How to Implement Handheld Technology During Lectures
Many faculty and staff incorporate handheld technology into lectures, or apps on smartphones and tablets that are meant to draw students into discussion and help them actively engage with the material. However, some teachers overlook key steps in implementing technology in the classroom. A recent Faculty Focus article gives tips for incorporating handheld technology during lectures.
The tips include having a pedagogical justification for using the technology; ensuring that students support the technology; remembering that battery life is fickle; allowing students to participate anonymously; and being aware that not all students are tech savvy.
“By listening to your students and involving them in the planning and implementation of a technological intervention, students’ technology acceptance will improve. This, surely, will help make our original goal of creating more social and interactive lectures a reality,” writes Christopher Drew, Ph.D., who completed his study of handheld technologies in lectures while a senior lecturer at Teesside University in the UK, in the article.
