Teaching Thursday: The Device Free Classroom 2

Over the last few months, there seems to be a growing “device free classroom” movement. Most of it seems to involve faculty who are eager to shed the burden of complex and often ethically and technologically problematic devices and hope that students follow suit. As I blogged about a few weeks ago, faculty have started to go back to older technology in the classroom including slides to subvert our collective dependency on digital tools to mediate the relationship between our students and what we teach. One of the simplest ways to go device free is to stop using the university sponsored learning management system (LMS) which at my institution is Blackboard. LMSes require digital devices whether phones, tablets, laptops or desktop computers and is one of the main reasons devices have become so prevalent in the classroom. That said, this software is terrible. First, it is a classic example of an application that has become “enshittified” over time. Not only have its feature proliferated,…