Thanks to all who are responding about this. It seems that there is a wide range of opinion! The discussion has reminded me that most of you (who teach, at least) teach a lot of undergraduates. I should probably ask whether you feel it makes a difference when the students are older. Our first years have at least finished college, and many also have substantial work experience. But many of the classes are as large as undergraduate classes, so they're very different from the typical graduate student seminar. Julie

Tracy: I totally agree with you. There is increasing evidence (Gee, 2004,2005; Jenkins, 2006; Prensky, 2001, 2006; Tapscott & Williams, 2006) that suggests that interactivity and collaboration through the use of gaming, net-based and audio-visual technologies is how learning and work often takes place with younger workers. In fact, Prensky and Gee have contended that digital natives learn differently and their brains work differently, and that many professors and other digital immigrants are part of the problem with education because these individuals learned in a different world literally. I have been reading about teachers banning technology instead of figuring out how to work with it. One of the biggest problems that I have noticed as a communications professional and as a researcher for the past several years is that at least half of all professors, administrators and even CE0's that I have encountered (and this includes folks on the Hill too) are marginal to average communicators who cannot deliver or sell a message, a theory or an idea. A multi-disciplined approach that utilizes hybrid education is sorely needed. I understand that professors often want to be the show because that is how they were taught, but the reality is that the students are the show and it the job of the professor to create new stars through directing and coaching. We have to be more proactive and pragmatic in our approaches to educating people or we stand to lose a generation. The proof is in the pudding: look at how many male students, especially minorities, check out of education around the fourth or fifth grade and definitely by middle school based on their grades and conduct. This is a social problem that involved parents, but it also involves teachers who have been taught one way. How many curricula for professors actually involve multi-courses on communications, delivery, appearance, interactivity, coaching and using technology simultaneously? Most professors, just like actors, ceo's, and high level administrators need rehearsal and critique of their material before communications experts,peers, live audiences and their classes if they are to become real "producers and directors" of scholars. At the end of the day students often reflect, not always, reflect their professors when they finish a course. When a professor already decides that no one can receive an A or few are worthy of such a grade, he or she has already limited what his or her students can learn because he or she has created a ceiling for learning and this is what happens when one bans technology: one creates a ceiling for learning that limits creativity. By the way the Learning Inquiry editorial by Jason and Jeremy and the articles are outstanding IMHO. -----Original Message----- From: air-l-bounces@listserv.aoir.org [mailto:air-l-bounces@listserv.aoir.org] On Behalf Of T. Kennedy Sent: Monday, May 21, 2007 11:16 AM To: air-l@listserv.aoir.org Subject: Re: [Air-l] laptops and Internet access in class I would hate to ban any type of 'media' or ICTs in the classroom for various reasons. -students have different ways of learning and absorbing classroom material; should we continue to focus on traditional didactic modes of learning? Or should we venture forward and incorporate new media into the classroom, allowing for and encouraging constructive & creative interactions between students, and between students and instructors? -there's an assumption here that all students will IM, email, game/not pay attention if they have their ICTs with them- not all students will multi-task -there's an assumption that students cannot effectively multitask -if students don't want to listen or participate in the lecture, that is their choice - and the repercussions will be clear when they submit assignments and write exams -we have to be careful not to generalize research findings to all students. Some students can multi-task very well -they can & will pay attention. -we also have to remember context and situation - I would think that in some classes you will have people who don't pay attention or their attention wanders no matter what because of the course material itself - for example required courses like theory and methods often turn students into glassy-eyed zombies or perhaps the faculty member isn't engaging or just bad at lecturing. -if I didn't have interesting visuals and audios in class to show apply concepts I would be bored and would be less likely to retain the material. In my own classes I've taught I encourage students to bring laptops - I post URLs to look at together (it's also on the big screen for those who don't have laptops), we use laptops for in class exercises and so forth. I also tell my students that I'm aware that people are emailing and IMing while I'm lecturing - and that I still expect participation from them in lecture -if I couldn't take notes on my laptop, I would be losing valuable time in having to retype them later In short, why fall back on archaic teaching styles when it's clear that today's students need much more from us as faculty? In fact, they expect us to be savvy and ahead of the game!

From some research that a group of grad students from Webshop 2003 conducted (myself included) revealed some points of interest (small n=not generalizable but interesting to us anyway):

-Overall, 75% of chat entries focused on scholarly issues: -Chat about presentations "ID1: possible example of what he's [the speaker] describing: when Sculley replaced Jobs at Apple." -Chat about related research "ID2: Is anyone familiar with Karl Weick's theory of organizing and sense making? What he is going through right now sounds very familiar, but I don't know Weick enough to ascertain. Anyone?" -General methodological "ID3: the link has a good explanation of why GDP is a tough indicator in particular cases (such as gross comparisons between states)." -Chatter's own research "ID4: i did some research inside razorfish and like firms--never publishes b/c they all collapsed when we were in the midddle of it." -users perceived the impact of the chat room on social cohesion as somewhat or extremely positive; Chat room users reported a slightly higher opinion of overall WebShop experience -On occasion, the chat room transcended the physical space of the classroom; Example - WebShoppers involved in chat room discussion even when they weren't physically present in the classroom (people were ill and in their dorm) -For this particular group of students, we found some evidence that wi-fi access in general, and chat participation in particular, was a positive addition to their classroom experience. I really hope that people reconsider banning ICTs in the classroom. Tracy -----Original Message----- From: air-l-bounces@listserv.aoir.org [mailto:air-l-bounces@listserv.aoir.org] On Behalf Of Bonnie Nardi Sent: May 21, 2007 10:40 AM To: air-l@listserv.aoir.org Subject: Re: [Air-l] laptops and Internet access in class I have not done any research on laptops in classrooms but I have had two undergraduate student groups study this topic. They have found that students lose track of what is being said in lecture when they get involved in interactions with friends on IM or they play games or do homework for other classes. These are not activities that lend themselves to keeping an ear open for the important bits of the lecture. The students also reported that 50% of the students said they would not bring a laptop to class if there were no wireless access. This wireless access is for games, etc. not looking up what the professor is talking about. An important issue I have not heard mentioned is that the presence of other activities in the classroom -- activities that require attention and separate the student from the classroom -- changes the culture of the classroom as a whole. Students are not engaged with each other in the same way. They are no longer a "body" of students but individuals selecting their own activities, virtually leaving the classroom. It's a subtle but pervasive effect. Students who need help with English can make a special arrangement to text a friend or they can bring unobtrusive dictionary devices (one of my students has one). See also Gay and Hembrooke's Activity-Centered Design. There's a good chapter on wireless in the classroom there. -- Bonnie On May 18, 2007, at 6:49 PM, Matthew Bernius wrote:

I come at this issue from both side: as a PhD student (at Cornell) and

as professor teaching undergraduate classes (at RIT, btw, so I'm pretty familiar with the scenario Alex laid out).

Next year I will be banning cell phone, ipods, etc. in my undergraduate classes. Laptops will be allowed for specific assignments, but otherwise not to be used as well (especially in Freshman classes). This ban extends to myself as well (unless unavoidable, I'm going to rely on lecturing and white boards -- no more ppt). As Alex suggested, my biggest issue with laptops is the distraction that they cause to other students. Geyond that (and outside of lab activities), I am increasingly coming to the belief that they present a barrier to students developing certain skills that

will, down the road, better allow those students to use those same devices. And, at least for a school like RIT, that prides itself on preparing it's students for the workplace, basic technology etiquette needs to be stressed. The sad fact is that a lot of the technology behavior I've seen isn't appropriate for the workplace.

As far as upper level undergrads, depending on the class makeup, I may

allow it. But right now I'm more concerned about raising physical engagement rather than passively encouraging virtual engagement.

Now for the possible hypocrisy -- I fully intend to use a laptop to take notes when I attend class. That said, if a prof doesn't allow it,

I won't mind. And I'm confident that I'm at a point where I can use the laptop responsibly.

- Matt

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