Should There Ban a Complete Ban on Technology in the Classroom

Arguments against Using Technology in the Classroom

Technology takes focus away from lectures (Straumsheim, 2016). Students may text or browse the internet if the class lecture is boring instead of focusing on the lecture. If students are not paying attention to the professor or guest speaker, then they cannot be learning. According to McCoy, his study showed that technological distractions wasted one-fifth of their time (Straumsheim, 2016). Distraction leads to low grades. Distraction, as defined by Gazzaley and Rosen, is “the result of a conflict with our brain’s ability to conceive and plan long-term goals and our ability to control our minds and our environment as we work to complete these goals” (Lang, 2017, no page).

PowerPoint slides provide students with a reason not to take notes. They can download the slides and read them after class. If students just read the slides afterwards, then they are not really engaged as much. Taking notes is active learning because it requires students to listen. This is where learning starts. Jeff Bezo banned PowerPoints in meetings (Glazer, 2018). Instead, he gave everyone notes to read in a memo form a few hours before meetings. The meetings went better when there was a discussion rather than more of a lecture. Bezo's new practice created more fruitful and productive meetings. Everyone was more focused and attentive.

Learning starts in the classroom. It begins with actively listening and through having class discussions usually with desks and chairs in a circle or group work (Straumsheim, 2016). The traditional way of teaching with using a blackboard and traditional note-taking methods by students can never be replaced with technology.

Arguments for Using Technology in the Classroom

Technology helps with presenting information in different ways to make students learn better. Since not all students learn the same way, professors need a variety of methods and approaches to make lectures interesting to everyone (Volk, 2018).

There are more channels to deliver information in dynamic ways with technology. Polling with Poll Everywhere and Qualtrics is an easy and quick way to strike a debate or discussion with course material. In terms of written work, employing ePortfolio and other types of social media are a great way to change up a written assignment. Having the diversity of assignments makes it more enticing for students to pay more attention.

A Balance between Technology and Discussion in the Classroom

The right solution is a balance between technology and discussion (Volk, 2018). Using technology for the right reasons makes more sense than a complete ban.

Professors should create interesting lectures. This may mean shorting lectures and tasking more group work in class (Volk, 2018). Also, using skeletal notes in PowerPoint slides as handouts forces students to complete their class notes while using technology (Volk, 2018). This Spring 2019 ENG 201A Prof. Bookman 16 makes students fill in the information, which makes them to start actively learn the information for their classes.

For me, students need to be held accountable for what they do in the classroom when using technology. They submit whatever they completed with the task via email before they leave class. This is one of the ways that they are graded. If they did not do the work assigned to them in class, then they receive no credit or less credit for it.

Regardless, some students will always find a way to look at their phone or do something personal with their technology they bring into the classroom. If professors use this urge of students and work with them rather than fight with them, a common middle ground can be found.