Teachers are using technology in the classroom as a crutch, rather than a tool to increase their quality of teaching, proposes José A. Bowen, Dean of the Meadows School of the Arts, and this is why he’s removing computers from his classrooms.
Resistance was high, both from teachers and students, but research has linked boredom in classrooms to poor test scores and lecturer computer use to student boredom.
As Bowen says, it’s not so much about using technology, but it’s about using it better:
More than any thing else, Mr. Bowen wants to discourage professors from using PowerPoint, because they often lean on the slide-display program as a crutch rather using it as a creative tool. Class time should be reserved for discussion, he contends, especially now that students can download lectures online and find libraries of information on the Web. When students reflect on their college years later in life, they’re going to remember challenging debates and talks with their professors. Lively interactions are what teaching is all about, he says, but those give-and-takes are discouraged by preset collections of slides.