{"id":86128,"date":"2026-02-12T08:20:55","date_gmt":"2026-02-12T11:20:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tech.einnews.com\/article\/891721040"},"modified":"2026-02-12T08:20:55","modified_gmt":"2026-02-12T11:20:55","slug":"dornsife-professors-make-the-case-for-a-tech-free-classroom","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/2026\/02\/12\/dornsife-professors-make-the-case-for-a-tech-free-classroom\/","title":{"rendered":"Dornsife professors make the case for a tech-free classroom"},"content":{"rendered":"
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When Sarah Mesle peeks through windows looking into classes, she is faced with dozens of laptop screens. Some students are taking notes, while others shop for leggings, watch a show or text on their phone and laptop at the same time. Though sympathetic with students who do this, Mesle hopes her own are present with her.  <\/span><\/p>\n

Mesle, a professor of writing, said she introduced a no-technology policy two years ago because she wanted to make the writing classroom more intimate and valuable. In her classroom, Mesle restricts the use of computers, phones and other personal devices.<\/span><\/p>\n

As the<\/span> University embraces artificial intelligence<\/span><\/a> in its day-to-day operations, Mesle is not the only professor in the Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences who has implemented a no-tech policy in their classroom to navigate an increasingly online age. <\/span><\/p>\n

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Several professors cited a lack of student engagement and focus as their primary concern and motivator for implementing no-tech policies. Though some professors, such as Mesle, have made it their classroom practice for years, others began imposing limitations on technology use in classes due to the recent rise in AI and a noticeable uptick in student disengagement.<\/span><\/p>\n

Alongside colleagues in the writing program, Mesle said she is developing a pilot program to gather data on students\u2019 reactions to low-tech environments. Of the responses she received from prior students, she said 86% reported that their concentration levels and overall class experience improved in a limited technology use classroom. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWriting classrooms are special at USC because for many people, they are some of the few small classes they take, especially when they\u2019re freshmen and sophomores,\u201d Mesle said. \u201cMany students say they want to make connections and friendships. One way to do that is to make the classroom space into a time that\u2019s about being with the people who are with you in the room.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

David Albertson, a professor of religion and philosophy, said that because his thematic option classes are discussion-based, he wants students to engage with one another and with the physical material in front of them rather than their screens.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201c[Technology] just gets in the way. All we need is our pencil and a book, and then we can look at each other\u2019s\u2019 faces and think and talk together,\u201d Albertson said.<\/span><\/p>\n

However, the enforcement of a no-technology policy in classrooms is not uniform across Dornsife. For example, Thomas Gustafson, an associate professor of English, allows students to check their phones quickly as well as type and submit responses on their computers to end-of-class questions. Even so, questions around academic integrity arise for Gustafson.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cHow do I prevent cheating by sharing the question of the day with people outside the classroom? Trying to outwit and circumvent cheating and sharing of information \u2014 that\u2019s one of the deep frustrations of how people use laptops in the classroom,\u201d Gustafson said. <\/span><\/p>\n

Class size is another consideration for professors seeking to limit the use of technology in the classroom.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIn my big lecture class, I don\u2019t feel like I can take away the computers, even though I would like to,\u201d said Patricia George, an assistant professor in psychology. \u201cBut in the smaller classes, they\u2019re discussion-based. I noticed that people don\u2019t participate in discussions if they have their computer in front of them.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

Alongside improving student engagement with the course content, Mesle said she hoped to increase student-to-student interaction by limiting the use of technology in class.  <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI stand at the door and ask them to put their phone away when they\u2019re coming in the room, so they have to sit around awkwardly before class starts. If you don\u2019t have that awkward time, you never learn how to deal with awkwardness,\u201d Mesle said.  <\/span><\/p>\n

George said that though advances in technology opened up more diverse means of interacting with people, these changes caused people to lose connection with one another. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe can keep in touch with and access people more easily from our phones or our computers,\u201d George said. \u201cBut we are in the midst of a loneliness epidemic where people are feeling socially isolated.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

Albertson and George said they hoped to see greater no-technology enforcement in the future, whether by standardizing the policy for general education seminars and thematic option classes, or George said by expanding its implications beyond the classroom setting to areas such as Tutor Campus Center. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cStudents don\u2019t want to be distracted. They want to concentrate, and they know that that is valuable. It\u2019s part of my job as a professor to help make that space for them,\u201d Mesle said. <\/span><\/p>\n

<\/a><\/strong> <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

… has implemented a no-tech<\/span> policy in their classroom … and motivator for implementing no-tech<\/span> policies. Though some professors … students\u00e2\u0080\u0099 reactions to low-tech<\/span> environments. Of the responses … experience improved in a limited technology<\/span> use classroom.\u00c2\u00a0 \u00e2\u0080\u009cWriting …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-86128","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","wpcat-1-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86128","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=86128"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86128\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=86128"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=86128"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=86128"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}