As one of the thousands of students about to start another year at a Canadian university, I’ve been thinking about — and lamenting — the number of professors who use old-fashioned teaching methods.
Take the movement to ban laptops from university lectures — it’s just ridiculous. Professors who oppose laptops in lectures are out of touch. The issue isn’t us — it’s the way they teach. Some professors simply do not understand the way we learn. Too many haven’t woken up to the fact that in the 21st century many of us are digital learners.
Some teachers complain that students are surfing the net instead of paying attention — which is true. But whose fault is that — the student or the teacher?
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If lectures are to continue to exist at all, they need to be shorter, never more than two hours with a few short breaks. More important, lectures should have a good balance of teaching and active student involvement. Profs shouldn’t reject the digital, but embrace it — direct us to a video clip or a problem to solve on our laptops, to break up their lecture. Unfortunately, this approach is all too rare.
Using technology is how my generation communicates. It’s the modern way, and it can be used to excite us to learn — and to actually help teachers communicate. As well, effective use of technology can help instructors adapt to our individual differences.
In my case, I have a learning disability, and using a laptop helps me learn and stay focused. I have what is called “encoding” challenges, which makes it difficult for me to write and absorb information that is coming at me quickly. If I were to scramble and handwrite while trying to absorb verbal information at the same time, it would be so overwhelming that I’d be lost. Computers allow me to organize my thoughts and create opinions in a clear and organized way.
But even if exceptions were to be made for students with learning disabilities, the laptop ban still makes no sense. Many of my friends find it faster to type out their notes and easier to learn that way, too. I believe technology allows at least some of us to develop our thoughts in ways we otherwise might not be able to and therefore can create better learning outcomes. A ban would unfairly disadvantage certain kinds of learners.
Ten years ago, smart boards were the new thing, brought into public education classrooms across Canada to enhance student learning. These large touch-sensitive digital boards, hooked up to a computer, allow students to watch videos and draw visuals on the board, and solve problems in an active and interesting way. This is just one example of what the research shows — that visual aids and interactive learning are key to keeping us actively interested in the learning process.
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Teachers, rather than complain about students wandering away from your non-stop lecturing, take a look in the mirror. If 75 per cent of your students have Facebook open during your lecture — what does that say about your teaching? Perhaps a small portion of that 75 per cent doesn’t care enough to learn; they’d be on social media no matter what you said or did. But many more want to be engaged, if only professors would make the effort to adapt to how we learn.
So, don’t talk “at” us, interact with us. Embrace the technology to help yourself — and us. If you don’t, increasingly you will see fewer and fewer students in your lectures, while we go and learn what we need to learn elsewhere, and in different ways — ways that fit who we are. But we’d rather you help us.
Tai Notar is a second-year university student and the co-author of Too Far from Perfect: A Father—Daughter Conversation about Education.
