The speed at which we are embracing technology in society has been breathtaking. It has been a good improvement with every sector adopting it in its operations. This wave has also struck the education system. One of the promises of the Jubilee Coalition ahead of 2013 General Election was to supply class pupils with laptops.
Even though the delivery and use of laptops and tablets is still work in progress, we should take time and think if at all gadgets are healthy for studies in the classroom.
Here is why:
1. Loss of ability to retain information
It has been found that taking notes on a laptop can impede a student’s ability to retain information. It appears that typing fast gets in the way of processing and retaining lecture material.
Note-taking serves two purposes in a student. One, the physical storage of lecture content allows one to review it later. Two, it helps in the understanding of the content the very time that it is given out. As students’ typing skills have improved over the years, they are able to rapidly put down a professor’s spoken words into sentences.
2. Distraction
Another issue with gadgets in the classroom is distraction. It’s hard to resist notifications from social media sites like Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, either as the direct user or as someone sitting nearby. The nearby users also get affected as they will lose concentration on the lecturer and instead focus on the user of the gadget. Just like passive smoking, the passive gadget user get affected more than the user.
3. More reading time needed
Typing being fast gives you time to write down almost everything said by the lecturer, while writing by hand forces one to focus intensely on the lecturer and think about what you want to write down. It reduces study time at the end of the day, because you tend to retain the lecture material much better. You will easily understand the carefully selected words you noted down.
ALSO SEE: Top 10 reasons to dump your smartphone
4. Loss of notes
In my second year in campus, I relied heavily on my phone’s notebook to type notes. Unfortunately, I lost my phone just a few days before examinations. I bet you know the kind of hustle I had to go through trying to photocopy my friends’ handwritten notes. This is very costly and takes a lot of time. Even though some will argue that you back up the notes, you must also consider the retrieval time.
The gadgets do not really belong to the classroom. You might consider leaving them behind in the hostels as you head to the lecture rooms. Returning to the realm of handwritten notes may seem out of place in our tech-happy world, but it’s a valuable reminder that there is not always a technological solution to every problem. Sometimes it’s about returning to the past and simplifying the way things are done.
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