Spring Break
Technology lights up the classroom
Carlos Militante
Issue date: 3/7/07 Section: News
Nai Saephanh, a senior majoring in occupational therapy, said that laptops can hurt and help in class, depending on the type of class the student is in.
"I think if students really want to learn they'll pay attention and use it for good use," Saephanh said. "If I'm in a class that I'm just taking and don't really need, then I'll probably just use it to surf the web and kill time."
According to Professor Ochoa, laptops are useful to students because some people can type faster than they can write by hand, and laptops offer another form of note taking that makes it possible for students to keep up with the speed of a lecture or discussion.
"The downside is if students are surfing the Web or visiting a chat room instead of paying attention to the lecture or discussion," Ochoa said. "But people are going to tune out if they don't feel engaged, whether they have a laptop or not. Laptops can provide a high tech form of daydreaming."
Associate Vice President of Technology Gorney-Moreno said she's meeting with the seven deans of each college sometime in March to discuss smart classroom additions for summer 2007.
According to the SJSU Web site, the school has aggressive plans in to update 100 percent of general classrooms to smart classrooms by 2010 in their Vision 2010 mission.
"I think if students really want to learn they'll pay attention and use it for good use," Saephanh said. "If I'm in a class that I'm just taking and don't really need, then I'll probably just use it to surf the web and kill time."
According to Professor Ochoa, laptops are useful to students because some people can type faster than they can write by hand, and laptops offer another form of note taking that makes it possible for students to keep up with the speed of a lecture or discussion.
"The downside is if students are surfing the Web or visiting a chat room instead of paying attention to the lecture or discussion," Ochoa said. "But people are going to tune out if they don't feel engaged, whether they have a laptop or not. Laptops can provide a high tech form of daydreaming."
Associate Vice President of Technology Gorney-Moreno said she's meeting with the seven deans of each college sometime in March to discuss smart classroom additions for summer 2007.
According to the SJSU Web site, the school has aggressive plans in to update 100 percent of general classrooms to smart classrooms by 2010 in their Vision 2010 mission.
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