The following are some disadvantages of laptop use:
1. Students become easily distracted and use the notebook computers for purposes other than course-related activities. One way to prevent this from getting out-of-hand is to have "screen-up" and "screen-down" times. The computers go into a standby-mode when the screen is closed if the machine is still turned on - so a screen-up/down strategy is fast.
2. Students become easily distracted and use the notebook computers for purposes other than course-related activities. One way to prevent this from getting out-of-hand is to have "screen-up" and "screen-down" times. The computers go into a standby-mode when the screen is closed if the machine is still turned on - so a screen-up/down strategy is fast.
3. You may be teaching in classrooms with inappropriate furniture. If there are no power outlets, students can rely on batteries in their laptops... but they need to have the where-with-all to charge their notebooks earlier. If the classroom you use does not have appropriate desk surfaces, you should consult with the chair of your department. A number of classrooms have or will be upgraded with new furniture to enable the use of the notebooks.
http://ltc.udayton.edu/faculty/eclassroom/disadvantages.htm
Monday, April 16, 2007
Why a Requirement for Laptops?
Digital portfolios. All teacher education majors are now required to produce a digital, Web-based portfolio to represent their competence with teaching and learning. To better facilitate this in university instruction, faculty need to be assured that all of their students have the best tools to complete the portfolio work in university classrooms and at home.
Support and infrastructure. With a large number of laptop-owning students, we can leverage the size of the BSU teacher education program to specialized support services and better information systems design. Computer vendors can design specialized support services knowing they have a fixed number of purchases per year. BSU can negotiate better deals on the purchase price when working with one vendor. We are also tuning our information infrastructure to take advantage of the anticipated critical mass of students who bring to class a state-of-the-art computer.
http://www.bsu.edu/teachers/laptops/usage/
Support and infrastructure. With a large number of laptop-owning students, we can leverage the size of the BSU teacher education program to specialized support services and better information systems design. Computer vendors can design specialized support services knowing they have a fixed number of purchases per year. BSU can negotiate better deals on the purchase price when working with one vendor. We are also tuning our information infrastructure to take advantage of the anticipated critical mass of students who bring to class a state-of-the-art computer.
http://www.bsu.edu/teachers/laptops/usage/
Laptops the smart choice for students entering college
You may ask: Why a laptop, which generally costs twice as much as a comparable desktop computer?
A quick Google search of many schools' minimum requirements shows the majority of colleges and universities recommend students bring laptops.
Laptops have certain advantages. They're portable and fit easily in cramped dorms. Students can carry them between classes and to the library. Most new laptops also include built-in wireless networking — a favorite network technology on many campuses, allowing students to seamlessly tap into the college or university computer system.
Consider your son or daughter's major when you shop. An engineering or architecture student needs a more powerful computer than an English major.
http://www.usatoday.com/tech/columnist/kimkomando/2005-07-28-college-laptops_x.htm
A quick Google search of many schools' minimum requirements shows the majority of colleges and universities recommend students bring laptops.
Laptops have certain advantages. They're portable and fit easily in cramped dorms. Students can carry them between classes and to the library. Most new laptops also include built-in wireless networking — a favorite network technology on many campuses, allowing students to seamlessly tap into the college or university computer system.
Consider your son or daughter's major when you shop. An engineering or architecture student needs a more powerful computer than an English major.
http://www.usatoday.com/tech/columnist/kimkomando/2005-07-28-college-laptops_x.htm
The Fight for Classroom Attention: Professor vs. Laptop
Like a growing number of college students, Michelle Mei brings her laptop to most of her classes at Bentley College, using it instead of a spiral notebook to take notes.
Well, sometimes she takes notes — if whatever the professor is going on about seems important. At other times, she uses the wireless Internet access in the college's classrooms to do some online shopping or chat using instant messenger. "If it's material that I know, most of the time I will surf the Internet a little bit," says Ms. Mei, a junior.
To keep students focused on class, some professors now ban laptops from their classrooms, arguing that the devices are just too much of a temptation. Other professors ask laptop users to sit in the front row, in part so the professors can glance down occasionally to see what is on the students' screens. And a few colleges, Bentley among them, have set up systems that let professors switch off classroom Internet access during some sessions.
Of course, professors also point to moments when having laptops and Internet access has helped illustrate a crucial point in a lecture. The trick, they say, is figuring out how to manage the new technology.
Banning Laptops
An incident at the University of Memphis recently brought national attention to the practice of banning laptops.
June Entman, a law professor at the university, forbade students from bringing their computers to her civil-procedure class this spring, arguing that the devices were literally getting in the way of learning. In an e-mail message she sent to the students explaining the ban, she said that when students in the auditorium had their laptop lids open, she could not make eye contact with them.
Douglas Haneline, a professor of English at Ferris State University, tells his students that they cannot turn on their computers or cellphones in his classes.
"It's a matter of class consideration and of not disrupting the learning environment," he says. "I want to arrange it so there are as few distractions as possible." He says he tries to use humor when explaining his ban on laptops and on cellphones:
Andrew B. Aylesworth, an associate professor of marketing at Bentley, says that even though the college for years has required students to buy laptops, this academic year was the first time he saw a critical mass of students use their machines during classes.
"A couple of them have said, 'I don't have any paper,'" says Mr. Aylesworth. He had them borrow some from classmates.
http://chronicle.com/free/v52/i39/39a02701.htm
Well, sometimes she takes notes — if whatever the professor is going on about seems important. At other times, she uses the wireless Internet access in the college's classrooms to do some online shopping or chat using instant messenger. "If it's material that I know, most of the time I will surf the Internet a little bit," says Ms. Mei, a junior.
To keep students focused on class, some professors now ban laptops from their classrooms, arguing that the devices are just too much of a temptation. Other professors ask laptop users to sit in the front row, in part so the professors can glance down occasionally to see what is on the students' screens. And a few colleges, Bentley among them, have set up systems that let professors switch off classroom Internet access during some sessions.
Of course, professors also point to moments when having laptops and Internet access has helped illustrate a crucial point in a lecture. The trick, they say, is figuring out how to manage the new technology.
Banning Laptops
An incident at the University of Memphis recently brought national attention to the practice of banning laptops.
June Entman, a law professor at the university, forbade students from bringing their computers to her civil-procedure class this spring, arguing that the devices were literally getting in the way of learning. In an e-mail message she sent to the students explaining the ban, she said that when students in the auditorium had their laptop lids open, she could not make eye contact with them.
Douglas Haneline, a professor of English at Ferris State University, tells his students that they cannot turn on their computers or cellphones in his classes.
"It's a matter of class consideration and of not disrupting the learning environment," he says. "I want to arrange it so there are as few distractions as possible." He says he tries to use humor when explaining his ban on laptops and on cellphones:
Andrew B. Aylesworth, an associate professor of marketing at Bentley, says that even though the college for years has required students to buy laptops, this academic year was the first time he saw a critical mass of students use their machines during classes.
"A couple of them have said, 'I don't have any paper,'" says Mr. Aylesworth. He had them borrow some from classmates.
http://chronicle.com/free/v52/i39/39a02701.htm
Motivation
Let’s face it……….most of us cannot succeed in accomplishing our goals if we are not motivated or inspired. Motivation is the force that drives us to succeed and put more effort into our goals. However, sometimes it is difficult to become motivated, especially if you are not interested. This is especially true, when we are writing research papers or making an oral presentation. So how do you motivate yourself to write these papers even though they seem uninteresting? Well, one thing you can do is ask yourself why is it that you are not interested. Is it because it’s boring, there is a lack of information, or is it because it’s just too time consuming to write about that specific topic. After you answer those questions, then you should attempt too find ways to not think about getting a good grade. Rather, you should think of the research paper as something beneficial for you because you are learning something that you did not know before.
This should motivate you enough to at least finish the report and perhaps even go more in-depth into that topic. I admit that this can be a challenge, but if you try hard, you should be able to succeed in motivating yourself. There were times when I was in high school where I had to write research papers about 19th century English writers and poets for my English class. I found this to be extremely difficult because it was something that did not interest me. However, after asking myself the questions in the previous paragraph, I managed too write out the reports and even get a decent grade on them. With practice, I eventually got use to writing out research papers with topics that did not interest me in the beginning; but by the end of the report, I found myself learning even more about them. Motivation is a powerful force and once you learn to master it, you will succeed in goals in which you thought were impossible.
This should motivate you enough to at least finish the report and perhaps even go more in-depth into that topic. I admit that this can be a challenge, but if you try hard, you should be able to succeed in motivating yourself. There were times when I was in high school where I had to write research papers about 19th century English writers and poets for my English class. I found this to be extremely difficult because it was something that did not interest me. However, after asking myself the questions in the previous paragraph, I managed too write out the reports and even get a decent grade on them. With practice, I eventually got use to writing out research papers with topics that did not interest me in the beginning; but by the end of the report, I found myself learning even more about them. Motivation is a powerful force and once you learn to master it, you will succeed in goals in which you thought were impossible.
Sunday, April 15, 2007
Why Waking Up Early Is So Hard
Call it the "clock gene." That's the long and short of it. Literally. Whether you find it impossibly difficult to get up early in the morning or you just can't keep your eyes open after 9 p.m. is because of a gene called Period 3, which has been identified by researchers at Britain's University of Surrey.
Period 3, which helps to regulate our internal body clocks, comes in two sizes. A long one. And a short one. People who have an extreme preference for early mornings are more likely to have a long version of Period 3, while those who stay up until the wee hours of the morning are more likely to have the shorter version, reports the BBC News.
Of course, that's the simplistic explanation. Study leader Dr. Simon Archer is the first to admit that your preference for sleeping late or retiring early is a complex behavioral trait that is governed by more than a single gene. "It is a combination of genes that interact together to form your body clock," he explained to the BBC. "But, of course, there is an influence from your lifestyle. It is not all to do with your genetics. You can chose to follow a particular life pattern. You can override your genes."
The study: The University of Surrey researchers corralled some 500 people who visited London's Science Museum. In addition to taking DNA samples from their cheeks, the researchers asked them to complete questionnaires about their lifestyles to determine if they were larks or night owls. They did this by asking what time of day they preferred to exercise and how difficult they found it to wake up in the morning. Then they compared the DNA results--the length of that Period 3 clock gene--to the questionnaire answers.
The results: "We found most of the extreme morning preference people have the longer gene and the extreme evening preference people have the short gene," Archer told the BBC. "There are extreme morning people and extreme evening people, and it seems that behavior has a genetic basis to it."
There are practical advantages to obeying--instead of fighting--your natural body clock. With our 24/7 workplace, you might be able to better schedule your work time to fit your Period 3 clock gene. Opt for an early start and beat the rush or choose to begin work after noon and then stay there until all hours of the night.The study findings were published in Sleep, the journal of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine and the Sleep Research Society.
Period 3, which helps to regulate our internal body clocks, comes in two sizes. A long one. And a short one. People who have an extreme preference for early mornings are more likely to have a long version of Period 3, while those who stay up until the wee hours of the morning are more likely to have the shorter version, reports the BBC News.
Of course, that's the simplistic explanation. Study leader Dr. Simon Archer is the first to admit that your preference for sleeping late or retiring early is a complex behavioral trait that is governed by more than a single gene. "It is a combination of genes that interact together to form your body clock," he explained to the BBC. "But, of course, there is an influence from your lifestyle. It is not all to do with your genetics. You can chose to follow a particular life pattern. You can override your genes."
The study: The University of Surrey researchers corralled some 500 people who visited London's Science Museum. In addition to taking DNA samples from their cheeks, the researchers asked them to complete questionnaires about their lifestyles to determine if they were larks or night owls. They did this by asking what time of day they preferred to exercise and how difficult they found it to wake up in the morning. Then they compared the DNA results--the length of that Period 3 clock gene--to the questionnaire answers.
The results: "We found most of the extreme morning preference people have the longer gene and the extreme evening preference people have the short gene," Archer told the BBC. "There are extreme morning people and extreme evening people, and it seems that behavior has a genetic basis to it."
There are practical advantages to obeying--instead of fighting--your natural body clock. With our 24/7 workplace, you might be able to better schedule your work time to fit your Period 3 clock gene. Opt for an early start and beat the rush or choose to begin work after noon and then stay there until all hours of the night.The study findings were published in Sleep, the journal of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine and the Sleep Research Society.
Saturday, April 14, 2007
Being Angry
Have you ever felt angry for no apparent reason at least once a week? Sometimes when you are angry, it's because you remember a past mistake you did and you can't seem too let it go and move on. No matter how hard you try too forget what had happened, it just doesn't always work especially if you are all alone and you think about things like your past. Other times you are angry is because you are not satisfied with something. For example, you may think that you are not skilled or good enough to succeed in life, that you want something in which you really can't have, or we are not happy with who we are and we desperately try to change ceratin things in our personality, but too no avail. Sometimes we tend to become angry because we are paranoid about certain things. Our mind sometimes creates negative images and we may get the wrong idea about something. For example, if you have a close friend who recently doesn't seem to call you anymore, our mind may convince us that something is wrong and he isn't your friend anymore. But in reality, he or she was just really busy with his life and didn't have time for a social call. There is nothing wrong with that, but a person may feel that he or she doesn't care about him or her anymore and thus we get angry. These are some reasons why some people might feel angry even though there is nothing to be angry about.
So, how do we combat these feelings of anger. Well, one simple physical way is too simply control your breathing. When you first get that feeling of anger, close your eyes and breathe slowely, your exhale should take longer than your inhale. This allows more CO2 to be released and as a result, your mind thinks more clearly. When you think clearly, you are less likely too create negative images in your mind. Another ways is too write in a journal or blog like this one. This allows you to express your anger more productively and you also practice your writing skills at the same time. If these methods fail, then you can go the gym and blow off some steam. Working out at he gym is my personally favorite method too combat any feelings of anger I may have. You get stronger at the gym while your feelings of anger decrease because you get exhausted.
Never let your anger get the best of you nor let it control you because if it does than as the old saying goes, "you will not be punished for your anger, you will be punishd by your anger".
So, how do we combat these feelings of anger. Well, one simple physical way is too simply control your breathing. When you first get that feeling of anger, close your eyes and breathe slowely, your exhale should take longer than your inhale. This allows more CO2 to be released and as a result, your mind thinks more clearly. When you think clearly, you are less likely too create negative images in your mind. Another ways is too write in a journal or blog like this one. This allows you to express your anger more productively and you also practice your writing skills at the same time. If these methods fail, then you can go the gym and blow off some steam. Working out at he gym is my personally favorite method too combat any feelings of anger I may have. You get stronger at the gym while your feelings of anger decrease because you get exhausted.
Never let your anger get the best of you nor let it control you because if it does than as the old saying goes, "you will not be punished for your anger, you will be punishd by your anger".
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