After today’s teaching observation, my mentor Christina Hendricks and I talked about the (mis)use of computers in lectures. We have both seen students using their computers to do… fun things in lectures. Facebooking and checking emails are surely not surprising. We have also seen quite a few students doing online-shopping. (I mean, why during a lecture??) I have also seen one student watching some skiing video…
This is just bad. The student facebooking or doing online-shopping are certainly not paying attention. But they may or may not know that they are also disturbing other students who may be trying to pay attention to the lecture.
Some lecturers therefore have very strict computer policies. Eric Margolis, I heard, forbids the use of computers or phones in class. But I think it is too strict. Many students do want to write notes on their computer. (And I do that too.) So this strict computer policy may be too disruptive for them.
What I would try in the future is to ask them to sit in the back of the lecture room at the very beginning of the term. I would explain to them that checking their facebook etc. would disturb other students, and that I do not want to have a strict computer policy. I would then ask them to be considerate and sit in the back of the room if they think they cannot help doing things.
University students are adults, so I hope that they will understand and be considerate. Am I too optimistic? Would my moral suasion work? I will let you know when I have a chance to experiment it.
