'm sure the American joke has been told: What are you called
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And in my opinion, anyone who claims to be a university graduate should be required to take and understand calculus.
Calculus is a 400 year old math discipline, and regarded as a requirement for a classical education (something in which we have forgotten). One should also take philosophy and review the works of Plato, Sophocles, Aristotle, Euclid, and other Greek people.
Yet, now we barely focus on what topic of study we choose, and not much else. I'm sure the American joke has been told: What are you called if you only speak 1 language? American.
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You can lead a man to culture but you can't make him think. Yes, Calculus is a useful thing. So is linear algebra and differential equations. You know what else? Animal husbandry was key to the development of civilization. So let's make everyone learn how to breed cows as part of a classical education. Hmm, doesn't make as much sense now, does it? Just because something is useful to know in a given subject does not mean that people outside of the subject have to be familiar with it. For example, in compute
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Maybe it is just me, but I always thought note taking was a distraction keeping my attention on writing and away from what the professor was actually saying.
In any case, this is all irrelevant. Now that it is possible, do professors actually have any excuse not to give full compressed video, audio, text, and even slides or any other supplementary materials from every lecture they give? A single TA could compile all this material in a single semester, and it would be ready for all future students. I
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But if it works for you...
Re:Note taking (Score:5, Insightful)
I didn't have that problem with the notebook.
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Course, some profs don't like cassette recorders, but I'd wager if they had to take either those or laptops, they'd go for recorders.
Re:Note taking (Score:5, Informative)
I think that might have been the point of the original post. The profs are just going to have to adapt.
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Only if you can prove students actually benefit (Score:5, Insightful)
"Most students (60.9 percent) believe it improves their learning."
Most students also believe drinking 10 pints of beer and farting loudly is really funny and will improve their chances of getting laid....
What the students believe and what is actually true may be two completely different things. I should imagine most professors will turn round and ask to see proof that the technology really does improve student learning before adopting a different teaching methodology.
(disclaimer: I'm a university researcher working in technology and education)
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Why would you print them? I'm sure most of them can work with the files.
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AntiSocial society (Score:5, Interesting)
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Carl
Re:AntiSocial society (Score:5, Interesting)
I agree, which is something I find rather amusing considering the huge number of people using "social" networking sites, making "friends" on MySpace, etc.
There is a lot to be said about a digital classroom at a certain point. It can be great in many college classes. I am highly against the "shove computers into higg/middle/elementary schools" movement. I've been in those schools, I know just how poorly they get used. Instead of something good the kids get "How to use Word" (not how to use a word processor). "How to type". "How to make a PowerPoint presentation". Some bits of this are useful (especially typing) but these are being taught not as means to an end, but the end its self.
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Re:AntiSocial society (Score:5, Interesting)
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Re:AntiSocial society (Score:5, Insightful)
With regard to the library... I've never thought of the library as a social-hub. In general, for every hour that is saved by using a more efficient online resource, instead of walking to the library, that's an hour that can be spent doing something else (e.g. learning something new or hanging out with friends).
So, I'm not at all convinced that this technology is making people anti-social. For every anti-social anecdote I've seen, I've also seen instances where the technology is drawing people closer together, and helping forge friendships. Humans are social animals. Technology can't change that--if anything, it reinforces it.
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I don't think you realized the alternative meaning there, but I found it amusing.
Sure... digital is cool but... (Score:4, Interesting)
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A) Certain people learn better in certain ways. http://www.vark-learn.com/english/index.asp [vark-learn.com]
B) The atmosphere you learn something in is the atmosphere you'll recall it best in. This means that if you study in a suit and reading a physical book, that's the way you'll remember it easiest. If you study in jeans and a shirt, and using a computer, that's the way you'll remember it easiest.
A means that learning should either be tailored to the individu
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If you ask someone who's never had steak (but has had chicken) if they prefer chicken or steak, they have to answer 'chicken'. That doesn't mean they actually like it better, just that they have no information.
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but I do believe that in my generation (college) people still generally prefer to have a non-digital medium for actual learning. I've rarely run into anyone who would rather read a digital textbook then have some sort of physical document/book in their hands.
It all boils down to what you're used to and what makes you feel comfortable. I love reading books on a palm device. I can curl up in bed and it's every bit as nice as having a physical book. I've been doing some computer certs and the books for the subject weigh about 50lbs in total and would never fit in my laptop bag but the books DO come with CD's, complete with pdf's! I can bring the whole kit and kaboodle to class and have it running on my laptop sitting right beside my workstation. Bright, legible s
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I mean, we're talking about long-term power studying, no?
The real advantage IMO (Score:5, Insightful)
The two types:
- Rote memorization
- Conceptual learning
Back before google was a verb I couldn't just 'google' my question and get the answer within seconds. It was advantageous to use some of my (maybe a lot of it) on simple rote memorization.
But now, with so much information literally at my fingertips, I see no reason to fill as much of my memory up with the rote knowledge and facts. I feel that I am better served by learning the art of skepticism, philosophy, conceptualization, and the general techniques used to analyze, logically, the goings-on in my daily life.
I think that in today's schools, if they choose to embrace technology in this way, you will see that in this sense this is advantageous over not having the technology at all.
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But now, with so much information literally at my fingertips, I see no reason to fill as much of my memory up with the rote knowledge and facts. I feel that I am better served by learning the art of skepticism, philosophy, conceptualization, and the general techniques used to analyze, logically, the goings-on in my daily life.
It would be marvelous given an inifinte amount of free time on your hands, but face it : most parts of human knowledge are now so complex that even the basics can take years to just grasp. You can't possibly discover again what's already been done all the way up, so you've got at least to learn about where the current knowledge has arrived. And this can only be done via rote learning.
I too would be delighted to be able to simply crash into any science or art by just looking for answers, but I've exeperi
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You have defined the why of the "as much". I was too lazy, or maybe figured someone else would handle that
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But as a lecturer, I know that statistically, students want badly rote memorization. Because they know there's going to be a test at the end of the semester, and all of a sudden, when the time comes, they realize that being tested on their critical abilities is more dangerous than memory. Memory is a muscle, anybody can train to have an adequate one. But critical thinking is MUCH more diffi
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Now I'm just an armchair philosopher. There are probably quite a few more 'types' of learning and schooling. To break it all down into those two is probably not fair or adequate. As usual, my agenda was only to make
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Back before google was a verb I couldn't just 'google' my question and get the answer within seconds. It was advantageous to use some of my (maybe a lot of it) on simple rote memorization.
But now, with so much information literally at my fingertips, I see no reason to fill as much of my memory up with the rote knowledge and facts. I feel that I am better served by learning the art of skepticism, philosophy, conceptualization, and the general techniques used to analyze, logically, the goings-on in my daily life.
I think that in today's schools, if they choose to embrace technology in this way, you will see that in this sense this is advantageous over not having the technology at all.
I completely agree with you. But there's so much inertia built up behind the old way of doing things... It's just easier to drill people on facts. Here, memorize a hundred facts. There, now I can test you on them. You got 90%, I look good. How do you quantify "skepticism, philosophy, conceptualization, and the general techniques used to analyze, logically, the goings-on in my daily life"? It would require an intensive one-on-one test with the instructor. It's not something that you could fit on a scantron.
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For the rest, we'll just have to wait for true Artificial Intelligence. It might be a while.
Imagine that, a professor who literally IS a walking encyclopedia.
Re:The real advantage IMO (Score:4, Interesting)
For the rest, we'll just have to wait for true Artificial Intelligence. It might be a while.
Imagine that, a professor who literally IS a walking encyclopedia.
I wouldn't necessarily say that AI would have to be involved, we'd just have to seriously reconsider the way we structure learning in our society. The farmer's son learns at his side in the field. The cobbler's son learns at his side in the workshop. But with the industrial revolution, there was no time for taking kids to work along with dad -- maybe set them to work changing bobbins and losing fingers but that's it. For middle class jobs, junior isn't going to be working with his dad at the bank. But imagine if he were. I was taught math and reading at home before we ever encountered it in school. My dad was a mechanic by trade and it would have been quite interesting if I were able to work alongside him for part of the year, see how things are done. I have no aptitude for mechanics but it would have still been an interesting experience. Imagine if a very bright kid could be paired with a suitable mentor and take half his lessons that way. Yes, I know there were some drawbacks to apprenticeships historically but you can say the same thing about our compulsory education system, a mixed bag.
"The mind should be a factory, not a warehouse." (Score:2)
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It doesn't HAVE to be that way, but it seems to happen more often than not.
Similar to... (Score:4, Interesting)
This quote included in TFA is, I think, the best way to look at integrating new technologies with teaching: It's a truism that's pretty obvious, but bears repeating. In my opinion, technology can only enhance the teaching/learning experience, since good teachers will have the wisdom to deploy it carefully. Less skilled teachers will deploy it poorly (e.g. using it as a gimmick instead of an useful tool), but then again those are precisely the teachers that would be wasting student's time with other tools (chalkboards, textbooks, etc.).
This is not to say that there have not been "growing pains" with integrating technology into teaching. Certainly I've seen otherwise competent professors make mistakes with over-zealously deploying an immature teaching tool. But, overall, I think the unsurprising conclusion is that all these new technologies provide advantages to those who are smart enough to exploit them properly.
My general view is that rather than try to integrate specific technologies (which then become gimmick-like), it's best to simply make generic resources available to students and teachers (e.g. computer labs, Wi-Fi, laptop loaner programs, site-wide software licenses, etc.). When resources are available, students will inherently gravitate towards using them in the most useful ways. For example, rather than explicitly integrating a particular piece of tech into a course (a particular software package, forcing students to use an online message board, etc.), my inclination would be to make a bunch of avenues for learning available, and see which ones the students inherently use.
Looks more like entertainment (Score:4, Interesting)
It seems that most of the progress has been in added functionality (as in more built-in functions - 3D solid cad, more rows/cols) and speed of processing. Everything else seems to be more about entertainment, whether its games, connectivity, or casual information (surfing). Students can amass more crap via downloads, but if you never print it out or look at it on the screen page-by-page it's just as bad as a Kinkos-printed set of notes where you watch the comb spine slowly yellow over the years. Actually, I suppose its worse - without that yellow spine in the bookcase to remind you that you have it, you don't even remember that lecture note set exists, buried in some sub-folder in you document directory.
IMHO very little has changed in 20 years on the teaching front. The critical component to education in the interactive ability of the teacher and student to work together. Web-enabled learning still tens to fall short, imho, and expanding class attendance through distance learning just reduces the opportunity to get everyone involved in the learning process.
Wait...I take part of that back - email does make a difference. Quick questions can be answered efficiently in an asynchronous manner that wasn't possible in my day (yes, we had voicemail, but couldn't copy the whole class). Still, it doesn't really scream "new teaching methods are necessary," unless new teaching methods involves putting web blocking software in the routers to keep the kids from surfing in a boring lecture.
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Technology & history (Score:2, Interesting)
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So th
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More hurt than good, really. (Score:2)
mixed feelings (Score:3, Insightful)
Having spent a lot of time in the education system, both in front and behind the desk, I have mixed feelings about all this IT craze. When I was a pupil back in the 80's, I had to brew my own text processor (cp/m computer, wordprocessor still to be invented...). Wonderful experience, I typed back home my (terrible) handwritten notes. I still don't think it helped me a bit learning my lessons, but it taught me about computers when it was still quite new and shinny. Coolness factor at the time, about zero. Being a nerd wasn't hype then.
Reel forward : 20 years later, I'm teaching criminal law. Still a nerd, but mainly as a hobbyist. Still produce most of my work on computers, likes wikipedia (but know it's not a source of scholarly value), use fluently most parts of internet. Students in front of me are wired as much as they can lift. After letting them do as they please (we're at university, they should be grown up, FFS), I have to step in and forbid recording devices in my class room, read the riot act (throwing the lowest possible marks as if shot in burst with a M16) at those stupid enough to forget I too can google parts of their dissertation to find the true author, etc. Now, I don't even provide a powerpoint during the course, they f*ckin' have to listen to me and write things down with a pencil. If they don't like that, my door is always open and works both ways.
Finally, my feeling is IT is very good for homework, library work, and anything research-related. But it's the worst ennemy of the student willing to truly learn. I know many will swear that it's helping them, but that's self delusion. I too had a friend before internet who used to swear sticking colored stars next to chapters heads was helping him. It failed. he should have read the actual contents instead of fuzzing around. So have done successful students for past centuries, so will they for centuries to come.
Nothing replace hard personnal work. But there is still a place for IT : it's a considerable step forward for anonymity of dissertations, and it avoids students having low marks for the sole reason the teacher can't decipher them because they have a bad writing.
What a superb article (Score:5, Funny)
I'm so glad that my eyes 'evolved' since my birth to allow me to read it on an LCD screen rather than the primitive CRT screens that my parents 'evolved' with. I guess my DNA got mangled about the same time that my fingers 'evolved' the ability to press little square buttons in order to produce this post.
In other news, I'm still awaiting the mutation that will allow me to 'evolve' the ability to let pop science jargon slip by unchallenged. I pray to God every day that to reach in with with His Noodly Appendage and screw with my chromosomes.
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But I think of it like this:
Which countries are advancing the quickest and have the strongest economies? Which countries have the highest quality of living?
I think if you made that list, you'd see they were all countries on the leading edges of technology. It's correlation, not causation, but it's something to think about.
Evolution can be more than just our DNA changing. Our technolo
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There's nothing wrong here except for the fact that the article uses scare quotes around "evolution" where they are really unnecessary.
why so few "mass media" professors? (Score:4, Informative)
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Who says you evolve with technology? (Score:3, Insightful)
Oh, well. At least the Muslims have been known to use the technology to party [youtube.com]. I've heard of sucka MC's but never mullah MC's.
Not much (Score:2)
My mom's a professor at a college where they wholeheartedly embraced computer technology in the classroom right from when it first became viable (for non-comp-sci professors) and from my observations both as a student and in visiting her on campus, it hasn't really made a big difference.
Those tenured old bores who droned on in endless lecture are now (mostly) reading PowerPoing presentations bullet-by-bullet. Engaging speakers who made connections with wha
The Money Pit (Score:2)
There's increasing numbers of studies that show just this now that the computers have been in place for a while. Computers can't fix the fundamental problems with the educational system. The "solutions" used to be throw more money at it!" That didn't work either as anyone in California can tell you. Now it's "Throw more computers at it!" or even "Throw more computers AND more money at it!"
Those tenured old bores who droned on in endless lecture are now (mostly) reading
I am a helluva long time student (Score:2, Interesting)
I remember being one of the first in my classes to have a laptop to take notes on. I simply type faster, without thinking about it, than I can write notes. At first, it was seen as an anomaly. Now, it's almost normal. In the last quarter I went to, a year ago, a good third of the folks I went in with had laptops. There is also internet access. The best class
Should we get off your lawn now? (Score:2)
They... have... been... (Score:2)
Re-sistance... was fyu-tyle....
Paper still good! Me pound rock to make point! (Score:2)
Typing it all up into the computer later and adding diagrams (scanned or reconstructed in a drawing program) helps cement the info into your little neurons.
Not everything has to be made high tech, and in some cases the high tech "solution" doesn't really solve anything and can cause more problems. *cough*voting*cough*
Didn't they predict internet enabled refrigerators and coffee makers by n
Re:Change along with technology required to be hea (Score:5, Insightful)
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That's not always true. I've seen a lot of professors who were able to capture the students' attention, and actually have them learn the material quite well, with only a blackboard and a piece of chalk.
I find it largely depends on the course. I find maths must be written by hand as the layout of the formula and notes on the page can be just as important as the information itself and trying to replicate this on a standard computer is simply too time consuming. But anything else I find tedious to do by hand.
I've also seen a lot of professors with all this tricked out technology and completely fail at teaching, either by not getting the students interested, or completing failing at getting the point of the lecture across. So, while technology can help, especially if the professor understands it, I would say that the majority of professors who are bad, can't be helped by just throwing more technology at the problem. And professors who are already good, don't need high tech gadgets to teach.
You're right, no amount of technology can make a bad teacher good, but it can make a good teacher better. Never think that someone is so good at something that they don't need to improve. Otherwise tha
Re:Change along with technology required to be hea (Score:5, Insightful)
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Could you explain the benefits of this tech-heavy approach in a learning environment?
Personally, if I had to go back (too many years!) to the classroom, I think the tech would seriously get in my way.
Also, reading back over paper notes and sketched diagrams seems to embed the information more firmly in my brain.
Ok, maybe I'm an old fart, but give me paper and pen every time in a classroom, business meeting, or creative thinking moment.
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Not EVERYTHING has to be made shiny and high tech. Voting is a good example.
That's why we have whiteboards with digitizers all over the super doubleplus hightech place where I work.
The projectors and other media are strictly for prepared presentations.