Making Laptops a Valuable Teaching Tool

Today's guest blogger is Maria Rodriguez, an SNL student. 

One can find much debate when discussing laptops and their use in the classroom. Some students I have talked to believe laptops are needed in class, and others think they are just a distraction. However, Benedict Carey, in “Frequent Tests Can Enhance College Learning, Study Finds,” thinks laptops can be used as a teaching tool to benefit students.  

In his article, Carey mentions Professors James W. Pennebaker and Samuel D. Gosling, two psychology professors at the University of Texas who conducted an experiment that consisted of asking 901 students to bring their laptops to class so they could take a short and personalized online quiz before class began. Experts believe this approach can help prevent students from failing class, especially students from low-income households, according to Carey.

Dr. Gosling seems to agree with him. According to Dr. Gosling, students with low-income backgrounds who also come from “poor-quality” schools need to be quizzed regularly because too often these students fail the first and second midterms, and this happens, he adds, because they once “were always smartest in class,” so when they don’t pass their first midterm they believe it was a mistake, Dr. Gosling says. He also believes once these students fail their second midterm, chances to pass the class are lost. Therefore, by quizzing them regularly students not only excel in class but also pass the class. In my opinion this experiment shows measurable outcomes. Students’ class attendance increased by 30 percent. Class scores went up 10 percent, and total high grades had noticeable growth. Better yet, students from lower-income households didn’t fail the class, and their grades showed the most improvement.

After learning the results of this experiment, one can say that computers used in the classroom can “act as an aid to teaching.” While students might not like the idea of taking quizzes at the beginning of each class, I would say that the advantage of these quizzes is practice that yields a results. For example, regular quizzing is already being practiced by Community Colleges of Chicago. As a former student of Truman College, I had a few professors who gave our class regular quizzes. Therefore, we knew to be prepared for the following class. Though their quizzes were not personalized as Pennebaker and Gosling’s, this regular testing helped me to retain more information, and as an adult learner it forced me to form good study habits and to develop better study routines. I learned to use collected quizzes as study guides and lessen the stress.

So, while quizzes can be given without the use of computers, I think the use of them (especially the students’ own laptops) cuts any strain between the professor and the student. Students don’t like to be told what to do, yet professors don’t want to waste precious time telling adults what to do. In addition, the use of this technology in the classroom helps preserve the environment and saves the school money on paper, ink, and electricity.  

Work Cited

Carey, Benedict. “Frequent Test Can Enhance College Learning, Study Finds.” New York Times. 20 Nov. 2013. Web. 21 June 2013.

Finals Week at the Writing Center

The finals week schedule at the University Center for Writing-based Learning is up, and appointments are going fast! Please let your students know that tutors are still available to help them wrap up coursework, get help with Digication, or polish an AP or ILP. 

Students can click here to log in to the online reservation system, or click here for instructions on how to set up an account. Receptionists can be reached at wcenter@depaul.edu, 312-362-6726 (Loop), or 773-325-4272 (LPC) to answer students' questions or any you may have. You can also request a report from your student's tutor summarizing the session. 

The UCWbL's locations are listed below, but online appointments or requesting written feedback are options as well. These resources are perfect for online, commuter, or working students. 

Loop Campus

(312) 362-6726

25 E. Jackson (Lewis Center)

Suite 1600

Hours

Monday, June 9, 10am-5pm
Tuesday June 10, 10am-5pm
Wednesday, June 11, 10am-5pm

Lincoln Park Campus

(773) 325-4272

2320 N. Kenmore (Schmitt Academic Center)

SAC 212

Hours

Monday, June 9, 10am-5pm
Tuesday June 10, 10am-5pm
Wednesday, June 11, 10am-5pm

Winter Quarter 2014 News & Reminders

Now that Chicago is recovering from the deep freeze and the quarter is underway, SNL Writing would like to pass on a few notes and reminders for Winter Quarter. 

UCWbL Relocating

The Lincoln Park UCWbL office is now located in the Schmitt Academic Center (SAC) at 2320 N. Kenmore, next to the Richardson Library. The online appointment scheduler will be available beginning January 10, and the center will open on January 13. The Loop office is still in 1600 Lewis (25 E. Jackson). Instructors can request an in-class "orientation" for their students by clicking here. 

Digication

Beginning this quarter all WTC and WW students are asked to create their course portfolios using Digication. Click here to view the UCWbL's comprehensive how-to guide for both instructors and students. Instructors can request additional support and resources from the Teaching Commons, FITS, and the UCWbL. 

SNL Writing Instructor Handbook

The Handbook for SNL Writing Instructors Digication site includes sample syllabi, rubrics, activities, and other instructional resources for instructors of both WW and WTC. 

Collaborative Writing on the Web

Last month Brooklyn-based writer and computer programmer Paul Ford reviewed for the MIT Technology Review several new web-based writing tools: Fargo, Editorially, Medium, Svubtle, Marquee, Scroll Kit, Quip, and Ghost. 

A teaser for the review explains that “a new crop of startups is gearing up to change the way we write, taking on traditional authoring tools such as Microsoft Word, Google Docs, and WordPress. The newcomers don’t just promise to make it easy to create documents or write blog posts—they promise to make you smarter.”

Ford finds Fargo, a simple yet powerful outlining tool, particularly appealing, noting that “with an outlining program, you don’t need a clumsy numbering system, because the computer does the bookkeeping for you.” Ford also appreciates the flexibility in such programs, describing an outliner as something that “treats a text as a set of Lego bricks to be pulled apart and reassembled until the most pleasing structure is found...That’s the thing about outlines: they can become anything.”

Editorially is a pared-down text editor that, like Fargo, runs in a web browser. Ford calls Editorially’s focus “rigidly on composing,” describing its editing screen as “one huge blank field with only a few options.” However, with this simplicity comes useful options for collaboration; every edit made by collaborators (or a single author) is tracked, and a timeline function lets users go back to a past moment in the text’s creation. 

Medium, yet another web-based platform, is better suited to blogging and other web writing by an individual. The program suggests a structure for the piece, and once the text is published, other uses can leave feedback for the author in the form of comments that, in this context, serve more as marginal notes. Ford says that “the ‘Medium Post’ is emerging as its own sort of thing—not quite a blog post, not quite an article, but something in between.”

Ford describes but doesn’t review a number of other platforms still in development. Marquee calls itself a “flexible platform that’s perfect for telling stories,” while Scroll Kit is “a new type of content editor that allows you to own the page in one click.” Ghost is a blogging platform that Ford characterizes as “a sort of modernization of WordPress.” A departure from these web-based platforms is Quip, an iOS app.  

One thing most of these new tools have in common is that they’re designed for collaboration. According to Ford, the developers of these new platforms are “building tools for reflective thought. They expect their users to contemplate, revise, collaborate—in short, to work more the way writers historically have written, and as the pioneers of the digital revolution expected people to continue to write.” To Ford, the proliferation of such collaborative efforts proves “that there are enough people willing to give up the quick pleasures of the tweet or Facebook post and return to the hard business of writing whole paragraphs that are themselves part of a larger structure of argument.” 

Click here to read the full text of Ford’s review.

Challenge Update & Tech Tools for Productivity

Congratulations to our Month of Writing Challenge participants on another productive week! Last week the Challenge writers produced 98,950 new words, bringing us to a collective total of 286,438 words.

Even if you're not working toward a 50,000 word goal, we all know that staying focused while writing can be difficult. If you do the bulk of your writing on a computer, you may want to look at two programs designed to eliminate distractions. Freedom temporarily blocks your Internet access for a set length of time, while Anti-Social blocks only social networking sites (that is, your email and other important sites will still be easily accessible). Both Windows and Mac OS are supported, and free trial versions are available. Another useful tool is a simple (and always free) program called Caffeine. Its sole function is preventing your computer from entering sleep mode, so if you step away for a few (or more) minutes, you're right where you left off. Like the other programs, it's available for both Windows and Mac. 

Update on Richardson Library Renovation: Faculty Resources in the Library Learning Commons

University Librarian Scott Walter recently posted an update on the Richardson Library's ongoing renovation, including a description of several new resources for faculty: 

"For faculty planning their fall courses, however, it will also provide access to two new service programs designed to directly support your teaching and research: the Learning Commons and the Scholar’s Lab.

The Richardson Library Learning Commons will be a collaborative effort between the DePaul University Libraries, the Division of Academic Affairs (e.g., The Writing Center, The Science and Math Learning Center), and the Division of Student Affairs (e.g., Office of Multicultural Student Services). With support from Caryn Chaden, Associate Vice President for Academic Affairs, faculty and staff currently working in these areas have spent the past several months planning for the launch of the new program and for the introduction of Learning Commons services to new and returning students through orientation programs, instruction associated with the Chicago Quarter, etc. Bringing together existing library services such as research assistance and information literacy instruction with existing partner programs already housed in the library (e.g., Supplemental Instruction), the Learning Commons is envisioned as a “one-stop shop” for learning support for DePaul students in all schools and colleges. We hope you’ll visit the Learning Commons in the fall to learn more about what it can offer your students.

While visiting the Learning Commons, you will also be able to see the Richardson Library Scholar’s Lab, another new program to be housed in the Information Commons and one dedicated to supporting teaching and research that bring together scholarly content, data sources, digital content, and technology tools. A collaborative effort between librarians and academic programs exploring opportunities for teaching and research in areas such as digital imaging, textual analysis and text mining, social science data, and digital humanities, the Scholar’s Lab will provide a new resource to DePaul faculty and students in all schools and colleges interested in exploring innovative approaches to teaching, learning, and research, and will promote engagement between faculty and librarians working with the next generation of digital, scholarly content."

To learn more about new resources and for other related announcements, visit the project's website.