Over the last several years, this campus has become wired: WiFi fills residence halls, parks and classrooms; we use Google’s mail and collaborative tools; the administration has pushed for more online textbooks and lesson plans; computers, projectors and even Blu-Ray players are commonplace in classrooms. We’ve moved registrar resources, course signups and all forms of communication to the Internet. We have classes sharing Tumblr accounts, Twitter handles, Basecamp workflows and YouTube channels. We are surrounded by technology every day. So why are more professors than ever banning students from bringing it into the classroom?
Students’ fears on the first day of class used to be about coursework and attendance policy. But today’s students enter their first lecture anxiously awaiting the professor’s electronic device policy. It’s not uncommon to hear hundreds of laptops clapping shut shortly after syllabi are distributed. It’s the sound of an epidemic. Read more…
