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How Students Are 'Evolving' With Technology
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?"
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 itself, which can they later review on the computer for tests and exams.
The point can be made that this doesn't properly prepare you for tests that are written but even those are changing. The MCAT was changed to an all electronic format in which you are required to answer all multiple choice and even essay questions on a computer.
I wonder how long before English exams are being done entirely online?
The only subject I have trouble seeing easily transferable to an electronic form without some form of tablet would be math and engineering subjects which require extensive equations. There is no good standard equation editor that can create and manipulate formulas nearly as fast as can be done by hand afaik. (Although LaTeX equations do look a whole lot better than by hand once you get all the symbols in the right place.)
Some people can type plain English much faster than they can write. Therefore, in most humanities courses it pays off to use a laptop for notetaking (particularly in Ivy League-type schools for obvious reasons).
There are plenty of studies that have been done to show that
A) Certain people learn better in certain ways. http://www.vark-learn.com/english/index.asp
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 individual student, or use all methods of learning to reinforce the material.
B means that if you are working on something that you'll use wearing a suit and on a PC, that's the atmosphere you should learn it in.
BTW, I'm one of those that would rather a digital book, for pleasure reading or learning, either one. Just because you don't hear them say so, don't just assume they like physical books.
"If you make people think they're thinking, they'll love you; But if you really make them think, they'll hate you." - DM
The idea is fairly old - Thomas Edison the inventor of the phonograph and co-inventor of movie films proposed commercializing education by recording the most charismatic teachers and showing them at schools. This supposedly would solve two cost problems: first you stimulate students with the best teachers; second you reduce the number of [expensive] teachers by replicating their presententions. EVERY TIME a new form of media was invented since Edison someone has proposed the same arguments for commercializing education- to this day, now with Internet text messaging and videos. To a small degree the InterNet has facilitated grade-school charter school and college-trade schools. It cuts the cost of classrooms, but not the labor costs of interactive teachers. There must be something fundamental about the interative give-and-take of teachers and students thats resisted change int the 2500 years since Plato's Academy.
Same here... at least until I discovered mind mapping tools, like freemind.
Now that's pretty close to my preference to simple pencil and paper....
Major advantage is that I can reorganize my thoughts around a subject, add to it later as necessary and it's always organized in a way that makes sense to me. Plus it's easy to export the info to different formats without a whole lot of work.
I think that might have been the point of the original post. The profs are just going to have to adapt.
America, Home of the Brave.