Technology: The Great Escape?
In my experience I find that the students who forego using there phones and computers in the classroom learn much better and test better than those who actually pay attention and take "Analog Notes". I accept this technology but I don't trust that Gen Y has the self discipline or discernment to use it in a purely beneficial manner. It is not really their fault. The technology is designed with many distractions. I could really go on about this, but I think I'll keep it short. In this course it says that Gen Y can multi-task by listening, taking notes and sending a text to a friend. That is just plain wrong. I test students on this almost daily and when asked to repeat what I just said they cannot.
I think it is true for some students, not all I have seen some student actually do it. I have seen students read a paragraph while listening to their music and sneak a text or two and get 100% on the test pertaining to the paragraph they just read.
The people who study how our brains work have reported over and over again that we can focus on one thing at a time. It is a different thing to listen to music and do something else. I listen to music and read. In that scenario, I'm focussing on the reading. The music is blocking out conversations on the bus or the subway. People, including our students, are bad enough listeners without making things worse with electronic distractions.
