The pros and cons of taking notes on the computer

The pros and cons of taking notes on the computer

Computer note-taking was a point of contention at my school. Almost every teacher used laptops. But we varied in how much we allowed students to take notes on them during class. Those in the no-computer-notes camp pointed to how often students were distracted by messaging and social media. Those who allowed laptops for notes argued that…

Because of screen time and lack of hands-on activities medical students don’t have the dexterity to learn their job

Because of screen time and lack of hands-on activities medical students don’t have the dexterity to learn their job

A professor of surgery says students have spent so much time in front of screens and so little time using their hands that they have lost the dexterity for stitching or sewing up patients. Roger Kneebone, professor of surgical education at Imperial College, London, says young people have so little experience of craft skills that…

Robots are good at writing dry, technical, textbooks

Robots are good at writing dry, technical, textbooks

Academic publisher Springer Nature has unveiled what it claims is the first research book generated using machine learning. The book, titled Lithium-Ion Batteries: A Machine-Generated Summary of Current Research, isn’t exactly a snappy read. Instead, as the name suggests, it’s a summary of peer-reviewed papers published on the topic in question. It includes quotations, hyperlinks to the…

Replacing the Foreign Language Graduation Requirement with Programming

Replacing the Foreign Language Graduation Requirement with Programming

Maryland’s legislature is considering a bill to allow computer coding courses to fulfill the foreign language graduation requirement for high school. A similar bill passed the Florida State Senate in 2017 (but was ultimately rejected by the full Legislature), and a federal version proposed by Senators Bill Cassidy, Republican of Louisiana, and Maria Cantwell, Democrat…