Having come from Andrews University where nearly half of the students in any given class use laptops to “take notes” I have been shocked at what is happening here at UCL! Teachers allow laptops in class, but no one is using them!
One of the biggest controversies in my former school, Andrews University Seminary, is regarding how classes should physically be conducted in regard to the use of laptops during class. As a tool, laptops are a handy way to take and record notes. Most people today, can type faster than they can write. People like me also have the added benefit of being able to read the notes afterwards when they are typed on a computer (my handwriting is horrendous and spelling similarly bad)!
So why do teachers at Andrews not want students to use laptops?
If laptops were used just for taking notes there wouldn’t be a problem. However, in the world we live in, wireless internet is a must. But students have abused this availability and taken to playing games, surfing the web, and watching movies (and all of this in class while the teacher is lecturing), which serves as a distraction to other students and a waste of time and education for themselves! There is the further problem of having a small wall (the computer screen) between the student and the teacher. And some instructors say that it is also harder to carry on a dialogue with the students while some are typing.
I, personally, like to take notes on paper as I can draw diagrams quickly and edit on the fly so I never really planned on using a computer in class (and only did during the last semester or two while still at Andrews – just to try it out; I ended up taking notes on the computer and on paper at the same time, which defeated the purpose). But while I didn’t want to, I did recognize that some needed to and so I had no problem with students using their computers in the right way.
When I first noticed that laptops were not being used at UCL I thought that maybe, since the buildings are all old and there are not many plug-ins, that students just couldn’t use laptops. I brought the subject up before class just yesterday and discovered that fellow students were shocked that anyone would want to use a laptop at all! I found out that (at least in the schools where these students studied) very few students ever use laptops here. Everyone (that I talked to about it) felt that it was actually easier to take notes on paper!
UCL is ranked this year #4 in one of the lead tables. That is 4th best university in the world. And yet here, in this institution that bills itself as a “Global University” for its diversity and reputation for being a cutting edge research school, for students to not want to use laptops was stunning! It certainly speaks on a few levels to the difference in expectation that students have between the US and the UK.
But I wonder…do students use laptops at your school?
that is an interesting observation. It must be that the students feel much more engaged that they do not want to have distractions. I wonder how they treat i phones.
ReplyDeleteI have spoken with more classmates since I posted this and they feel that the clicking of the keys is too rude to their fellow classmates. As for i phones - lots of people have them but no one uses them for notes. Paper and pencil/pen is the standard (with many just sitting and listening - not making many notes at all).
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