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Re: Laptop requirement?



-----Original Message-----
From: phys-l@lists.nau.edu: Forum for Physics Educators
[mailto:PHYS-L@lists.nau.edu]On Behalf Of Michael Edmiston
Sent: Thursday, March 08, 2001 5:19 PM
To: PHYS-L@lists.nau.edu
Subject: Re: Laptop requirement?


What I was reacting to was the idea that every student would bring a laptop
computer to every class. This is the thinking of quite a few people. We
have spent a fortune wiring our classrooms so every seat has campus network
and Internet capability. All the student has to do is sit down, plug in,
boot up... and tune me out.

The idea some have stated about "monitors off" or "laptop screens down" is a
contradiction to the overall idea.

I disagree. One of the first things you'll find in teaching in a classroom with
lots of computers is that sometimes the computers are useful, and sometimes they
are not. You don't use a hammer all the time when building a house, do you? It
is equally unreasonable to expect that the computer will be used all of the
time. If the activity you have created uses computers, then students will be
using the computers to do class work--that's what is desired. The problem with
computers comes when you're doing something that doesn't use the computer, and
then the computer is a distraction.

Another suggestion: arrange the classroom so that you can see most of the
computer screens when you are interacting with the students. The standard
lunch-room arrangement with desks all in a row, students facing the front of the
room and the instructor facing the students is the worst possible layout.
Students can then hide behind their machines, and the instructor can't see what
the students are doing. With almost any other arrangement, just the fact that
you can see the screens keeps students on task.

--JEG

--
John E. Gastineau john@gastineau.org
140 Tenderfoot Road (301) 387-8494
Oakland MD 21550-6957 (301) 387-8495 fax
USA http://gastineau.org