Screen-free classrooms
at harvard
the gold standard
As graduate students studying education, we wanted to bring appstinence to our own classrooms. As K-12 phone bans sweep across the United States and countries around the world make serious moves to control tech use, we thought it would be an oversight not to look into our own learning spaces.
By engaging our fellow students and knowledgeable faculty, we are advocating for classrooms to adopt low-tech or no-tech classroom policies. Our recommendations keep in mind that students have varying needs and the school utilizes a vast array of pedagogies. While this change can feel awkward to implement, it’s important that our classrooms reflect the absolute gold standard of learning.
Drawbacks of Tech Misuse/Overuse in Class
Negativity externality
Off-task device usage for laptops and phones is disruptive to students and peers in their learning.
Hall et. al, 2020; Glass and Kang, 2019; Felisoni and Godoi, 2018; Bjornsen and Archer, 2015; Demirbilek and Talan, 2018
Impaired Learning
Laptops for note-taking impair learning due to “shallow processing”, impacting exam performance and long-term retention.
(Mueller and Oppenheimer, 2014)"
Guiding Values
We assume these list of values driving HGSE policy:
⚖️
Equity (e.g., students with accommodation needs)
🤝
Inclusion
📚
Diverse learning needs
🎨
Variety of faculty pedagogies
💬
Role of social interaction in effective learning
👑
Responsibilities of students outside of classroom