Every so often I do a reset of my teaching habits in order to see if I am in synch with my MBA students. They are mature adults with years and sometimes even decades of international work experience behind them. I want to be sure I am current with their professional realities. It is time again for a reset, so I used the beginning of the new term to ask them how they wished to use technology during our class time together.
I love turning the tables on my students and inviting them to take ownership of their learning process. Many are delighted with the invitation and eagerly embrace the opportunity. Others are unsure, as their previous learning experiences have been largely out of their control. Empowerment takes a bit of getting used to, as a Japanese student reflected to me at the end of the class.
I had expected the discussion of technology in the classroom to take a maximum of 15 minutes. It would be simple, right? Use smart phones or not? Easy. Laptops or not? Easy.
Not so. Each of my three sections of students took over an hour, with one section going to 90 minutes. Clearly, the topic touched on real concerns they had about the use of technology in the classroom and the workplace.
Some fascinating insights emerged:
1. Personal use of technology is now the accepted norm in the workplace.
The old world of separation between work and personal life is over. Not only is it unenforceable, but it is simply impractical. Even just 10 years ago the assumption was that when you were at work you were working. Only emergency personal communication was expected by your employer. You should be focused on your work when at work.
Now? While some old-school dictatorial type managers can still be observed in the wilds of the workplace, they are an endangered species. It is now the socially and professionally accepted norm that you will flow between work and personal smoothly and without significant concern. Only when you are clearly not getting your work done or are disturbing others with your personal interactions will a concern be raised with you.
This is the world of work. Students feel that the classroom should be the same as the workplace: Technology for personal use should be just fine.
2. You are always connected and reachable.
Again, even just 10 years ago when someone in your personal sphere wanted to connect with you they would hesitate if it was during working hours: “Is this important enough for me to ask for your attention?” might go through their subconscious.
Now? Send a text message. Initiate an online chat. Or call. Anytime. You are expected to be reachable 24×7 to friends and family now. For any reason.
3. Everyone must develop their own discipline.
My students were most vocal about this. Do not restrict our use of technology in the classroom or workplace. Let us learn the hard way to discipline ourselves. When we fail in our studies or in meeting our goals in the workplace, we will learn when to put the phone into silent mode and close personal windows on our laptops so that we can focus on what we have to get done.
The Pavlovian urge to check text messages must be overcome by the individual. They need results oriented feedback before they will begin to discipline themselves.
Personally I question this, but mostly for self-preservation reasons as a professor. When a student fails in their studies their first reaction is that it is not their fault. Blame is projected outward and the blame gun is pointed directly at the professor. And in this era of “the student is a customer mindset” of institutions, the student must be placated, if only for institutional marketing reasons.
4. Our classrooms and workplaces are 100 years out of date.
This is my personal favourite. We have “Master” centric classrooms with mechanical layouts that encourage students and workers to think and act like robots being prepared for 19th century factories when they graduate. Desks all lined up in the classroom so the teacher is the authority. In the same way, cubicles in the workplace de-humanize employees in the workplace. Yikes.
We brainstormed what the 21st century classroom and workplace should look like. Tables with wireless charging built into them. Groupings of tables so that teams can work together face-to-face to solve problems and construct things. Wireless projectors so that students can easily project what is on their smartphone to the whole class. Continual, natural, and individual-driven use of technology, all the time. Co-working, an emerging evolution of the workspace, is an example of how positive change is happening in the real world, where technology is fully integrated into the physical place people work.
Ahhh….I love the smell of empowerment in the classroom.
But then I asked them: “May I use my smartphone during class?”
Their reply: “No! Not you. We paid for you to be here and teach us.”
Clearly, there are still some limits on the use of technology in the classroom. Well, limits on my use, anyway. And of course, they don’t see the irony: “Teach us, but we won’t necessarily be listening, engaging, or learning from what you are doing. We might be busy focusing elsewhere with our phones and laptops. But keep going. We paid you to do this, so do it anyway. And make sure that we get good grades, too. Oh, and thank you for doing all that. ”
They are polite. I give them that.