New technology, old problems in the classroom

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BOSTON -- A few semesters ago, Time magazine did an insightful cover story on the "multi-tasking generation," a high-school demographic increasingly dependent on (read: consumed by) digital technology."They e-mail," reported the magazine. "They IM. They're glued to their cell phones and their iPods. They write their history essays with chat rooms open and the TV blaring. What is all this digital juggling doing to the brains ... of the multi-tasking generation?" (Time, March 27, 2006).There are a few names for this cohort, Digital Natives and Millennials among them.A career journalist, I have also taught in journalism programs at Emerson College, the University of Missouri, Boston University and, currently, at the E.W. Scripps School of Journalism, at Ohio University.Reading the Time story from an educator's point of view, I discerned eight key traits among these young people:-- They are compulsive.-- Their attention is often divided.-- They lead highly scheduled lives.-- They are good at finding and manipulating information.-- They tilt toward visual rather than print media.-- They are skilled at analyzing visual data and images.-- They demand clarity, simplicity, and identifiable good and bad guys.-- They like quick reads.Accordingly, to capture their attention as educators, we must provide plenty of choices, be brief and clear, and present easily accessible information -- preferably enriched with visuals.However, no matter how we modify our teaching methods, the multi-tasking student misses something in the classroom. One cannot listen to a lecture or participate in a discussion while e-mailing friends or shopping online. Multi-tasking (which has turned two evening hours of homework into five in many instances, according to Time) is not productive in the classroom.At the beginning of each semester, students -- many wearing earphones -- stroll into my classrooms toting iPods, cell phones and laptops. They quickly learn that all digital devices must be off during class, not in sleep, vibrate or silent mode -- completely off.I formulated these rules after numerous encounters with students' text-messaging, e-mailing, browsing the Internet during class -- and looking surprised when I inquired, "What are you doing?"I recall one student who asked if he could sit in the back row and use his laptop. Sure, I said. After all, this is journalism. Laptops are weapons of mass communication.At the end of the semester, the student was startled to learn that he would have to submit a copy of his class notes as part of the final grade. There was little to hand in.I learned later that he had been playing video games, not taking notes.A class is a covenant -- an understanding between teacher and student -- that digital technology can undermine. Also there is the not-so-little matter of academic honesty. Many of us have stories to tell of how cell phones with digital cameras or open laptops with Internet access made cheating a breeze in our classrooms.I would like to add that while everyone on campus benefits from these new technologies, some familiar problems remain, albeit with a digital spin. John Brady is editor of the New England Journal of Higher Education.(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, www.scrippsnews.com.)