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Students Are Better Off Without a Laptop in the Classroom

scientificamerican.com

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Re: Students Are Better Off Without a Laptop in the Classroom

#221

Post by grasshopperpurp »

Techn0logist wrote: post #175
stephengillie wrote: post #155

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Or simply exercise some self-control, and do not visit social media while you are working, studying, or otherwise occupied. If you hate what you're doing so much, that you have to do something so unhealthy as locking yourself in isolation to perform the task, you probably shouldn't do it. Listen to yourself, and go do what you want to do instead.

This is a naive and harmful view of self-control. You can love something to pieces, yet still find yourself unable to do it, merely because the draw of the internet is too powerful. We are not optimized to deal with the stimulus of the internet. I have found that unfettered access to it is reducing life quality, and I'm not waiting for twenty double-blind peer-reviewed studies to show this obvious reality. It is much…

Quazarz vs. The Jealous Machines was inspired by a similar sentiment. Great album.

http://www.npr.org/2017/07/06/534316470/first-listen-shabazz...

Re: Students Are Better Off Without a Laptop in the Classroom

#222

Post by kwhitefoot »

chongli wrote: post #182
SilasX wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would say that the lecture model works, but only when specific preconditions are met: 1) Eager learners who have reflected on the same material before coming in, to the extent that they know the gaps in their understanding. 2) A lecturer who is above the students' level (on the material) and willing/able to answer arbitrary questions about the topic. 3) Students keeping up and asking questions to ensure that they s…

Almost anything works with eager learners. They learn in spite of the bad teaching methods. They are the best candidates to be autodidacts.

We're discussing university lectures?

If so why are there any non-eager learners?

Re: Students Are Better Off Without a Laptop in the Classroom

#223

Post by throwawayjava »

gambogi wrote: post #164
throwawayjava wrote: post #128

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I realize my experience is anecdotal FWIW I'm not totally convinced that the paper isn't also anecdotal. They selected for people who would agree to have their internet activity spied on in exchange for extra credit, and then from that group selected only for people using the internet -- not their computers, but the internet! -- in more than half the lectures. And did all of this in a large enrollment undergraduate…

is there really any reason to expect the students who didn't take free points in exchange for privacy to outperform the observed group? Sure, the results pertain more to excluding the internet from the classroom, but really that's just splitting hairs imo

Is there any reason we should be guessing at this when the experimenters could've chosen some other incentive (or none at all)?

And yes, I'd expect weaker students to be the more likely to spend their time / privacy on extra points.

Re: Students Are Better Off Without a Laptop in the Classroom

#224

Post by steveo3387 »

throwawayjava wrote: post #128
zeta0134 wrote: post #74

Oh, okay, I thought the study was going to be on the benefits of attempting to use the laptop itself for classroom purposes, not for social media distractions. This would be more accurately titled, "Students Are Better Off Without Distractions in the Classroom." Though I suppose, it wouldn't make a very catchy headline. I found my laptop to be very beneficial in my classroom learning during college, but only when I m…

> I realize my experience is anecdotal FWIW I'm not totally convinced that the paper isn't also anecdotal. They selected for people who would agree to have their internet activity spied on in exchange for extra credit, and then from that group selected only for people using the internet -- not their computers, but the internet! -- in more than half the lectures. And did all of this in a large enrollment undergraduate…

The paper is entirely anecdotal. It's a small, self-selected group who also selected when they would be tracked. I do believe that the group's worse performance was related to their laptop usage, though. So a third variable, perhaps a quality of the students, caused them to do the observed behavior (have a laptop, sign up, log into the process and then) and do worse in their courses.

Finally, doing slightly worse on two hour gen eds is also not the same thing as doing worse in general. Those classes are ones students are forced to take, often with professors who are forced to teach them. I know my gen eds were lower quality classes, with more people, less participation, worse teaching, and worse assignments.

Re: Students Are Better Off Without a Laptop in the Classroom

#226

Post by Balgair »

mhandley wrote: post #207
JTon wrote: post #97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A counter argument for the sake of discussion: students in the classroom can add value to the recorded lectures by engaging the professor with questions that ask to clarify, extend, etc. If there are no students left, the students rely fully on the profs ability to monologue. Could be a risk. Could dilute the lecture's potential.

As a professor, I'm increasingly trying to avoid using a computer to lecture. I'm making a lot more use of a whiteboard pen to explain things, backed up by powerpoint slides, video and audio only when I think it adds. The nice thing about using a pen is there isn't a set script - I can digress, or add extra explanation as needed. I do have detailed notes for how I plan to do the lecture, but I very rarely use those n…

Good on you! However, most PIs aren't like this. Their preparation is half-assed at best, and even then begrudgingly so. Thanks for taking the time and actually trying to do something. It's funny, in the ivory tower the word 'professor' has changed it's meaning somehow in the last 25 years or less. They think it means something like manager/grant-writer of grad students you get to boss around (and at least at some places, sexually harass with impunity). However, the rest of the world is still on the old definition of teacher/mentor/disseminator-of-knowledge. It's real strange to see these two ideas mix and the PIs come out on top, oddly.

Also, make sure to never ask:"Ok, now does that make sense?" after going through some real crazy math or something. It makes us feel real dumb when you do that and we then can't ask questions about it. Many PIs do that and it ticks me off to no end. It's like they really don't want to teach at all or have us interrupt their flow in any way.

Re: Students Are Better Off Without a Laptop in the Classroom

#227

Post by anonymfus »

throwawayjava wrote: post #128
zeta0134 wrote: post #74

Oh, okay, I thought the study was going to be on the benefits of attempting to use the laptop itself for classroom purposes, not for social media distractions. This would be more accurately titled, "Students Are Better Off Without Distractions in the Classroom." Though I suppose, it wouldn't make a very catchy headline. I found my laptop to be very beneficial in my classroom learning during college, but only when I m…

> I realize my experience is anecdotal FWIW I'm not totally convinced that the paper isn't also anecdotal. They selected for people who would agree to have their internet activity spied on in exchange for extra credit, and then from that group selected only for people using the internet -- not their computers, but the internet! -- in more than half the lectures. And did all of this in a large enrollment undergraduate…

These processes are called a self-selection bias and a sampling bias. Please don't use the word "anecdotal" in such contexts.

Re: Students Are Better Off Without a Laptop in the Classroom

#228

Post by njarboe »

throwawayjava wrote: post #123
njarboe wrote: post #116

This is a summary of an article titled "Logged In and Zoned Out: How Laptop Internet Use Relates to Classroom Learning" published in Psychological Science in 2017; The DOI is 10.1177/0956797616677314 if you want to check out the details. Abstract: Laptop computers are widely prevalent in university classrooms. Although laptops are a valuable tool, they offer access to a distracting temptation: the Internet. In the st…

> ...Students who were enrolled in an introductory psychology course... Ugh. Also, from the paper: > Five hundred seven students enrolled in an introductory psychology class in fall 2014... Each lecture lasted 1 hr and 50 min with a 10-min break in the middle. Alternative headline: "500 person intro courses with meat-space lecture periods lasting TWO HOURS are stupid, and everything else is water under the bridge" ed…

I believe that we may know a lot about how students at top western universities that take introductory psychology courses think and behave. As for the rest of us, who knows.

Re: Students Are Better Off Without a Laptop in the Classroom

#230

Post by bluGill »

noxToken wrote: post #103
nambit wrote: post #100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The reason hand written notes are more effective is that it helps towards better learning just by writing the thing down and slowing it to a pace where your mind can make memories. Even if afterwards the notes are completely illegible, I would argue it's more effective than typed notes.

Wouldn't that only be effective insofar as initial recall goes? If the handwriting is illegible and you don't remember something, then you've missed out on everything that you can't remember. Digital notes may make you miss more on the first pass, but at least you'll have material to study.

75% of the value of notes is it helps me keep focused. My mind wants to wander away ("that reminds me of...") - 10 minutes latter I realize I've been daydreaming about some camping trip years ago and I have no idea what the lecture is about anymore. Taking notes helps me focus by giving me a goal: what about the lecture is important enough that I want to write it down. Sometimes I review my notes latter, but generally I find it isn't worth the time.
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