Yale professor moves class to room without wifi

TIME:

A Yale lecture capped at 270 students? And no wireless Internet available? Dial up the anger on the New Haven, Conn., campus.

After Alexander Nemerov moved his popular “Introduction to the History of Art: Renaissance to the Present” from the Yale Law School auditorium that easily fit about 450 students to the more cramped Yale Art Gallery auditorium, he not only upset some students and alumni by capping the class size at 270 because of the smaller venue, but also shocked some students that walked into a room void of wi-fi or cell service.

Before you scream, “Luddite!”, read the article. The professor seems to have good reasoning for his decision.



6 thoughts on “Yale professor moves class to room without wifi

  1. obiwandreas says:

    That sounds perfect.  I always preferred taking notes on a laptop, and this way nobody would be able to accuse you of wasting time and not paying attention.

  2. Shawn King says:

    In this narrow use case, I think the prof is correct in managing his class this way. he wants students to focus on the art he’s showing and not on their Facebook pages.

  3. Anonymous says:

    A lot of us managed to plod through an education in an entire world without wireless Internet. Or wired Internet for that matter. I think they’ll survive an occasional 60-minute lecture.

  4. Shawn King says:

    LOL That’s a good point. So many people forget that many of us “old timers” seemed to manage to get a (hopefully) decent education without all the trappings of our modern electronic society. 🙂

  5. Anonymous says:

    “Luddite”? The word didn’t even cross my mind. “Champion” seems a more apt word.

  6. thaopd says:

    Good idea.  The last time I gave a lecture to a bunch of medical students I saw a lot of students shopping, checking email and on Facebook.  Disappointing that these are future doctors in the making.

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