So we all have done it. Bring our laptop to class to take notes, and then before you know it, you are surfing the Internet and updating your Facebook status. You look up, and realize you have no idea what is going on in the class. I can admit that this happens to me in my night classes. The 3 hours just seems to drag on, and I just can't seem to focus on the professor for that long.
In the article "Attention Literacy", Howard Rheingold, a online professor, described a very interesting experiment. He videotaped his students while he was teaching a class because he wanted them to see what it looked like when hardly nobody was paying attention. The students were focusing on their laptops, and when they were on their laptops, they were not focusing on taking notes but on surfing the web.
The point of his video wasn't for students to focus on their professors, but to show them that paying attention takes practice. I think that this was very interesting experiment. I feel bad when I get sidetracked and stop paying attention to the professor, but it is so hard to stay focused. I think Rheingold is 100% right when he says paying attention is a skill that needs to be practiced. I have been practicing for years, but I still can't get the hang of not using my laptop in my night classes.
What are your thoughts? Do you use your laptop in classes to help make the time go by faster?
I agree with you that paying attention can be difficult. I don't even bring my laptop into class however, if I don't stay focused it isn't long before I catch myself sidetracked with thinking of my list of to-do's, homework, food, etc. I think laptops just make it easier to lose focus. :)
ReplyDeleteIt's partly the professor's responsibility to keep the students challenged. If I was constantly being challenged and engaged in class, I wouldn't feel the need to bring my laptop with me (and it's a 17" monolith, so it's a pain to lug around anyway). I've had some classes where the material is so thin that my time was much better served using my laptop. I once read the lecture slides ahead of time during class, started a paper, and then finished the paper before the professor even assigned it at the end. I got 100% on the assignment.
ReplyDeleteSo, on one hand, I'm glad having a laptop gives me a little more power over my time. On the other hand, I feel rude doing it sometimes, and it's easy to get distracted. I think it just requires some judgment: by bringing a laptop, are you missing material or enhancing it? It's a personal choice that depends on your ability to focus and on the difficulty of the class.
This is an interesting question, and as you can imagine, a hot button issue for professors. I'm curious, and it helps us profs to know where you as students are coming from: Why do you go to class if you know you'll mainly be using your laptop - is it because attendance is required? If the material is unchallenging, are you nonetheless stuck because it's a required class? Why don't you drop or take something else? (this is a question for all of you reading this post!)
ReplyDeleteAlthough I generally find non-class-related laptop use (and texting!) disrespectful, my general attitude is that it's up to the student to be responsible for their own learning, so they can do what they want as long as it doesn't interfere with others.
That said, my main concern with laptop use is not the student using the laptop, but how that student's laptop might be distracting to other students who might actually want to be engaged in class material. Do you find yourself distracted by others' use of electronics in class?
I own a laptop, but rarely do I bring it to class and find myself unattentive and lost in cyberspace. Now as for my laptop, I'm only speaking on behalf of that.
ReplyDeleteAs for my iPod Touch, which has wireless internet capability, I tend to bring it to class more often and surf the web sometimes while a professor is lecturing. Now, that's not because a professor is teaching boring material (because I don't like wasting money if you know what I mean) but it's because I always HAVE to know what's going around in the world and the internet is the fastest place for me to find out.
I think the internet is so beneficial that people forget about how fast they can get pulled to it. It's just so handy at filling our needs from such small devices and such.