The “lovely” thing about ASU is that in a class with 300 students, it is possible that almost no one is paying attention.
Students use Internet browsers to frequent Facebook and other websites rather than to take notes.
This sidetracks the students who are paying attention; they wonder if anyone has posted an amusing link on their Facebook pages in the last hour.
This train of thought may cause them to think of some cleverly worded status post. Before long, 20 minutes have gone by and the professor has already covered concepts that are sure to be on the next exam.
The sudden and pervasive advent of Facebook, coupled with the increasing accessibility of the Internet, has created a social environment where we are constantly communicating with our friends and family.
The fact that ASU students can access the Internet from nearly anywhere on campus, including classrooms, has indubitably bolstered the educational experience significantly. It is difficult to imagine ASU life without Blackboard. (Although many of us might wish for a world where Blackboard didn’t exist).
However, this innovative feature of ASU’s campus is not entirely beneficial. Students can now access Facebook and other non-educational sites during class, which splits their attention between classroom engagement and their virtual social life.
Wendy Hart, an ASU psychology instructor and a practicing clinical psychologist of 18 years, said, “I can’t make my students pay attention. They have to want to be here, and Facebook is definitely a distraction. When you’re sitting in the back of a lecture hall with 450 other students and all you see in front of you is Facebook, it severely detracts from the learning environment.”
Once students see others surfing the Web instead of taking notes, it not only makes it more difficult for them to concentrate on the lesson content, but it also encourages them to go online themselves.
In fact, ASU psychology professor Eva Szeli had to verbally announce to her students that watching pornographic videos during lectures was forbidden, an instance that probably wouldn’t have occurred if students weren’t so accustomed to inappropriate in-class laptop usage being tolerated.
The responsibility, then, falls on both students and professors.
Michael Green, an ASU film professor, said, “Ultimately, it’s up to the students. I can’t force anybody to pay attention. However, it is very important for the teacher to set a proper learning tone and to enforce consequences if [students are] distracted.”
The University of Chicago Law School stripped certain classrooms of Internet access in 2008.
Shortly after, Dean Saul Levmore wrote in letter to Law School alumni, “We need to think of Internet business as inappropriate in the classroom, much as everyone recognizes the need to shut off cell phones and to refrain from ostentatious newspaper reading in class or at business meetings or at Thanksgiving dinner.”
While shutting down the WiFi would be a simple fix, it does not completely solve the dilemma of students being so easily distracted.
What this issue ultimately comes down to is the immediate need for students to maintain a better sense of self-discipline in the classroom, whether that means mustering up the will power to keep the Internet browser closed or simply switching to good old-fashioned notebooks.
Send friend requests to Julianna.Roberts@asu.edu
