Avoid the pitfalls of increasing the web presence of your classroom 19Jun08
An editorial in The Star today by Lee Rimer is a great reminder that as we infuse our schools with computers and innovation we have to be mindful that what we are doing is adding value to the equation. The article critiques the online push of the University environment, with class notes, assignments and tests being accessed over the Internet. Students find little reason to go to class when the lecturer simply reads from the notes that are easily obtained online, and adds no deeper context for the material. Lecture halls are full of students who show up because they feel guilty, but end up spending their time on their laptops engaging in other activities.
(source MacDailyNews)
I view this is as great learning opportunity for teachers in K-12 environment. A number of teachers have begun posting their notes online, along with useful links to further resources and readings. If students lose a handout they know they can get it online, and if they are away from class they know they can obtain the notes — look over them — then bring their questions to their teacher the next time they see them. We have to be mindful that when we start putting what used to be the ‘meat’ of a lesson online we need to supplement our classroom instruction with deeper learning opportunities. I think this is one of the benefits of technology, it allows us to streamline knowledge transfer, providing more time to understand, internalize and apply that knowledge.
Moving resources online provides a great opportunity to engage students in the classroom, and encourage greater communication and understanding of the topics we as teachers enjoy teaching, so let’s embrace this benefit and not fall into the trap that has provided great frustration for Lee Rimer.
I think this is an amazing photo. It’s SO different looking from a lecture hall when I was in college–all the laptops open! Amazing!
Are people actually taking notes on their laptops, instead of writing notes by hand in notebooks, as they used to?
Eileen
Dedicated Elementary Teacher Overseas
elementaryteacher.wordpress.com
@Eileen: I think the photo I used isn’t representative of all schools, it was just a great photo to help make my point. It is from The Missouri School of Journalism. I’m not sure what proportion of students take notes on laptop instead of on paper, but I can see it increasing. I have some students in my classes that take notes on their computers and they say it helps them remember the content better. I think it’s just a shift in how people learn — if you have been exposed to computers all your life than you may be able to learn better through it. I know that I still take notes with pen and paper as that method works best for me (using the Cornell note taking method). I’ve tried using my laptop but I find it impersonal and I just don’t remember as well.
I think it’s a fantastic photo, but knowing that it’s from a school of Journalism puts it in better perspective. Journalists of COURSE would need to have the habit of working on their laptops and all be excellent touch typists.
I know a lot of schools aren’t even teaching touch typing–not like when I was in Grade 7 and it was a required subject for everyone! Certainly a GOOD typist can type much faster than writing; however MOST students would not be able to do so unless they’d had at least two (or more) special typing courses….
Furthermore, my thought upon seeing all these laptops was that the slight noise of EVERYONE tapping away on the keys would be distracting to people trying to take notes, in that it would interfere slightly with hearing what the speaker was saying.
I will check out your link to the Cornell Note-Taking System. It looks interesting!
Best regards,
Eileen
Dedicated Elementary Teacher Overseas (in the Middle East)
elementaryteacher.wordpress.com
I forgot to say that I agree with your comments that perhaps lecture notes should NOT be published on line, as students would NOT need to come to class. What might be appropriate are some NOTES about subjects that were COVERED in class (and still require students to get those notes from others).
In my opinion, the best way to get students to class is to be so useful, interesting, and engaging that students look forward to your class, and feel upset to miss it (this is always how I felt about my favorite professors–I remember feeling SO upset if history class was canceled for a snow day in Colorado, because I had SO much looked forward to the class!).
Eileen
Dedicated Elementary Teacher Overseas (in the Middle East)
elementaryteacher.wordpress.com