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Estonian Tech University Bans Notebooks and Smartphones
J-Georg writes "In Estonia's Tallinn University of Technology, all electronic devices — like notebooks, tablets and smartphones — are now banned in lectures held by the Institute of Public Administration. The restriction, which according to the institute aims to reduce factors interfering with academic work, came as a surprise to most of the university-goers. Moreover, it came just a day before the country's Ministry of Education announced a plan that by 2020 all textbooks and other literature would be turned into e-books and in eight years students are expected to start using computers and tablets to access study materials."
I'm in a lecture right now and haven't paid attention the entire time.
I think laptops etc. are a really bad idea in lectures. I should really stop bringing mine.
Doesn't seem that out of line and there's many US schools with the same rule... they don't ban computers everywhere, but when you're in the classroom the only computer should be used by to the professor,
If students didn't have them or smart phones, they'd be doodling, spacing out, sleeping in class as well. It is just a diversion.
Too many people use paper to doodle, or write notes to their friends. It's completely distracting!
Is there a mix-up with Elbonia? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dilbert#Elbonia
Your looking at $500 for the tablet (maybe $200 for the cheaper kind) per student. Then you have to pay for the rights of the ebook which you know publishers will push to not allow the student to sell the book used.
Even the spiral bound notebooks? I used those all the time in college!
When I went to college I didn't have a cellphone or a laptop. I still spent plenty of time not paying attention to the lectures. For most people it is impossible to sit and listen and pay attention the whole time. The problem is the lectures, not the laptop.
I always find the "zero tolerance" thing (which seems most prevalent in education) to be annoying. Contrary to the image most people have of every college student texting away on their phones all through class, I took a few classes not long ago and found that the vast majority of students were actually pretty attentive and polite in class. You would have one or two who you would see occasionally texting or playing on their laptops, but they were definitely the exception. Now, the reasonable, sane way to deal with this would be for the professor to pause briefly and say to the idiot texting "Hey dipshit, stop texting in my class, or you're going to be texting 'I failed this class' to your parents very soon." Takes about 3 seconds, everyone gets the message, idiot is suitably embarrassed.
But, of course, in typical "zero tolerance" fashion, rather than manning up and targeting the few abusers with a quick kick in the head, they throw out a blanket proclamation that punishes EVERYONE by threatening them for even having a cellphone or laptop in their bookbag or pocket. So now everyone has to suffer because the faculty and administration are a bunch of pussies who can't wipe their asses if there isn't a regulation somewhere authorizing them to do so.
It's shit like this that leads to teachers calling in the 5-0 to slap the cuffs on a 5-year-old.
SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
If students didn't have them or smart phones, they'd be doodling, spacing out, sleeping in class as well. It is just a diversion.
Dude it has been shown that doodling enhances absorption and recall on information, but distracted multi tasking decreases it.
Also since when do we say notebook in a headline and have everyone read it and think laptop not paper notebook.
Some drink at the fountain of knowledge. Others just gargle.
Distraction, not fear, is the mind killer. And remember, these are the guys behind Skype.
Disclaimer: My Mom is from Tallinn.
Please do not read this sig. Thank you.
In general I agree it is the right decision but they should consider making exceptions for students with special needs. Some students literally cannot write normally for medical reasons and they should be allowed to either type or be provided a recording of the lecture to type up notes later.
In general I think most people who bring a laptop to a lecture will be distracted by it, in particular if there is WiFi available. Unfortunately in the world of instant Facebook updates and e-mail alerts, it is very hard to remain focused even with the best intentions and frankly most students don't have the best intentions.
Thats funny! If they did ban it on the campus, people are going to figure out ways to do that. Beware Tallinn.
Maybe if the instructors engaged and involved the class instead of yammering at them for hours on end, students wouldn't need to look elsewhere for engaging material.
Sincerely,
College professor
On the other hand, it feels good to be the recitation TA at times like this.
More on the subject, I only use my laptop during lectures as an e-book reader, and sometimes for note-taking (live-TeXing is quite hard); and I have only seen other students use it in the same manner. But then again, that's grad school; no electronics might be an effective measure in some intro undergrad courses.
In American universities, you will be forced to buy thousands of dollars of new dead tree textbooks, because the old ones are revised and no longer valid. Capitalism at it's finest.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sqXS9m6aiyk
Unfortunatly nowadays just telling the students will have them answwr "Why, there is no rule that I must do that." and continue to disturb all of the class. Then the parents come and say the same thing. A bit like this as people can not acceopt that their kid could be doing anything wrong.
Don't fight for your country, if your country does not fight for you.
Great Plan...Ban electronics but then go to eBooks for all your textbooks. How does one follow along with the lecture? Let's ban notebook paper as well. We wouldn't want students doodling instead of listening to the professor...
Honesty, I might expect this policy from a liberal arts college, but not an Institute of Technology. If the student doesn't want to pay attention, they can fail the class. Learning is the responsibility of the student not the teacher. (I've been through many of classes through my undergrad and grad level classes.)
As technology becomes more common, schools and teachers need to embrace it, not demonize it.
I think that Holding Forth at Length is terrible in some classes, especially Philosophy!
It works pretty well for many classes, like History or Humanities, or your choice of others, but Philosophy is really tough - every new page re-invents some phrase in a way never seen before! At least for me, I need fifteen minutes to get some of the really hard parts. If a professor blasts on, then the entire class becomes a futile mess.
My first Journal Entry ever, in 8 years! http://slashdot.org/journal/365947/aphelion-scifi-fantasy-horror-poetry-webzine
When I was studying computer science, we had class in a lecture hall twice a week, then lab sessions in a computer lab once a week. The community college I'm teaching at has all of our computer programming classes in computer rooms. I had to explicitly put in my syllabus no eBay, no Facebook, no Twitter, no games, etc. during class, or it would be grounds for removal. Even if the person understands the material, they might still act as a distraction to the people sitting next to them.
Taking guns away from the 99% gives the 1% 100% of the power.
What about banning lectures where it's just reading from the text book and maybe a set power point slides.
Which can end up being similar to lectures at times. I use the notes app to be able to take notes, attach pictures and videos to the notes etc. It's like a super-notebook and helps me keep track of things better. I think out right banning is short sighted and if people are not taking their classes seriously and failing then that is sort of their fault no? This isn't elementary school we're talking about here.
I hear this from time to time, especially during classes in pedagogics for higher education, however every alternative that has been proposed is conveying knowledge better but takes more time or covers less topics.
And by revised we mean 4 words in chapters 2 and 3 were changed for better sentance structure. But no, the older on is obsolete and unuseable, so not only will we not buy it back but we will make everyone else buy a brand new $300 textbook.
Hah philosophy class. Show up for the first day, midterm and final, 3 days out of the whole class, still pulled an A.
I probably attend a half dozen a month: author talks, museum talks, computer user groups etc. The difference is they are usually one of a kind. Its a lot different have them forced down your through, 12 a week (3x times four classes) for 15 weeks in a row. i find I learn best by a whole variety of media: lectures, tv, internet, books, active problems, etc.
I can understand wanting to learn about the history of philosophy, but beyond that, what are you doing? You aren't philosophizing on your own, are you? You don't need to be taught how to philosophize. No, the only thing you're doing is wasting your time.
Exactly - it's not that the students do not understand that what is happening is wrong, it's that they feel that they are allowed, unless there is a rule against it. When you combine that with parents that assume the perfect little sweety can't be at fault, you have a recipe for disaster. I'm not that old (37), I still remember grade-school. When the teacher sent a note home, my parents would schedule a meeting with that teacher. This meeting was to discuss what **I** did wrong, what **THEY** could do better, and what the **TEACHER** would do after s/he saw progress. Now, in the 6th grade class I teach (I'm home sick today before you jump on me about my time-stamp), when I send a note home. . . . The parents still set a meeting up, but it's to discuss what **I'm** doing wrong, what **I** will do for them, and what part of the class **I** will change to make their child's life better. I'm not saying that my classroom is a locked down police state, or that I never change my teaching tactics to suit an individual or an individual class. What I am saying is that I am disinclined to change my basic practices, based on my 15 years of experience, two advanced degrees and years of experience as a mentor teacher, just to suit the views of a twelve year old whose has parents that won't stand up to him/her. What I am saying is that there is a reason that schools have zero-tolerance policies. The people that make the policies understand that zero-tolerance on anything usually leads to more problems. They have read the research that says that zero-tolerance doesn't work. They've cited these studies. They understand most of the factors (at least in my experience). BUT, they are going through the forced motions of appeasing the knee-jerk reaction of the loudest group around, no matter what that group is or what their agenda is. Now, in the specific case of the school in this article, maybe not - there probably is a better way to go about it. But, in 99% of cases where you see a school set a zero tolerance policy, it is in response to PUBLIC outcry. So, when this zero-tolerance policy bites the PUBLIC on the ass, why do we ask for the school leaders or teachers to resign, instead of asking for the parents to resign?
If someone has a problem with laptops and/or smartphones (which we can assume to be silent and not playing 100db porn) in lectures disturbing their learning, the problem isn't the person using said device. The problem is your attention sucks and you need to figure out a way to get around it yourself. Electronic devices are absolutely non intrusive in lectures and if the prof has a problem because not everyone is looking attentive to the front then tough shit, chances are that person is paying attention even while using the device, wouldn't pay anymore attention without the device, or would not even be there.
I'd say that almost every class I've had after returning to school, most people I see are just screwing around on their laptops and maybe looking at lecture notes part of the time. Only in one class is the professor using our laptops as a teaching aid; having us set up our website. This naturally evolved during the semester and wasn't a forethought.
I swear to God...I swear to God! That is NOT how you treat your human!
I always find the "zero tolerance" thing (which seems most prevalent in education) to be annoying.
Im afraid that there's a lot of sampling bias going here. The only time a decision (whether in education or anything else) shows up in a discussion in major media (or slashdot) is when it is perceived as extreme. So while this may look like an extreme reaction of the sort we're "always" seeing, the fact is that there are hundreds and thousands of other potential stories that we're not seeing, precisely because they are more moderate.
Discussions of this type - exploring the extremes - are very useful for teasing out the important issues to be considered. Are we letting technology actually decrease the effectiveness of education? Is it the technology itself that is problematic, or have we failed to properly understand how we should be using it? Or are we failing to control how we use it, in the same way so many people struggle with how to control their eating habits?
PS: to force a paragraph/new line you need to type "less than sign p greater than sign" using symbols which this site won't let me write down without forcing a paragraph!
anyway its only one institute and a lousy one at that, as a electronics engieneering mayor i dont even have any lectures with that institute
I use my laptop in almost every class I have. The only exceptions so far being Foreign Language, Math, and the one required art class I had to take..
I generally have the wireless turned off on it, and the only things I have running are my note taking program, and any
pdfs or powerpoint slides for that class.
In two and a half years, I have only been in three classes where the Professor did not allow people to use laptops in their class.
Once I found that out, I went and dropped the class, and twice was able to take the same class from a different Professor the same semester, and the other time I was able to take a different class that fulfilled the same credit requirement.
I have really bad handwriting, always have, so when I have to write fast, I generally have a hard time reading it later on, and I can type way faster than I write.
Yeah, but Skype the company was founded by Swedish Niklas Zennström and Danish Janus Friis.
The developers working for Skype were Estonian.
The use of electronic devices in class is acceptable as long as it is restricted to work in class But students abuse it: they take phone calls, text away, and browse the social Web sites. If a device ban is the only available solution to prevent abuse then so be it.
No wonder every russian joke about estonians portraits them as being 'slow'.
So you're the reason why my philosophy classes required a 1 page essay for each class (with annotations added during during class discussion).
Not sure what school you go to but every class Ive taken we have been free to rent or buy the older editions for much cheaper. Obviously, its "at your own risk", but when youre renting for $20 for a semester its hardly a big risk.
This is known as the just world hypothesis.
...since neither seems to know the other exists.
Left hand meet the right hand...Right hand meet the the left hand.
Can you please fuck off back to 4chan?
Vroomfondle, is that you?
You know... I expected comments on an education-related article to be more literate, but hey... maybe it's just me.
* OP had "Capitalism at it's finest".
** Its child has "sentance", "the older on".
*** Its child also has "class Ive taken", "its at your own risk", "youre" and another occurrence of "its hardly".
If this isn't the Trifecta of Fail, I don't know what is.
...gis sdrawkcab (usually not responding to ACs; don't bother posting as AC)
"elbonia". Estonia is one of the most technologically advanced countries in Europe as far as communications are concerned.
>Moreover, it came just a day before the
So? Read your books at home (on stone tablets, if you want), listen to lectures in the auditorium.
I do not believe in karma. "Funny"=-6. Do good and forbid evil. Yours, Oft-Offtopic Flamebaiting Troll.
I'm a junior attending a pretty decent private school right now for Computer Science. Excluding my CS classes, every professor has banned any electronics equipment (i.e. laptops, cell phones) use during the class period, and I completely agree with them.
Even when you use a laptop correctly for taking notes, your clicking is disruptive to other students. Beyond that, the vast majority of students just screw around on facebook or other sites. Some are exceptions to the norms, but I would easily wager that 95% of all students who use laptops in college courses would do better with just paper and pencils.
From what I can gather, the only students crying about the bans are a bunch of whiny high-schoolers who don't take college seriously anyway.
I also missed a comma in the first section of my first sentence, and this post is missing a period at the end
Has it occurred to the poster that some notebooks aren't electronic devices?
I would transfer. They shouldn't be making decisions like that for me.
Well, yes. I am. Because the college class pace for that subject is easily twice as fast as I can really get around the ideas, so then rather than risk a "humanities" class trashing my grades I just ... didn't take it. I just bought the books on my own and I peruse them at my leisure.
My first Journal Entry ever, in 8 years! http://slashdot.org/journal/365947/aphelion-scifi-fantasy-horror-poetry-webzine
Zero-tolerance policies are put in place because teachers are cowards. They don't have the balls to stand up to disruptive students. So they hide behind "policies" they expect some "campus police" to enforce in their stead.
Well, J-Georg doesn't have the facts straight. 1. The respective devices are banned only if the lecturer opts for this. 2. No other place is so e-based as this institute, all assignments are already files and there are no books in any class anymore - that's why they could decide on that ban. 3. E-book readers are anyway permitted. 4. The ban is temportary as it says, until there are tools against social networking (and come on slashdot guys, since when is using the Web 2.0 a rational choice again...? ;-)) 4. By 2020, we still will have e-books? :-o
There was a TV show on it tonight, and the students from the department interviewed were all for the ban.
But well, why stick to the facts if it otherwise makes a catchy story, right? ;-)
yeah let's hear it for some racism, that's really cool!