It all started with cellphones, a long time ago. No student, and few teachers, would make voice calls from class, but in the early 2000s GSM phones started to offer nearly free text messaging, and students (and faculty) started to text during lectures and seminars. Before long students were composing text messages without even looking at their phones, courtesy of the good old duodecimal keyboard; some could actually text from a phone in their pocket. Then of course 3G, web-enabled smartphones came, followed by tablets, and as most of our classrooms generously provide Wi-Fi connections, everyone sitting in a class these days has endless ways to reach out to whatever can be found online, which is to say almost anything. Permanent connectivity is a wondrous development and we all profit immensely from it, for all kinds of purposes. But permanent connectivity in a higher education environment, and particularly in research seminars, is a mixed blessing, and can easily get out of hand. ======================================= https://facebook/envoymag
Posted on: Mon, 02 Jun 2014 13:04:33 +0000
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