A friend of mine is a student teacher at an ‘iPad only’ school which is quite progressive. It made me wonder whether there will be a day when pen and paper are things of the past. At least as long as exams and tests must be handwritten, I think there should be some handwritten class activities!
A tutor colleague of mine uses an iPad to display lecture slides in class and use the resources in class, which is an innovative way to bring colour and content to practical exercises. I also love being able to teach Advertising and Promotions in a classroom, and be able to bring up a Youtube clip of the ad or any others students mention, and project it on the wall. My favourite teaching apparatus in The Spot though, is the walls that are made of whiteboards. I love to dispense markers at the start of each class, get everyone up out of their seats and get them writing notes on the walls. In this way, everyone gets involved and the tutor can see what progress everyone is making. Students too can see each other’s work, so often I get students to correct, assess, comment or ask questions of each other with their different coloured marker. I’m pretty sure there is a digital version here already in some form, but if there isn’t some Silicon Valley person should get onto it.
When I teach creative writing and poetry, I suggest students handwrite their drafts, or at the very least use multiple versions or turn on ‘Track Changes’ in MSWord. I think it is incredibly valuable to be able to see the choice of words and the evolution of a piece of writing in a very organic way. Even seeing the handwriting can reveal cues about the state in which a piece was written. Many times I have emerged from a frenzy of essay writing in an exam and had to go back through and it to make sure it is legible! (In these cases though, I have often been experiencing the phenomenon of ‘flow‘.) For creative writing, I think the neat, ordered presentation of a typed document may sometimes stifle the organic process of putting pen to paper.
Keeping a folio or notebook also helps a writer to see progress over time, and the volume of work that has gone into the end document. A semi-formed idea from years ago can germinate a new piece, a word document shows only the final product. For kinesthetic learners, can the physical act of writing, manipulating the page (even screwing up a ball of paper and throwing it away) help with learning and writing?
