Technology is personally one of my biggest downfalls when it comes to my success in the classroom because it is so distracting for me. It seems so efficient to bring a laptop and to take notes but in reality that is never what students actually use their laptops for during class. I sit in the very last row of my Biology 1020 class so I can see everything that is going on on people's computer screens. If I was not already distracted enough by my own laptop, these other computers would thoroughly do the trick. There is always a girl on skype a couple rows ahead of me. The boy on the screen is laughing and she is flailing around trying to explain that she cannot talk so instead they just stare at each other the rest of class. A few rows ahead of her there is a girl facebook stalking. She is going through some guys tagged pictures and clicking on every girls profile that is photographed with him. Other people have headphones in and are watching television shows on itunes or other sites. The classroom is utter chaos but this is the reality of a three hundred person lecture class. Bringing a laptop to class seems like a good idea but when the teacher cannot monitor anything and you are so bored you can barely keep your eyes open, why not use your computer to make your time in the class a little more fun? My phone is also equally as distracting to me. I constantly want to check the time and then I see I have a text so I get all wrapped up in that. I end up becoming more interested in my conversation about where I am going to have lunch then the material being presented to the class. Even if I am not the one texting, someone else is. There is not necessarily a way to avoid the situation but cell phones are for sure a negative aspect to the classroom environment. All of these technologies in the classroom are not only distracting to students but also to the teachers. A teacher is trying to teach you and that requires some effort. They are basically giving a presentation to you. Would you want people to not be focused on you when you are spending your time on someone? I cannot imagine how frustrating it must be as a teacher to look around the room and see a good majority of your class banging away on their laptops, texting under the desk, or listening to their ipods.
TEXTING IN CLASS!!!
The Debate over Laptops in class...
Every college student that has a class that is based around using technology can agree that it makes the class impersonal. I always took teachers for granted until I had to take one of these online classes. Needless to say I am not doing great in this class and I know that the rest of my class will back me up about this. The due dates for homework are on Saturday nights at 11 pm. Maybe it is just me but Auburn is an SEC school and expecting students to get their homework completed by 11 pm on a Saturday is just ridiculous. There are no exceptions either because the computer cannot respond to you. A computer holds absolutely no room for error, there is one way to type it in and one way only. If a teacher was correcting your test though they would be able to understand the students mistakes and possibly give some credit for the parts that you got right. I can honestly say that I have retained 0 information from my online course. These online classes such as CourseCompass, Blackboard, MasteringChemistry, and MasteringBiology are just a few of the commonly used online classrooms that makes learning so impersonal. E-mailing my teachers is also another impersonal aspect of technology when it comes to the classroom. My tigermail account comes directly to my blackberry and although it is efficient it makes me lazy. I feel less and less inclined to personally get to know my professors when I can be connected to them just as easily through the internet and a mobile phone. Recently, we had to register for classes. We had to have our advisors consent before we could begin this process but I had been e-mailing my advisor trying to set up a meeting since the beginning of school. I never heard back, not even once. Needless to say, this was a bit discouraging and made me very hesitant to go see him. I thought he was not responding to me for a specific reason but when I went to see him he informed me that he never uses e-mail because of how impersonal it is. I immediately agreed with him but also made him recognize that most students think they are supposed to communicate through e-mail.
This is a facebook group I found that is dedicated to how much people hate online math and this was one of many...
Technology is advancing rapidly but with all of these advancements, it is becoming more complicated. One of the students biggest complaints about some of the technology that is incorporated in class is how complicated it is. Every week before my chemistry lab I have to submit a lab report on a website called http://www.chem21labs.com/. I have never been more confused by any website in my life and I do not think my professor understands it much better than I do. There are no instructions at all, it just expects you to know what do. I could handle that if the teacher knew what he was doing, but he did not know the answer to any of my classes questions. My biggest concern with technology is how if there is ever any complications or failure with the the technology being used, it really is out of my hands. I realize that teachers are understanding of technical difficulties but there is nothing more frustrating than not being able to complete an assignment because of problems with technology that are out of my hands. Everytime you use technology you are having to put trust in it. In high school I took a history course where the teacher would constantly show paintings to the class. We had a smart board in the class room but our teacher refused to use it so he used one of those old-fashioned projectors. He would have it set on the perfect focus for the first picture but every picture requires a different focus that you have to adjust manually. He always ended up freaking out by the third picture because he couldn't figure it out and he was too stubborn to let any of us help him. Instead he would get angry, complain about how complicated it was, and say "class dismissed!" At the time, I loved that projector because it got me out of class early about once or twice a week but thinking back on it, that should not have happened. A projector is a very simple form of technology and because of the complications it gave our teacher, it hindered our learning time.
Dr. Joe Ward discusses issues with technology in the classroom and gives examples he has personally experienced...
Although I know that I could not get through a day without technology at this point in time, I really do believe that technology is making changes to the classroom environment for the worst. Between the distractions, the complications, and the impersonal nature that comes along with technology, it is hard to say that is does not have a negative impact on ones school work. We all need to take a look at how technology effects us? If the negatives of technology out weigh the positives then something needs to be done. Students need to seriously consider how they learn best and teachers need to help their students learn not follow a trend. I am not exactly sure what has made us think that technology is always the best route but personally I do not think that distracting, impersonal, and complicated sound like positive words.
