Technology in the University Classrom

Keeping on the topic of technology in the university classroom for the week, I want to revisit my 3-hour lecture. This is the course that initially fueled the fire to write my first 21st Century Learner post. I love the material in the course, I love the lecturer (she is clear, speaks well, and is interesting to listen to), but the TAs are less lovable. From what I understand, the TAs jobs are to grade any assignments we have (daily write ups, quizzes, homework, exams), but also to circle around the lecture hall like vultures waking students up, telling them to put their phones away, or telling them to get off facebook or any other website that doesn't look like notes. The rationale provided by the TAs for this behavior is:

1. It is distracting to other students.
2. You are paying for this course, why would you spend time on things like facebook.
3. It is against department policy to use technology during the lecture (this is actually what the TA said in an announcement to the class).
4. You should act the way you want your future students to act.
5. If you have other things to do in this class, then leave. You should be focused on this course.

I know I am not entitled to use my cellphone or laptop in class, but I am having a hard time understanding this rationale from the TAs' perspective. It must be a generational/technological divide between us, because many of those reasons the TAs have given for not using laptops or cellphones in class are the reasons I would use in support of using laptops or cellphones in class. 

1. It is distracting to other students. Let me tackle the distraction argument. In a lecture hall of 100+ students, I will not notice someone on the other side of the room, or even really the person in front of me, surfing facebook. This is because I am paying attention to the lecturer, and I will only be distracted by others surfing the web if I want to be distracted. The only real distractions that occur in a lecture hall are movements (shuffling through papers, getting out of a seat, people walking around) or talking. Other things like checking a cellphone are not your business, you should be focused at the front of the hall anyway and not at the person next to you or even down the row pulling out their phone to check the time. I am highly distracted by the TAs walking around the room, telling students in regular voice to shut their laptops, or when the TAs are trying to wake a student that is sitting in the middle of a row surrounded by other students who has fallen asleep. Last week, the TA actually climbed over chairs into the center of the lecture hall to wake up a student. Suffice it to say, I do not know what happened in lecture that day because I was more focused on the TAs talking, walking around, and their attempts to wake up sleeping students. Honestly, a sleeping student is the least of my distractions.

2. You are paying for this course, why would you spend time on things like facebook. I am paying for this course, so why wouldn't I spend time on facebook during class? I think this is another technological divide, but when I use facebook in class it is not for general surfing. Facebook has a feature called "groups" where you can have a discussion board and share documents, events, photos, etc. with the other members of the group. This course provides incomplete lecture slides prior to class, so as 21st century students we create a collaborative document with the lecture slides that the members of the group can open and edit in order to make it complete. The link to this document is posted on the group facebook for easy retrieval. Many of my classmates were reprimanded for having facebook open simply to get the link to this document. Facebook also has a built-in chat which allows me to ask questions to my peers without distracting others by talking aloud. Since everyone in the lecture hall can see it (everyone in the lecture knows each other, and is a member of the group by design), if they had that question too they can see it answered if they choose. You can minimize or not participate in the chat, it is at the full discretion of the student.

3. It is against department policy to use technology during the lecture. This statement infuriated me. For  one, I was not informed of any department policy (I am very well familiar with the Student Code, which does not have anything in it about technology), nor does this policy actually exist. I am unsure of the intent of this statement. I also would think that many people in the department would disagree with this because of the increasing use of technology in the education process.

4. You should act the way you want your future students to act. I agree with this, but I am in a different situation that my future students will be. My future students may not have access to technology, or my school may have a policy regarding technology use (such as cellphones or laptops) in the classroom. Even if my students were able to use their cellphones in class, I would encourage the usage of their cellphone for classroom related activities in order to model proper behavior and usage in the classroom. Although I do admit getting distracted every once in a while and checking my email on my smartphone (it is a 3 hour straight lecture), I do use my phone in a way I want my future students to. Today I was unable to bring my laptop to class, so I took notes on my smartphone. I was promptly told to put my cellphone away because it is a distraction. Why is there discrimination against my smartphone in the classroom?

5. If you have other things to do in this class, then leave. You should be focused on this course. I do agree with this, but please practice what you preach. You tell us that if we're grading for another class or doing homework we need to put it away or leave. TAs, please don't grade or look at other material during our lecture either. It supposedly is your job to be there for the full 3 hours, that is not the time for grading if we cannot do grading either. You should be modeling proper behavior too, like I am trying to do for my future students.

I think this will be my last post regarding the lack of technological support in this course. It is the one bad seed of the semester, and I will just need to deal with it.