Technology and Memory
I am fascinated by observing my younger students, whose interaction with technology is seamless. I have students who will take pictures of the board, instead of write down notes, students who take notes on their phones....These are things we've probably all seen. I am interested in a larger discussion of how effective this use of technology is in the retention of information?
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
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.
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
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.
I prefer that my students write their notes instead of taking pictures. I feel that the process of writing helps with their retention.
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.
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 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 Pamela,
Thanks for sharing this great example of technology use and abuse. You are right about times achanging. It keeps us instructors on our toes trying incorporate such technology and still retain control of the flow of course content.
Gary
I like the comment you made about working with technology rather than fighting it. There are times when I am tempted to load my lessons on facebook... Of course, my school does not allow us to have our students on Facebook...
Seriously, though.. One of my fellow instructors shared with me a situation in a communications class: He had grouped together all of the students in pairs of two and given them a group written assignment. All of the students got into groups, except for on. The two students were sitting on opposite ends of the classroom. When he asked the students what they were doing, they promptly showed him that they had completed the required activity completely on their smart phones. They had done all their discussions via the smart phones and used the technology to create a document.
Although it was the instructor's intent for them to work in "groups" this was these particular students interpretation of "working in groups".
Times are achanging... If we don't work with the technology, we will find that it works against us.
Hi Alphia,
It seems that no matter what policy is in effect students will attempt to cheat or take the easy way out of doing their assignments. These students are the ones that have all kinds of problems in their careers and can't seem to figure out if they would just put forth the effort they would be rewarded with success.
Gary
I have caught students cheating using the cell phone as a note pad or cheat sheet. One student recited the application of a clinical on her phone and in class had her ear piece in to listen / cheat on her clinical test. There is a no cell phone policy in my class during class time and i have to agree the use of technology is good but often times is misused to do bad things.
Hi Francis,
You make a number of very good points about how to use technology in a positive and supportive way. I due like you with my PP and post them on Blackboard. This way the students can pull them off ahead of class and have them available to follow when we are discussing them in class.
One of my challenges is keeping up with the technology so I can use integrate the use of it into my instruction.
Keep up the good efforts you are putting forth to provide your students with content in the most effective and efficient manner.
Gary
I like this discussion. The bad practices just outline the challenge. You cannot stop the progression of technology, the challenge is how to handle it. Censoring a communication channel is temporarily effective. It is beeter to use that delay due to a ban to find a way to incorparate it into instructional methods.
The military learned that fighting technology is harder than working with it. Efforts to bar soldiers from blogging, for example, were recently reversed. Techological or bureaucratic barriers were not cost effective and undermined some positive aspects of the technology. It is more common now to see Facebook and Twitter feeds on the same sites.
When texting becomes disruptive or distracting to a class, then it must be stopped. On the other hand, taking a photo of the board...or my favorite, "just send me a copy of the slides" is not lazy, just doesn't seem very effective. Offer them a better outlet. Print or post on-line an outline view of PPT or give them an outline from on which they can take notes. Post on-line with whatever protection is available (e.g. password, read-only, or saved as a picture not a file - if that export affects intellectual property).
Hi Lauren,
I'm not sure what you have found to be ineffective in your classroom. Can you expand on this a little? Thanks.
Gary
I have found in the past that this is very ineffective. I no longer allow it in my classroom.
Passing out handouts to students is no different than allowing students to take a picture of the board. I allow students to help themselves to my power-point presentations (download onto their thumb drives) Allowing our (young sometimes) adult learners to decide what works best for them is a sign of respect and keeping an open mind about their selected methods will at least not shut down an opportunity to learn.
I am surprised so many people are against these new uses of technology in the classrooms. While I agree that students shouldn't just be allowed to take a picture of the board and then mentally check out, we need to be realistic about the way the world is changing. People love their cell phones these days. If we can make learning more fun by allowing them to use the technology that excites them, we should. I do know that sometimes students are texting on their phones. It is the new version of passing notes, an old tradition that will never die, just evolve. But I also know that sometimes they are using their phones to look up information about the topic we are discussing. They are checking definitions of words, or looking up names of people I have referenced in my lecture. They are being interactive and supplementing my words with images and new information.
Hi Josh,
When students take notes by hand they are involving a number of learning components, visual, cognitive and tactile. The incorporation of all these help with retention of content and increased application of their new knowledge. So you are on the right track with your approach in the setting you are working within.
Gary
