My brother and I went to visit the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor and it was a really nice school in almost every way, but I noticed something about almost every classroom and every person on a campus, technology was ubiquitous. It seemed like most of the students that I saw were using their laptops to take notes during class, and it seemed like much of the work given in class was done through the computer, either by logging onto a website to take exams, emailing your papers to your professor instead of just writing it and handing it in, and even during the lecture I caught a bit of, instead of writing on the board, the teacher was projecting from his computer onto a screen from the class. Seeing that made me decide not to apply there, because I wouldn’t be able to succeed.
I went to a Waldorf School, which is a sort of private school based on Anthroposophy and the educational ideas of a German philosopher called Rudolf Steiner. There’s a lot to the Waldorf philosophy, too much to get into here, but a big aspect is that there is no technology at school or at home until 8th grade, after which time you learn to use the computer for research purposes but are very limited in the time that you’re allowed to use it. I loved it, and although I know how to use technology just fine (like right now, for instance) I do not like using it in a school setting, it distracts me and especially with regards to college where my family will be paying lots of money, I feel that I’ll be losing out on a dimension of instruction when so much of my classes are centered around technology and being taught by a lecturer lecturing or actually writing papers. I understand that’s the world we live in unfortunately, but I’m an adult and I am making the conscious choice to limit my interactions with technology, which leads me to my question…
Are there any schools that aren’t so inundated with technology? I mean, do you know of any colleges, of any size, that are preferably in the Midwest or Northeast (but anywhere is fine) that have a policy that limits the use of technology as “tool” for instruction, and therefore students aren’t expected to turn in papers via email, lecturers get in front of the class and lecture instead of playing a premade PowerPoint program and things of that nature? I don’t know if I could function in the sort of environment I saw at Ann Arbor, and better yet I don’t want to function in that sort of environment.
This may be more about building self-discipline with respect to technology versus finding schools that ban it entirely. If you don’t learn to find this balance in college, it will be hard to do so in the job market, where technology is ubiquitous, unless you are doing away with working in the service industry all together. But hopefully you already know this.
Anyway, at Reed my professors barely if ever project things on the board. A lot of them simply write on the board and look at the texts (for humanities courses). Some of them outright ban technology in class. Class resources are on the internet for some profs. But yeah, it will be hard not to use technology because in college you need to find information quickly and the internet is very good for it (going through titles of chapters in books, for instance), and you will definitely get distracted because sometimes this goes for hours on end. Ever since personal computers became a thing, colleges have demanded a lot more writing from students, which is fair given how easy technology has made it.
If the profs are older, or teach humanities, they will stick to the written word and stay away from the projector, but say, in the social sciences, my professors have done things like skyping with well-known researchers, and demonstrating tools like STATA and R to do research and things like that. In math, most professors simply use textbooks and the chalkboard. In science, there is a lot of use of technology. So yeah, endpoint is it depends on your discipline, but limiting yourself to a technology-free environment may be nearly impossible, and it definitely restricts your options a lot.
I’m with you on one point, though; I absolutely HATE powerpoint presentations, especially when people just put troves of information on them. But I also use technology nearly all the time, because I have to be on it with emails and working with campus resources and communications that are nearly all online.
Some conservative religious schools also restrict access to the Internet, with bandwidth caps and filters that prevent users from accessing sites deemed inappropriate.
I second the LACs, a recent grad from a well known one told me that there were profs, paper books, discussions and the white boards for most classes, admittedly Humanities.
Turning in papers via email is no more of a deal than posting on CC, and if there is a college or university that doesn’t use email, online registration and other systems to manage the admin side of things I will be very surprised.
But that is not the same thing as interacting with a professor and learning through engagement in classroom discussion. UMi is a huge university: try looking at LACs (liberal arts colleges) which are typically smaller, more individual and definitionally focused on undergrad teaching.
Not finding a large uni a good fit is perfectly normal and reasonable; expecting a technology-free university is unrealistic. I would argue that it is also undesirable. Here’s an example, from one of my collegekids: she took a course last semester in 18th century journalism. Much of her research for her final paper was done in the college’s archives, using original 18th century newspapers, which she found very cool. But as the research progressed she realized that she needed some additional materials to develop her thesis. She worked with the college archivist and together they found what she was looking for - online. The additional material was archived in two different countries, yet fully available to her. A small example, obviously, but I would argue that you will be “losing out on a dimension of instruction” by closing off the resources available to you online.
Of course, that is your prerogative!
You might look at Hampshire College, Berea College, any of the Colleges That Change Lives, Evergreen State, St Johns College (strong Great Books program), Marlboro College, Bennington, College of the Atlantic
It sounds like Michigan, probably any large school, is not a good fit for you. That’s a really good thing to know. You might want to think about smaller schools.
D17 is a freshman at an LAC and reports that her professors want assignments turned in on paper. D15 is at a large state uni and has encountered plenty of professors who want everything handed in online. I’m not unfamiliar with Waldorf schools and appreciate your desire to not allow technology to take over your life, but the fact of the matter is that technology is part of life in the 21st century. ( Even for the Amish, per today’s New York Times). But - technology can, as @collegemom3717 says, add immeasurably to your ability to gather information. As for using email or turning in papers electronically, I’m not sure why it matters that much. Do you write your papers in longhand? I suspect very few professors would welcome a handwritten paper. Even if you write your drafts in longhand, and are handing it in in class and not electronically, you surely will need to use a computer to produce the final product.
Different professors will use technology differently. Some won’t use it in the classroom at all. Some will. Not sure many colleges will dictate how/if a professor uses various teaching tools. You might discover that a teacher using a projector to show something to the entire class at once, in a size large enough for every person to really see whatever it is, can actually enhance your learning.
If you don’t want to take class notes on a laptop, then don’t. That’s your choice, as it will be your classmates choice to take notes on a laptop. It will be on you to manage your own use of technology.
Before overhead projectors, there were chalkboards. Of course, movable type to print books was a technological innovation from around 1040 (in China) and 1450 (in Europe) that greatly aided the dissemination of information; before that, writing itself was a technological innovation in the dissemination of information.
“Anyway, at Reed my professors barely if ever project things on the board. A lot of them simply write on the board and look at the texts (for humanities courses). Some of them outright ban technology in class. Class resources are on the internet for some profs.”
I was interested in this and did a quick look at Reed’s website, and they’re into technology, from their website:
All Reedies have at least two email addresses at reed.edu. Both go to the same inbox. One is based on the full name (usually first.last@reed.edu, unless there is a conflict). The other is based on the network username (username@reed.edu). Either will work in any combination of upper- and lowercase letters.
A cell phone with a long-distance calling plan is the best option for students who want to be in touch with friends and family off-campus. Most students bring a cell phone from home and often have numbers from outside the area. Skype and Google Hangouts are quality free services for video calls home including international locations.
The College provides a computer to each faculty and staff member who requires one for their work. These computers will be deployed with secure, up-to-date operating systems and software. Each machine comes bundled with Microsoft Office, modern web browsers, and other software. The College provides computers for classrooms, departmental teaching labs, and student common spaces such as the ETC Information Resource Centers and the Library Reading Room and Reference Rooms.
Google hangouts, Skype, network user name, computers for classrooms and student learning spaces - Reed is not the place to go if you want to avoid technology. I’m actually very impressed by their technology programs.
Steve Jobs enrolled at Reed, now I know one of the reasons.
I think you’d find that a school that didn’t have online grades, turning in assignments via email, etc. probably is kind of backwards as well in terms of other investments (good lab equipment in the science labs, etc). My kid is a PhD student, and her job is MUCH easier when students can turn in assignments online, check grades online, email her with questions, etc. Shuffling paper is a lot less efficient. And really – you don’t want them to project presentations or materials when teaching a class? Do you want them to use chalkboards still and write out all the discussion points?
You are free to take notes in a paper notebook or go to office hours instead of emailing a professor. But the bottom line is that to function in today’s academic environment AND in the working world after college, you need to build basic technology skills. Waldorf is great to teach you thinking skills, but technology is very useful in the world. It is good that you recognize that you have a skill deficiency now in that area – but the right answer is probably to build those skills, not try to avoid technology. Or else you will graduate from college, and then will struggle in your first job trying to learn those skills while everyone around you already is comfortable with it. I can’t think of tons of white collar jobs that don’t require at least a basic comfort level with a laptop or desktop computer.
Lots of other jobs as well use computing devices. For example, contractors and others may use cell phone, tablet, or laptop apps to do various tasks (including billing and receipt emailing) on their jobs. Police cars are equipped with laptop computers: http://auto.howstuffworks.com/police-car3.htm
But you may find and prefer small discussion style classes. The most comfortable settings for this that I’ve seen are at Bowdoin and St John’s College. While I’m sure technology is used, the classes themselves are around large tables and likely have no computer during class. At least for the smaller courses.
Has anyone had any experience with the Shimer great books program at North Central College in Illinois? I don’t have any personal experience with it. Just remember being somewhat intrigued by the concept when my D got some brochures in the mail. Just came to mind as something for the OP to explore.