I've worked as a technician for Community college, University and Middle School. The truth of the matter is that sometimes technology detracts from human-to-human communication and understanding. Anyone who says otherwise is being unrealistic. A key element to human communication is facial expressions and eye contact. If your face is buried in a laptop while trying to type every word, you run the risk of missing information, context and nuance -- the things that differentiate quality education from memorizing facts.
This whole argument about "I pay for the education" is a misguided and disrespectful. The professor is trying to impart knowledge to the student in the ways that they (theoretically) have found to be the best. On the most basic level, it's rude in to put something in front of your face in *any* lecture/meeting/presentation. That's just basic courtesy.
I'm currently part of a project at the University of Michigan that is developing an Open Source "clicker" environment. We've been testing the system for about a year now. This semester, three large classes (150+) will be using it. The system uses wireless, iPaqs and in-house developed software. The project has funding from HP and the University of Michigan. Aside from the technical support, the team also has a psychologist to observe the affect on the students. Once our testing is done, most of the project will be made available to other Universities under some sort of common license. Those details are still being hashed out, but we do plan on making this available to others.
Of particular note is that this environment is actually a lot more than just yes/no, on/off clicking. There are interactive flash graphics and a lot of features that make it truly engaging.
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I've worked as a technician for Community college, University and Middle School. The truth of the matter is that sometimes technology detracts from human-to-human communication and understanding. Anyone who says otherwise is being unrealistic. A key element to human communication is facial expressions and eye contact. If your face is buried in a laptop while trying to type every word, you run the risk of missing information, context and nuance -- the things that differentiate quality education from memorizing facts. This whole argument about "I pay for the education" is a misguided and disrespectful. The professor is trying to impart knowledge to the student in the ways that they (theoretically) have found to be the best. On the most basic level, it's rude in to put something in front of your face in *any* lecture/meeting/presentation. That's just basic courtesy.
I'm currently part of a project at the University of Michigan that is developing an Open Source "clicker" environment. We've been testing the system for about a year now. This semester, three large classes (150+) will be using it. The system uses wireless, iPaqs and in-house developed software. The project has funding from HP and the University of Michigan. Aside from the technical support, the team also has a psychologist to observe the affect on the students. Once our testing is done, most of the project will be made available to other Universities under some sort of common license. Those details are still being hashed out, but we do plan on making this available to others. Of particular note is that this environment is actually a lot more than just yes/no, on/off clicking. There are interactive flash graphics and a lot of features that make it truly engaging.