Cell Phones and Tablets in the Classroom

When considering technology in the classroom, most people think about the computer and how it changes the academic landscape. However, there are other pieces of technology that can have a large impact on the scholastic setting. Cell phones and tablets can perform many of the functions that computers can, from simple calculations to data access. More importantly, there are many more students with continual access to a cell phone than to a computer, and the mobility of the technology makes it easier to engage with those capabilities.

One fear that many teachers and institutions have is that cell phones and tablets (and, in some cases, laptops) are distractions in the classroom. While students could use these devices for research and calculations, they are just as likely to use it for social media and non-academic reading. In many cases, this leads to strict rules governing their use in the classroom.

In the article Student Impressions of Academic Cell Phone Use in the Classroom, Jack Tessier documents a study where he allowed students free use of their cell phones for looking up information to share with the class when necessary. The discipline for this study was science course concerned with environmental issues; such a course relies heavily on information for forming and testing hypotheses.

The study found that the use of cell phones was overwhelmingly positive for the students. Students reported using cell phones all the time, and use in the classroom was comfortable for them. Students reported that it helped them learn, was not a distraction, helped them enjoy the class more, and marginally improved attendance. To be fair, the study did rely on student responses to student perceptions, so the results have to be taken with the understanding that students who want to use cell phones will likely report positively about them regardless.

Still, if students are reporting so positively about cell phones, and we can acknowledge the potential benefits of powerful information machines at the students' fingertips, isn't that a pretty good case for trying cell phones out in the classroom?

Personally, I have found classrooms with relaxed technology policies to be more engaging and communicative. There is always the concern that students will use technology for non-academic purposes, but this can be mostly mitigated by oversight by the teacher and policies of accountability in the syllabus. In my own classrooms, I can see myself fostering technology as an excellent way to engage students, and give them powerful tools to enhance their learning experience and capabilities.

Works Cited

Tessier, Jack. “Student Impressions of Academic Cell Phone Use in the Classroom.” Journal of 
          College Science Teaching, vol. 43, no. 1, 2013, pp. 25–29.

Using Computers in a University Environment

The use of computers in a university setting is almost inevitable nowadays. Whether the computer is being used to interact with a word processor, research information, or retrieve/submit assignments, the computer is able to impact nearly every stage and facet of writing.

For ESL students, it goes one step further by "[relieving] the anxiety some L2 writers feel about writing the L2 script, about producing work in their L2, and about writing in general" (Pennington, 1999a; Phinney, 1989). In my own experience working with L2 writers, I have seen L2 students use a word processor to write a paper in English by allowing the processor to take L1 script and translate it. While this process may still require an editing pass where the student checks that the translations are producing the correct effect, it allows the student to think in and write from the comfort of their L1 (particularly if the student does not yet think in English).

It is not only automatic translation that potentially plays a role in writing in the L2. Students who attempt to write in the L2 script (English) will also find that spell checkers and grammar checkers are acting as a sort of coach. When writing via pen-and-paper, mistakes (or perceived mistakes) may cause students to devalue their writing ability by focusing on lower order concerns, even though they may be doing a great job concerning higher order concerns such as structure or ideas. Thus the computer medium allows students to "write in a less self-conscious way and with greater engagement" (Pennington, 305). The result of this is longer periods of writing and longer texts being written.

Going beyond the word processor, other changes in the writing process are clearly improved. Researching information has never been easier than it is now. With online scholarly libraries offering millions and millions of articles, all with keywords, downloadable PDFs, and automatic citation generators, researching is as easy as hopping onto a computer and browsing through endless data.

This alleviates some barriers while creating others. Many students may find that they have access to computers at nearly any moment, but some students who either do not have access to computers often or who are not savvy with technology may not see as much benefit. Many students may find that not having the time or transportation to go to a physical library is eliminated by this access, but some students may benefit more by having professional support from librarians nearby.

Computers are also allowing educators to interact with students virtually 24/7. I have already mentioned Canvas in a previous blog, so I will not go into how that technology gives educators tons of options for discussions, submissions, providing documents, providing support materials, etc. Instead, I want to consider how a particular word processor, Google Docs, can give teachers the power to comment directly on a paper via a digital medium without ever having to meet face-to-face to provide that feedback. Now, instead of needing a physical submission to pore over, write marginalia, and return to the student, all of which requires face-to-face interaction either before/during/after class or during office hours, the educator can simply request that a document be shared (a quick ten second process!), then get online and highlight, comment, etc.

The same risks of less savvy students not taking full advantage of this technology remain, but if the hurdle is truly too much, then face-to-face options still remain (unless it is an online course...but then why would they do that!?)

Using Canvas in Student Conferences

During the Spring 2018 semester, one of the courses I am taking is Internship in the Teaching of Writing. In this course, I am observing an English class at a local community college (Sacramento Community College). Beyond observing, I am also leading select class sections and participating in one on one conferences. It is this last point that I want to address.

While sitting in on a couple of conferences a few weeks ago, I watched as the professor for the course spoke with students one on one using Canvas. Briefly, the structure of the conferences were all the same; ask the student how life is going, show them statistics and information on Canvas (where this post will focus), discuss the upcoming paper including concerns and ideas, then end by encouraging a course of action relevant to the student (start early if they procrastinate, spend extra time researching if previous papers were weak in this area, etc.).

The most interesting part of these conferences was the way the professor integrated Canvas into the one on one conference. This integration occurred in two ways. First, he showed the student statistics regarding their interaction with Canvas. This includes the number of times they posted/commented, the amount of traffic the student was responsible for on different pages, the days that the student was active, interaction with assignments, etc. Second, he was able to go over previous submissions and posts with the students. Particularly in the case of scaffolding, this allowed the professor to consider previous submissions that led into the current research paper they were tasked with, showing proven strengths/weaknesses to the students.

Canvas allowing the professor to tangibly show students their interactions with course material, or more importantly that he is aware of their interaction with the material, is something that would have been next to impossible a generation ago. With much of the course available on Canvas, from assignment prompts to resources to sample writing, a large portion of what the course has to offer in terms of learning is found on Canvas. The result is that if students are not interacting frequently with Canvas, they are likely missing out on a lot of opportunities to learn. Now, the professor KNOWS when this is the case. If you pair that knowledge with the actual performance of the student, you start to get a good idea of the level of engagement that each student is showing.

Taking this information into a conference is a powerful tool, a tool that becomes even more powerful when you let the student know about it. To be clear, the power is not in shaming the student into feeling bad about how they are doing, or reprimanding them (necessarily) for not engaging fully in the course. However, it does let them know that you are watching and that you might be seeing things that they are not. In fact, the most powerful demonstration of this tool was with an ESL student who was not engaging with the prompts, and in turn her writing was not addressing the prompt properly. This put the professor in the prime position to see ahead of time that the student needed to be coached on taking the time to carefully review prompts before trying to address them. It is in these moments where the professor is able to take that knowledge and turn it into feedback, showing the student exactly what he is seeing and why he is offering this or that advice, that the tool becomes incredible. It gives students a peek behind the curtain, a birds eye view of their own learning process, a metacognitive understanding of why they are doing good or bad.

Beyond statistical information, the teacher is able to review actual submissions with the student. While this could be done without technology by sitting down with a printed submission, it becomes a lot easier to move between various posts, comments, and submissions when they are all on one website (this could technically be done with a portfolio of sorts, but the internet makes it more organic and includes other students' comments and posts too). If the class has been scaffolded well, many of the posts and comments will likely lead into the bigger assignments. Perhaps there have been discussions about immigration leading up to a research paper on DACA. Perhaps there have been assignments about formatting sources that lead up to writing a full works cited page. Being able to go over whichever assignment is needed for the conference at will means the professor has the full support of his pre-built scaffolding at his fingertips in an instant. This could be particularly useful if the student is asking questions in the conference that the professor has not specifically set out to address.

Even more than just posts, comments, and submissions, the professor can also point the student toward a particular resource available in Canvas. Perhaps the student is formatting his papers incorrectly and can use a resource about proper MLA format. Perhaps the student is unsure how to go about finding scholarly sources and can use a guide on how to navigate academic libraries online. This only adds to the ways the teacher can turn a conference into an experience that truly pushes the student in the direction they need to go.

Technology in Education

Since the beginning of my time in the college setting, both Junior College and University, technology has become an increasingly important aspect of the classroom. I can recall some of my first classes at Modesto Junior College between 2007 and 2009 where the entirety of the class was based around textbooks and notebooks. Not a single computer was used except for typing a paper. It would be half a decade before Google Drive, my main hub for writing nowadays, would come into the world. BlackBoard had been out for about a decade but it was not used in every classroom. Technology was limited, and this list is comprehensive for my experience, to typing papers on a computer, using a printer, and sending the occasional email. As a bonus, there were rare instances of trading phone numbers with a fellow student.

Fast forward to the end of my MJC experience (a chronology of bits and pieces spanning seven years) and technology is edging its way into the normal experience. BlackBoard is starting to gain momentum for my professors, and assignments and syllabuses are being uploaded in lieu of paper handouts. Assignments are also being turned in online. Discussion boards are being used to promote conversation with other students about topics and classes are taking on a new term: hybrid. Face to face meetings still occur but they are integrated with and supported by technology.

Now, here I am in English 215B: Teaching ESL Writing at CSUS and, aside from once a week in-person meetings, everything about the course is happening either outside of the classroom and/or online. The syllabus, assignments, discussions, readings, journals, observations; the classroom is not so much a place of taking on new information as it is discussing information we are taking on outside of the classroom. The professor is less teacher and more facilitator, guiding us from assignment to assignment to achieve the maximum benefit from real-world texts and experiences.

All of these things that are happening outside of classroom are kept organized using technology. Namely, using the Canvas system. Announcements, assignments, discussions, grades, people, pages, files, syllabus, modules, collaborations; these are just some of the tabs that detail the range of information at my fingertips. All of this accessibility runs the gamut from scholastic housekeeping to deep engagement with academic texts to synthesizing experiences.

The question for me becomes: with all that is gained by technology, the amount of information and the speed of accessibility to it all, is anything lost by leaving the old ways behind? My short answer...not really. While there is a learning curve to using technology, I cannot help but see this move as the next logical step in the human quest for ever increasing intelligence. More, faster. More information, faster access to it, and our role is to adjust to this new stream.

As teachers, our role becomes adjusting students to this new stream. No more is it simply reading chapters out of a book and writing in notebooks, spending hours in a library to find related articles, then typing up a paper on the laptop. Suddenly the student is able to browse scholarly libraries, write papers, ask questions, reflect on experiences, engage in discussions, and more in the blink of an eye. For some students, this is tough. It is tough to learn the technology, to understand all that one is able to do as well as how to do it, but with enough practice, the benefits of being able to do it far outweigh the benefits of a slow and time limited approach.

I believe that technology such as BlackBoard and Canvas in the classroom is not only the way to go, but is only a single step in the future integration of technology in all aspects of teaching. Tablets for students in the classroom that are all connected, video chat conferences with students so that conferences can happen without the student having to worry about transportation or working within specific timeframes, online recorded lectures for days when a teacher cannot make it so that lessons still get taught and learning still occurs. Technology has made an impact already, and there is still much more that it can do. One day, technology will no longer be the add-on to the classroom experience, but rather it will be the classroom experience.