A common complaint we hear from faculty is students use of their laptops to surf the Web during lecture classes.
Ubiquitous wireless access paired with everyone owning laptops has introduced the huge potential for distraction to the classroom.
According to a Chronicle first person account some professors have banned laptops from class. Many advocate the efficacy of reducing the use of technology to reclaim the learning space:
"Despite digital distractions, ever-larger class sizes, decreased budgets, and fewer tenured colleagues, professors still are responsible for turning students on to learning. To do so, we just may have to turn off the technology."
I believe that it is a mistake to see laptops as detrimental to learning. In my experience laptops are in fact an essential tool for effective teaching and learning.
Some ideas from how we are using laptops as learning tools from our course this summer:
1) The 2 minute PowerPoint. This is analogous to the old 1 minute essays that we wrote in our classes.
Method: Break the students into groups if 3 or 4: Give them a research question from the curriculum that they need to turn into a 2 minute presentation. Stress that the presentation needs to "teach" a core concept from the curriculum.
Give the students 15 minutes to research and create the PowerPoint, and then have them publish the files to the Blackboard Course Blog. Once all the students have published have each group come up to the classroom computer and give their 2 minute presentation.
2) The "instant" voice-over presentation: This requires that students download the free Jing or have JingPro. The learning goals are the same as the 2 minute PowerPoint - with the objective of turning students into producers rather then consumers of knowledge.
Method: Again give the groups a list of presentation questions/issues based on the weeks reading (it is important to give the groups some choice). Have them make a PowerPoint and a voice-over presentation - and then publish that presenation to the Course Blog through upload or linking to their uploaded YouTube submission. When everyone has uploaded the work have the students watch the voice-over presenations from their laptops and put commentary in the Blog.
Extensions: Once the barrier is crossed from student "consuming" to student "producing" in class then many possibilities start to emerge. The easy availablity of standard authoring tools combined with ubiquitos wireless means that students can quickly become creators. The stress is on the process, not the ends, as the process requires students to come to class prepared to "teach" materials and ready to engage in a discussion with other students about the most effective way to present their ideas.
What are your ideas to utilize free and/or easily available tools to turn your students in creators, sharers and teachers during our classroom time?
What are the downsides to this approach?
Recent Comments