Is the complete use of electronics in college classrooms a bit out of step with the times?
▲Digital classroom teaching at Fuzhou University. Photo/Official website of the School of Economics and Management, Fuzhou University
Sentence | Natsuken
In order to strengthen the building of the style of study, many universities have banned mobile phones in their classrooms, and now, some universities have gone one step further and banned mobile phones, tablets, computers and other electronic products.
According to reports, the School of Management of Qufu Normal University in Shandong Province recently issued the "Regulations on the Prohibition of the Use of Mobile Phones, Tablets, Computers and Other Electronic Products in the Classroom", requiring students not to use electronic products for any reason in the classroom. If there is any violation, the teacher has the right to stop it, and collect it on the spot, and return it at the end of the semester. As soon as the news came out, it quickly aroused the attention of public opinion.
Generally speaking, the prohibition of the use of electronic devices in the classroom often occurs in primary and secondary schools, but this time it is in a university classroom, so it has received special attention. According to the school, this is mainly to "strengthen the construction of learning style, eliminate the adverse impact of mobile phones and other electronic products on the classroom, keep the classroom quiet, and create a positive and enterprising learning atmosphere". To put it simply, it is hoped that college students will be able to pay attention to the lectures.
Of course, it is not difficult to understand the original intention of this kind. In 2020, the Ministry of Education also stated that it would completely reverse the phenomenon of "playing hard in middle schools and happy universities" in Chinese education. At the end of 2023, many universities such as Changsha University of Science and Technology and Changchun University have stated that they will strictly grasp classroom discipline, improve the "front row seating rate", and require that mobile phones and other electronic devices not be played in class.
It can be seen that from relevant departments to various colleges and universities, there is a certain anxiety about the style of study, and they all hope to rectify their learning attitudes. But like the School of Management of Qufu Normal University, banning electronic devices across the board is inevitably a bit of a trance: nowadays, electronic devices are already the basic tools for learning, and they are not allowed to be used at all in the classroom, is it a bit out of touch with the times?
In fact, from the comment area of related news, it can be found that many college students bring tablets, computers, etc. into the classroom, which are also used to take notes, shoot PPT, look up words, run code, etc., which can greatly improve the efficiency of classroom learning.
Now that there is a blanket ban, all of them have returned to the era of handwritten notes, is there also a suspicion of choking on food? After all, there are too many ways for college students to desert, so you can bring a comic and a magazine. But serious college students have lost tools that can make their studies more efficient.
▲ College students of Nankai University communicate in the seminar-based smart classroom. Photo/Xinhua News Agency
Compared with primary and secondary schools, university learning is more complex and diverse. Different from the knowledge filling in primary and secondary schools, university learning requires more inspiration, discussion, and information review, which are inseparable from the help of electronic products. Blocking electronic devices out of the classroom may also block the possibility of multiple experiments in the university classroom.
In recent years, there has been no shortage of dialectical discussions on the relationship between electronics and education. Needless to say, electronic products are more likely to attract the attention of college students than books, which can lead to students with poor self-control and inattentiveness, but on the other hand, electronic products can greatly expand the educational horizons and make classroom teaching more enriched.
In recent years, the Ministry of Education has vigorously implemented the national education digitalization strategy, and many places have begun to actively explore ways to digitally transform education. Some universities use VR technology to produce ideological and political courses, some universities deploy industrial robot equipment to the intelligent teaching platform through digital modeling, and some universities transform enterprise digital technology into training content and create a simulated teaching environment......
With these teaching practices, it is difficult to completely reject electronic products. At the same time, it can be seen that the key to electronic products is not whether to use them, but how to use them. How to make it better serve the educational goals, rather than conflict with classroom learning, should be the direction of university exploration.
In this digital context, universities have completely banned the use of electronic devices in the classroom, which is not only contrary to the trend of the times, but also a good example for students.
Since they are all college students, they should be regarded by the university as adults who are responsible for themselves and have a complete sense of self, rather than being fixed in a "middle school that can't finish school".
It can be said that universities should teach college students how to use all possible means to explore the world of cutting-edge knowledge, and it is also the responsibility of contemporary universities to teach them how to deal with themselves in the digital age, how to use electronic products scientifically and rationally, and let technology help them learn.
As for the final effect of the policy of banning the use of electronic devices in the classroom, schools may also wish to carefully evaluate the improvement of classroom discipline, learning ability and teaching quality, and adjust it according to the actual situation. In any case, a controversial provision should also listen to more opinions and examine its actual effects.
Written by Xia Yan (Media Person)
Editor / He Rui
Proofreading / Liu Yue
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