Laptops for learning? Don't you think the kids will be too distracted with Facebook to focus? Well, according to a professor at the University of Michigan who has developed a laptop learning program, kids these days can do productive multitasking and enhance their learning experience. Of course, they're still probably checkin' Facebook.
Excerpt:
"If you allow laptops in the classroom without a plan for how you'll
use them, you can potentially invite disaster. It's unlikely that
students will be so entranced by class material that they won't wander
off to their favorite social networking sites," Samson said. "The key is
to deliberately engage students through their computers. LectureTools
does just that."
LectureTools is an interactive student response system and teaching
module. Instructors at more than 400 colleges and universities have set
up accounts to use it.
Samson recently surveyed close to 200 students who, over the past
three semesters, have taken his Extreme Weather lecture course that
utilized LectureTools. Students reported that while they did sometimes
stray from in-class tasks, laptops with LectureTools made them feel more
attentive, engaged and able to learn, compared with classes that don't
use the system.
"Our surveys showed that while laptop computers can be a distraction,
students of this generation feel that they are capable of productive
multitasking," Samson said.
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