In this section, Justin Steil and Aditi Mehta share their insights about designing and teaching 11.469 Urban Sociology in Theory and Practice without the use of any information communication technologies.
A fun challenge in designing this course was doing it without the assistance of any information communication technologies (ICTs). At first, we thought this would be a hindrance to student learning. We could not communicate with the BU students between classes, and we had to keep in mind that they had no access to Internet, word processing, printers, e-mail, and had a limited library, etc. This reality made us more organized as instructors, and we prepared everything in paper-form well before class meetings, including readings, articles, assignment prompts, and feedback on graded assignments. Also, we made sure to address student questions and concerns in class during breaks since we would not see or hear from them until the following week.
"It has become normal to look at your computer while another student or the teacher is speaking. Similarly, professors rely heavily on PowerPoint presentations or other media material when they teach, not connecting with students and too entrenched in the electronic environment. Since we did not have any of these distractions at MCI-Norfolk, everyone in the classroom was forced to focus on one another."
We believe that the quality of the classroom experience actually increased without the distraction of ICTs. Oftentimes at MIT, students are typing away on their laptops during lectures and discussions. The hope is that the student is documenting notes, but they may be replying to emails, finishing other assignments, digitally chatting with their classmates, or generally surfing the internet. It has become normal to look at your computer while another student or the teacher is speaking. Similarly, professors rely heavily on PowerPoint presentations or other media material when they teach, not connecting with students and becoming too entrenched in the electronic environment. Since we did not have any of these distractions at MCI-Norfolk, everyone in the classroom was forced to focus on one another.
Simply making eye contact with someone when they speak instead of typing on your computer actually builds trust. Students were really listening to each other and distractions were not a problem in this class. And as instructors, lecturing or teaching without A/V aids forced us to internalize and embrace the material and communicate it clearly. We could not hide behind a pretty slide or bullet points. In our future teaching, we hope to continue embracing this way of facilitating and learning - simply person to person.
