Faculty Perceptions and Policies of Students’ Use of Personal Technology in the Classroom

With the increased use of personal technology in the classroom, such as laptops, tablets, and smartphones, effective teaching may have some powerful distractions, or some excellent support. The purpose of this paper is to report on the progress of personal technology in the classroom and to determine how members of the Association of Business Information Systems (ABIS) and the Southwest Decision Sciences Institute (SWDSI) are clarifying the use of personal technology through syllabus statements and policies. The study does not intentionally set out to provide definitive answers related to the best way to handle personal technology in the classroom; but rather, to share some current perceptions and policies that have been adopted by educators. This, in turn, may provide a springboard for specific policies that would work in an educator’s classroom

Take Note: Teaching Law Students to be Responsible Stewards of Technology

The modern lawyer cannot practice without some deployment of technology; practical and ethical obligations have made technological proficiency part of what it means to be practice-ready. These obligations complicate the question of what constitutes best practices in law school. Today’s law schools are filled with students who are digital natives who don’t necessarily leverage technology in maximally efficient ways, and faculty who span multiple generations, with varying amounts of skepticism about modern technology. Students are expected to use technology to read, prepare for class, take notes, and study for and take final exams. Professors might use technology to teach or assess student work, but students are often asked to leave technology out of the classroom because of professor expectations about distraction and notetaking. All of this is happening as we attempt to prepare students to enter a profession that is infused with both technological capabilities and obligations, including the rules of professional conduct. These capabilities and obligations will continue to evolve, grow, and change alongside companion changes in technologies. It is no wonder that some mixed messages emerge in discussions about technology and law student learning. In some cases, we have attempted to clarify these mixed messages using research regarding best practices for learning, but even these good faith attempts can leave students feeling somewhat muddled. In this article, I revisit a topic I first studied and wrote about ten years ago. Since then, there has been much more research and discussion about the issue of legal technology and some significant changes to the environment in which these discussions occur. My position has only been fortified by developments that have occurred since. I remain convinced that banning technology is bad for law student learning. Now, I am sure it is also bad for their professional development. In fact, we should arguably be inviting more opportunities for technology into the law school curriculum. This article asserts that law schools have a duty to help students develop best practices and good habits about technology while they are in law school. This means granting students a certain degree of autonomy over their own learning while also encouraging thoughtful deployment of technology as a matter of their professional development

The iPad - an EFL Revolution? An exploratory study of the iPad in tertiary education in the UAE

This thesis is under permanent embargo as it is an earlier version of the final thesis, which is available in ORE at http://hdl.handle.net/10871/122150ABSTRACT: The iPad: an EFL classroom revolution? The motivation for this study was the 2012 launch of the iPad as the de facto delivery platform for Foundations-level students at all public universities in the UAE, the largest nationwide adoption of the device anywhere in the world. Not only was this of interest in terms of scale, it was also of interest linguistically, English being the language of instruction at all public universities, despite their student body being almost exclusively indigenous Arab nationals. It also presented the opportunity to examine the marrying of a cutting-edge emerging technology with an EFL tertiary education context, an uncommon occurrence. Though eulogised by university management and the local press as an educational revolution, for some the iPad initiative was unusual, given the speed of its roll-out, lack of piloting or teacher training, and the linguistic level of most Foundations-level students. Thus, the objective of this thesis was to examine the device in both a pedagogical and socio-cultural context, and assess whether it was the educational panacea promised, or the result of a successful marketing strategy. It was also hoped to establish the iPad’s worth in terms of educating the UAE’s youth for successful integration into the knowledge economy, a key government Vison 2021 strategy. To address these issues, the research focus was on evaluations of the iPad by Foundations teaching faculty, at both a male and female campus at one of the UAE’s public tertiary education institutions. A mixed methods approach was chosen, utilising both a questionnaire and interviews. The results revealed the iPad was regarded as a potentially useful supplementary pedagogic tool by faculty, although there were strong caveats regarding its sole use, its ability to distract, and its suitability for the level of student, as well as the larger knowledge economy. This thesis adds weight to observations already extant in the literature, but also provides new insights, such as specific iPad classroom use in terms of apps at tertiary level in an EFL context, and consequent training and support requirements. Though not a longitudinal study, it does provide a longer-term examination of the device than much of the germane literature. What the thesis further posits, is that to understand ambitious and untested educational projects like the iPad initiative in the UAE, it may be necessary to understand the larger socio-political context of the policies, rather than see such projects in a wholly educational framework

An exploratory study of the iPad in tertiary education in the UAE

An earlier version of this thesis is in ORE at http://hdl.handle.net/10871/122010. It is under permanent embargoABSTRACT: The iPad: an EFL classroom revolution? The motivation for this study was the 2012 launch of the iPad as the de facto delivery platform for Foundations-level students at all public universities in the UAE, the largest nationwide adoption of the device anywhere in the world. Not only was this of interest in terms of scale, it was also of interest linguistically, English being the language of instruction at all public universities, despite their student body being almost exclusively indigenous Arab nationals. It also presented the opportunity to examine the marrying of a cutting-edge emerging technology with an EFL tertiary education context, an uncommon occurrence. Though eulogised by university management and the local press as an educational revolution, for some the iPad initiative was unusual, given the speed of its roll-out, lack of piloting or teacher training, and the linguistic level of most Foundations-level students. Thus the objective of this thesis was to examine the device in both a pedagogical and socio-cultural context, and assess whether it was the educational panacea promised, or the result of a successful marketing strategy. It was also hoped to establish the iPad’s worth in terms of educating the UAE’s youth for successful integration into the knowledge economy, a key government Vison 2021 strategy. To address these issues, the research focus was on evaluations of the iPad by Foundations teaching faculty, at both a male and female campus at one of the UAE’s public tertiary education institutions. A mixed methods approach was chosen, utilising both a questionnaire and interviews. The results revealed the iPad was regarded as a potentially useful supplementary pedagogic tool by faculty, although there were strong caveats regarding its sole use, its ability to distract, and its suitability for the level of student, as well as the larger knowledge economy. This thesis adds weight to observations already extant in the literature, but also provides new insights, such as specific iPad classroom use in terms of apps at tertiary level in an EFL context, and consequent training and support requirements. Though not a longitudinal study, it does provide a longer-term examination of the device than much of the germane literature. What the thesis further posits, is that to understand ambitious and untested educational projects like the iPad initiative in the UAE, it may be necessary to understand the larger socio-political context of the policies, rather than see such projects in a wholly educational framework

Digital Dissemination Platform of Transportation Engineering Education Materials Founded in Adoption Research

INE/AUTC 14.0

Infusing Technology Skills into the Law School Curriculum

Legal education has never considered technological proficiency to be a key outcome. Law professors may debate the merits of audiovisual teaching tools: do they work when they should?; do they facilitate learning objectives or are they just toys?; whom should they call when something breaks?; and so on. Teachers use course management sites like TWEN and Blackboard to share information and manage basic course functions. Many fear that laptops and other devices distract students in class, and some institute outright bans. Among many law teachers, technology is warily accepted, but only for the purpose of achieving traditional educational objectives. What if educators viewed technology as a competency that students need to master in order to succeed in practice? This paper will identify gaps between the use of technology in practice and in our classrooms; suggest ways that we can change what we teach, and the way we teach, to address the disparity; consider the benefits/drawbacks of developing new courses, or infusing technology-related outcomes throughout the curriculum; and propose methods to encourage professors to teach with technology in ways that model the practices of successful attorneys

DeWitt Wallace Library Biennial Report 2011-2013

Summary of library activities for 2011-201

Spartan Daily October 24, 2013

Volume 141, Issue 25https://scholarworks.sjsu.edu/spartandaily/1444/thumbnail.jp