I have seen this abused as well, but I have seen a bunch of students video tape demo's the instructors do. I think this is quite handy and provides a sense of repetition.
Hi Matt,
I think this is a good idea as well. This way the students can go over the demo as much as they need to get the procedures down in their minds.
Gary
I've actually taken pictures of the board for them and distributed them through my web site. Of course, this is usually when we're discussing - or developing - more complex concepts, such as a diagram, flowchart, set of troubleshooting steps - something that I'd like them to keep to show the summation of their work.
When we can, we like to work with wikis, online discussion forums, 'cloud' computing to share collaborative work within shared documents. Students in our field need to be aware of and able to use these technologies, and it makes sense to utilize them as part (and in support of) the learning process.
I prefer that my students write their notes instead of taking pictures. I feel that the process of writing helps with their retention.
I'm all for technology, but this seems like a lazy way of partcipating in class. Taking a picture of notes? I don't find this practical for learning. I have seen students take pictures of items they are disassembling in my class to assure proper reassembly. That I would agree is a usefull function for a camera phone.
Hi Andrew,
The tactile process of taking notes does increase the retention of content because students are not only hearing it they are seeing it and then writing it so they have three memory triggers they are using.
Gary
Except for calulators and hearing aids electronics have no place in a classroom, under normal circustances. Cheating has shown up different ways we had astudent retaking a test for unproven cheating. The procter thought his earphones were to relax with music, months later we found out he paid a classmate $20 to be on the cellphone to give him answers. The going price for pictures of our 100 qustion final test last session was $40, $25 for our 50 question mid-term. We lost a few alleged students last session. Besides texting themselves answers, early finishers of the tests go ouside and text answers to slow people. One fast finisher prepared text on his ipad and came back in and set it next to a slow tester. The instructor had the same model saw it there hesais"Charley left his phone here, pickd it up, erased the text and put it down. The slow student scored higher than the guy trying to give the answers. Texting non-class related material during quizes, lectures, audio-visuals and study time disrupts a class. They are more interested in who the Kardashians slept with last night than class work. Quite ioften a student has been absent two or three days and the office can not get ahold of him, I ask if any bidy can cll him, usually within five m inutes I will know the full reason and if he will be back. We have supervision on speed dial, more than once an instructor called about a bad situation they have involved a drunk or tweeker.
I carry a cell phine, off during class hours and have taken carecbusiness duringbreaks not in the classroom and my wife knows that im off, when she has to get ahold of me, she calls the office. I have given homewirk that the answer is on Google, some students catch that right away.
Jim,
Good comments about how technology is being used for both good and evil. Students in many cases work harder in cheating that they do in learning the material. The sad part is if they don't know the content and have the skills when they are in the work world they will not be successful. You can't cheat in the work world for very long before you will be gone. It is an ongoing problem that all of us instructors need to be aware of and strive to stop. Thanks for sharing these examples with us. You have listed some new ones to me.
Gary
Dr. Gary Meers
