Students of Purdue University who were used to watching Netflix and other streaming websites such as Hulu, HBO, iTunes, and Pandora in the Lecture Halls will have to find alternative solution as the University management has taken a move to block the streaming websites.
The students will witness this change when they return from spring break on March 18.
It is reported that the University initially tested blocking access to five streaming sites in four lecture halls during fall semester 2018. The pilot program has run continuously since then and the ban over the major entertainment sites has also grown.
University’s executive Director, Mark Sonstein, quoted, “The ban was not driven by desire to get more student’s attention to the class, but to prevent students from hogging bandwidth that others needed for their work. However, some other professors also take this ban as added benefit to help improve student’s attention span in the lecture hall.”
A statement read that, “ Access to streaming sites over Wi-Fi in lecture halls, classrooms and labs across campus will now be restricted from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. Mondays through Fridays. Residence halls, hallways and other areas where students congregate will not be affected. Access to streaming services via computers with wired internet access also will not be affected. Students will continue to be able to access the streaming sites in lecture halls or anywhere on campus using their cellular data.”
The move was taken after a well-laid analysis and test. University’s IT department conducted an experiment in 2016 where it came out as a fact that just 4 percent of internet traffic was rooted out of academic sites and online learning systems. However, after the imposition of the website blocking, Blackboard, a website that was 79th on the list of websites being used in lecture halls, ranked in top 10 after the ban was launched. This is a positive sign in learning.
“We expected a massive pushback from students,” Sonstein said. “But, students didn’t seem to care. They know that learning is the key motto of a classroom.”
Does learning really need a laptop?
Steven Beaudoin, professor of chemical engineering and academic director of teaching and learning technology, said he was glad from the ban being extended across campus.
Beaudoin said he hasn’t noticed a significant change in his classes since the ban was introduced. “I do a lot of active learning, so it’s hard to be in my class and not be involved in what’s happening,” he said. He also didn’t hear any complaints from the student’s end.
It has been a point of discussion amidst many professors whether or not a laptop truly adds to the learning objectives of a student. While, some professors believe preventing laptop helps students focus more, other say that there are legitimate academic reasons why students might need access to streaming services in the classroom.
The subject became a heated discussion after some got major influenced from New York Times op-ed by Susan Dynarski, who wrote that “growing body of evidence shows that overall, college students learn less when they use computers, tablets or laptops during the lectures.”