“Should computers be barred from the classroom?”
That
question triggered a spirited discussion the other day at a faculty meeting at
the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.
Prompted by a
Wall
Street Journal story headlined “
I’m
Banning Laptops from My Classroom,” professorial opinion ranged from
“computers MUST be in the classroom” to, well, me.
Since
I started teaching several years ago at Bloomberg, ranked the #1 public health
school in America, I have flatly prohibited any
21st Century technology in my class. No laptops, no smart phones, and no iPads or assorted
“tablets.”
Although
I spell this out in my syllabus, few students bother reading a syllabus, and so
there is usually shock and awe at my first class of the semester. I have to dole out paper and pens
because many students no longer carry such ancient writing implements.
Interestingly,
several of my students were in the faculty meeting and they spoke out in favor
of computers…in some classes. Nobody was nervy enough to suggest
computers should find their way into my marketing class.
Why
do I ban these devices that have essentially become one with our bodies? Here’s what the author of the Wall Street Journal piece, Rutgers law
professor Stuart Green, said he experienced when he walked to the back of his
classroom while a guest lecturer taught his class:
“What a revelation to see what the students
are up to. While virtually all of them have open laptops and most are taking
notes, many seem more intent on emailing and texting, posting on social media,
reading news sites, shopping online, or looking at YouTube videos. I recently
saw one student systematically checking out law-firm websites for
summer-associate salaries. Another spent an entire class streaming an NHL
hockey game.
“If
this is what the students are doing while I’m sitting behind them, observing
the class, I can only imagine what they’re doing when I’m up front, lecturing.”
What do you think? Computers
in the classroom -- or not?
To be continued…the impact of technology on our energy.
