Last week I was in Lisbon taking part in a training of trainers week organised by Oxford University Press. The training week was very intense and could have lead to blog posts on many subjects but I’ve chosen a theme that caused me such puzzlement throughout the week.
One of my roles was to pilot some material we have written for a training course we are putting together on technology. As such on one of the days we asked the group to bring their laptops to the training room (not that this was an unusual request as a few of us always have them with us to use in sessions). This group has over 350 years of training experience between us so discussions were often long and thought provoking. On the day most of the group had their laptops a spontaneous discussion broke out over the fact people’s face were obscured behind the screen – the discussion being about what if these were students?
As the week went on it seemed that there was more and more consternation over some of us using our laptops in sessions, even leading to a night when one trainer asked us ‘Is it ok to tell people to close their laptops in sessions’. My answer to that is yes the same way we ask students to shut their books etc but I would expect them to be shut for a purpose.
We tried to explain that these days we use laptops to take notes, instead of paper but despite our assurances there seemed to be a level of paranoia over computer use which permeated through the week.
So I am confused, why the distrust of computer users? Why are people so anti them in training sessions or classes? (Bear in mind this was a closed training group NOT a conference so there was no tweeting of peoples’ sessions – something which can worry some speakers). It seems to me that by holding such views we are not accounting for the different way people learn or accepting that the people in the classroom (on either side of the teacher’s desk) are from a generation younger than our own.
Thinking back about the week (and asking my computer-using colleagues), we used our computers to:
- take notes on word (in place of pen and paper)
- take notes via mind-mapping
- look something up on google (related to things in sessions when we didn’t know words, the source of something and so on)
- collect information that we could then send to our colleagues via email
- pass notes (sending the occasional direct message via twitter)
- the occasional distraction (looking at our emails, blogs and so on)
What strikes me about this list is that that most of these things would take place without a laptop:
Students take notes, students pass notes (usually with far more commotion than a direct tweet) so how is the use of a laptop any more of a distraction? To say the laptop makes more of a distraction is simply not true – a distracted student is always a distracted student. In fact those times when I was looking at my email, I was being quietly distracted which I find much better than the little chats that break out by those neither engaged nor able to look at a computer screen. Here I reminded of a quote from Tom Whitby on twitter last week:
“If educators find their lectures are competing with Laptop distractions why ban laptops? Why not Ban Boring Lectures? Look to the lesson!”
Without laptops we can collect info, usually followed by some photocopying and it being passed around so if anything the laptop has helped make this a more time-efficient and effective way of sharing. This is certainly true of being to look things up – ok, a dictionary at hand gives me the ability to look up a word but with google my ability to look up is increased beyond measure.
This leaves us with the somewhat spurious allegations that those looking at our screens are not concentrating 100 percent or even more curious that it is impeding our ability to take part in discussions!
One final thing of note, in the breaks most people were happy to check their emails and go online, showing an acceptance of technology in the personal life but not yet able to see it as part of a learning life. Is this because our role as teachers / trainers is influenced by our experiences as learners? If not, what is it that they find unacceptable about laptops in sessions or classes?
I am genuinely curious, am I now so tech-centred now that I am missing something that is so fundamentally pedagogically unsound about their use? Or is that I am so lacking in social etiquette?
I very much prescribe to the view of each to their own so if a student is more comfortable using their laptop to paper so be it. I’ll leave you with this video from Joespicado’s youtube channel and look forward to you all putting me straight.
Posted in 
I’ve got to be honest, I feel really self-aware when I’m using a laptop or phone in a training session – it just feels wrong to me. Maybe it’s just a guilt thing as I am easily dist……racted, but I haven’t got used to it yet.
Notetaking is the big one, I havent got used to doing it on the computer yet – I’ve found mindmapping to be better than just jotting something down.
I guess I’m just a bit more old-fashioned than I thought!
[...] One of the spontaneous discussions that developed in our group was the relationship between people working on laptops and classroom dynamics. See Shaun Wilden’s blog post. [...]
Dear Shaun,
Your post definitely reflects a widespread teacher’s attitude in Argentina. In fact I have often engaged in the discussion about allowing laptops and mobile phones in the classroom, only to get the “How do you expect students not to get distracted by them?” answer by the majority.
I truly believe, as Tom Whitby does, that students’ rate of distraction lies in how interesting the lesson is and therefore directly in the teachers’ hands, not the laptops or mobile phones.
I am convinced that the biggest obstacle ahead is the change of an educational paradigm that fits the 21st century reality and that cannot be done without getting all the educators on board such paradigm.
Also, many countries like mine face a further problem, which is indeed serious: the lack of national educational policies to allow such changes. One such example is the fact that mobile phones are banned in schools.
My two cents,
Vicky
I think some of it is an ego issue, although there is generally a strong kneejerk reaction by teachers when I suggest this. If my laptop is out, it’s clear that I have options other than listening to the speaker. If I have a notebook out, the speaker can pretend that everything I’m writing is relevant–even though that’s an illusion. I once started a novel in longhand during an irrelevant-to-me portion of a board meeting! The laptop is a simply a blatant reminder that the speaker does not actually own my attention–but this ought to be a given anyway.
I am not an aural learner, so if I just sit there and listen, my attention wanders immediately. (For the same reason, I can’t listen to audiobooks at all.) It may be counterintuitive, but I need to be doodling or doing something else in order to keep myself engaged. It’s really too bad if speakers are offended, but they need to let go of the notion that they know when I’m engaged by things like whether I’m doodling or have a notebook rather than a laptop. They need to pay attention to things like whether I’m smiling or nodding. Of course, that takes more and attention on THEIR parts (and they’d have to raise their eyes from their Powerpoint, in the worst cases).
I really think there are two burdens here: 1) on speakers/teachers to make their presentations/classes relevant and engaging, judging the reactions and involvement level of the audience appropriately rather than superficially, and 2) on audiences/classes to assess their own abilities to pay attention, and put away distractions, regardless of what they may be, if they realize their notes are incomplete, their grades are suffering, etc.
HI Phil,
Thanks for leaving the comment. I think I used to be self-aware but over the last year it has become common place at conferences etc that i attend. I guess if anything last week reminded me of how other people feel about them and that awareness is good.
Shaun
Hi Shuan,
I think it depends on the class.
For example, I teach English language to elementary school kids in Taiwan. My personal goal is for them to speak to me and each other in English as much as possible in the 40 minutes I see them each week. (Sad, but true.)
Naturally, I incorporate technology (like IWB’s) into lessons as a learning tool.
HOWEVER, I don’t feel it would work for this age group to be heads down looking at laptops. Certainly I don’t believe they would stay on task, unlike the adults present in the training you referred to. Nevertheless there might be times when some well-structured computer use might be appropriate for the older ones, such as sending emails, chatting to class members, researching some information, listening to other English speakers, completing an on-line task, etc.
I guess what I’m saying is that it is the skillfulness of the teacher that should determine the most appropriate contribution that technology should make to a particular learning situation.
Greg.
[...] listening lesson plan on South Africa World Cup. Complete with downlaod… 3 Tweets “I’m not having people with their laptops out!” » Shaun Wilden's Blog 3 Tweets Technogogy: Recent 3 Tweets What it feels like to be [...]
Oooh… absolutley loved and agree with this video, very charming – but with regard to your post, I don’t think it’s so useful to pretend that the world of 24/7 access is all roses and everyone is learning at faster and better rates… now you know me, and you know I adore technology but I don’t find it useful to pretend that there aren’t really issues regarding engaging and keeping our students’ attention – and learning is not only about flashes and dashes.
Shaun, you’re working in BL scenarios, aren’t you? Haven’t you ever been in a situation where there was definitely a problem when students were checking emails rather than paying attention in class?
I know that I have and have had to have an open discussion with my classes about what I mean by “learner autonomy and you’re allowed to continue learning through youtube/visitingblogs/grammar websites while waiting for the others to catch up on task but it does mean that you are learning English not going to your German email-inbox to find out if anything in the office needs checking on
.
To be honest, I really don’t believe that there are serious issues related to our current life of information overload and that indeed, a lot of information being thrown out is incredibly distracting… and not particularly useful to the learning environment… multi-tasking is… well doing a whole lot of jobs in tens of percentages not very well. Experience teaches that.
So I don’t think we can poo-poo our trainees concerns when they raise these issues but instead we must think about and provide strategies for them to better cope when they arise.
My two cents,
Karenne
Sorry that should be: I really do believe that there are serious issues…
Of course, it depends on the context! It should be obvious to both the speaker/instructor and the audience/students that a laptop or phone OR drawing in a paper sketchpad or writing in a diary or marking down next week’s appointments in a pocket calendar or WHATEVER is not appropriate in a conversation activity or a hands-on activity…right? Or that younger learners may not be able to handle judgments about multitasking? (I’m not actually sure about this, but if you truly observe it in your classroom and aren’t just expecting to observe it and telling yourself it’s there, then that’s different.)
I think there is a certain mythologizing and demonizing of technology that goes on, along with a certain “othering” of students. A community college (non-ESL) teacher that I know reports near apoplexia when his colleagues talk about cell phones going off during class, and they suggest increasingly draconian measures in response, and they are willing to disrupt class significantly in order to scold the students, make them leave the classroom, etc. Yet the same group of colleagues frequently have phones go off during meetings (even very formal meetings), PD workshops, etc., with no reaction or significant apologies.
That’s just another reason why I think that we, collectively, need to really examine why we get so upset about these things, and whether there are emotional and ego issues involved beyond the justifications that may or may not have any backup.
Hi
Shaun, you wrote that people were happy checking emails etc in breaks but had issues in sessions, was that the case with everyone or was there much of a line between the tech lovers and the tech phobes? The recent iatefl harrogate stuff i followed seemed like a group of like-minded individuals tweeting like breathing, was this oup training more of a dichotomy in terms of participants?
Is it possible that some people are normalising in terms of how they use tech (e.g. giving a presentation) but not when it’s used at them? so it’s one thing to use a laptop etc in your teaching but another to face a room full?
I get observed by CELTees quite often and last time all three had laptops rather than pen / pencils. It was distracting because of the sound more than anything else, and the screen acting as a barrier (no eye contact and couldn’t read the page) made me more curious as to what they were writing than a pen / pencil combination usually does. It was new, but I realised that I was the one who had to adapt and get used to it
Jen