Why I Ban Technology In My Classroom
I remember seeing students in the back row of the class smiling awkwardly and sharing looks with one another. As a teaching assistant it was my job to walk around the auditorium class and make sure things were in order while the professor taught. Seeing the teaching assistant walk around the large auditorium helped keep students awake and attentive.
Deciding to walk to the back of the room so that all the students backs were turned to me I leaned against the back wall and looked around at the back row where the students were whispering about something. What had their attention wasn't the professor but a young man with a laptop. This young man had a video of naked women doing adult activities playing with the sound muted. He was sitting on the end of his row.
Too Bad He Wasn't Looking At Food Porn (less embarassing!)
As I walked past him to the front I made a coughing sound to get his attention and looked him straight in the eyes as I made my way back to the front of the class. No need to embarrass the guy by making a scene, but at the same time embarrass him enough that he shut his laptop lid.
Technology Is Wonderful and Horrible For College Teachers
I love using technology in the classroom. With modern generations who are hooked to their smartphones and other devices, technology is often a tool that helps teachers reach their students. I have used youtube to upload videos for my students to watch outside of class. I can record myself giving a lecture to a camera and then upload that to online classes to give lectures to students at home. Technology provides instructors numerous ways to teach students that weren't available in the past.
So Why Do I Hate Technology In My Classroom?
The story I told at the beginning is one reason. Computers and phones are distracting. If a student is bored they are tempted to surf the internet, use social media, text, or in the case of the one guy...watch porn.
In college classrooms one of my biggest challenges is students being lazy because they are so use to their computers doing most of the work. I use powerpoint presentations and have had many students get frustrated that I don't give them my powerpoints afterwards. I teach Sociology, not Rocket Science. If the kids read their book and take notes in class they can pass the class easily. I get so frustrated students are too lazy to get out a pen and paper and keep their own notes instead of begging me to give them my own personal notes.
Students Retain More Knowledge Working For It
In my experience when students have to work hard to study and do classwork, they learn more. Teachers who make their classes so easy by giving their students too much access to technological tools like powerpoints hurt their students because those students only have to memorize facts for a test. After they have memorized they forget.
When teaching my own college classes I started banning laptops and phones. I would say 90% of students in classrooms where I was a student or teaching assistant did not pay attention to the teacher. The one semester I did allow laptops I saw far too many kids Facebooking and not taking notes. They were wasting my time and their own coming to class but not listening.
Technology Isn't the Only Teaching Tool
Group work, discussions, games, and activities are wonderful teaching tools and require no technology. It's amazing how much students learn by having to go research a topic and then discuss that topic with one another. I also love assigning biographies/autobiographies or other nonfiction books to go along with what I'm teaching. A good book is sometimes the best tool to help students learn about an event or culture.
Technology Is Great But Limiting It Helps Students
Taking away the temptation to use social media or other fun activities like texting and youtube helps students learn. If I'm going to have students in my class I want to give them the most useful and educational experience I can. By banning laptops in my class but encouraging my students to use technology in their studies and research outside of class I can balance the good and bad elements of using technology as a teaching tool.
How do you feel about technology in the classroom?
Photo credit: pixabay
I'm a big note taker, I learn better by taking notes. I also like to read books in print, I guess I'm old fashioned like that :)
nice article..keep it up
Agreed
The only time I outright ban tech during lecture times is if there is a class presentation. If the students aren't otherwise been disruptive then I don't particularly mind. Second language students will often be looking up keywords in a dictionary. Of course, there's the people who surf social media. The devices aren't going anywhere so they have to learn to manage their distractions and attention now.
I have a slightly different class porn story: I was teaching a class on internet culture and I set an essay assignment. One topic was censorship and objectionable content. The student, a mature student with children, asked me if he could do his essay on supporting the censorship of child pornography on the internet. You can guess what he typed into Google... and despite immediately closing the browser when he realised his mistake... the institution's firewall had flagged him. It was policy that such things are immediately reported to the government for investigation. Poor guy! I remember having to write a letter on his behalf.
I was asked to remove the topic option - which I refused. Censorship is a key issue on the internet. Instead, agreeing to add content about how to research such things safely.
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STOPGreat. Thanks for sharing. I vote for you and begin to follow you. And Resteemed...
I think that the classrooms you have described as containing bored students are symptomatic of compulsory education. I would not want to teach in a classroom filled with conscripts.
If your classroom were comprised of only those who desperately wanted to learn from you, you would have no bored students. Any technology tools that they may have brought to their desks would be either turned off, or else fully engaged in recording you or taking notes or providing cross-reference material.
I would consider becoming a tutor paid directly by your students, before I would prohibit the use of technology... ;)
😄😇😄
