Pen and paper, typewriters, probing Q&As: why these profs went old school in their classrooms

Holding a plump for to the '90s, "tech-free" division during his first-year pedantic written material trend last term meant much more assignment planning for Mustafa Siddiqui, plus a change to his presenting style.

For instance, he had to switch things up by scrawling notes on the classroom whiteboards versus relying on his regular slide deck. 

But it was worth it, he says, recalling how the students connected over a Walkman, a physical newspaper and clothing borrowed from their parents. They also chatted away while collaborating on their group assignments using pens and paper, rather than reaching for their phones.

Siddiqui likens his experiment to cities setting car-free zones to promote and recognize the benefits of walking.

"Likewise in education, now is the time where we can bring those old practices and mix them up with these modern-day practices," he said.

Hand-written notes. Problem-solving through discussion. An assignment completed by typewriter. In-depth Q&As after oral presentations. Some professors are reviving these classroom methods of the past, aiming to boost student engagement and steer them away from generative AI shortcuts.

With his '90s-themed class, Siddiqui wanted to create a fun, comfortable, social space where students had to rely on their own thinking and figure out problems with their peers.  

In the past three years, Siddiqui, an assistant professor at the University of Toronto Mississauga campus, had observed a lack of fresh ideas in students' writing, with the same topics rehashed over and over. He also noticed a rise in suspiciously perfect first drafts and students being distracted by phones and devices.

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His idea was to "mix things up" by having some classes be completely tech-free. "I really want students to use their intelligence — to struggle with the concepts and learn from that struggle."

He also wanted to emphasize to students how their unique perspectives matter.

After that day's session, students reported feeling focused, encouraged to rely on their own thinking and appreciative of the greater peer interaction, Siddiqui said, noting that "90 per cent of the students said that they don't mind having a screenless class."

As some schools return to pen-and-paper examinations, he says holding tech-free classes can also familiarize students with the process and help alleviate potential exam anxiety.

Siddiqui acknowledged that not every university class can be tech-free — complicating factors may including the subject, class size and accessibility needs — but he's already planning more for next term.

He's also starting formal research into student experiences of tech-free classes after having shared notes at a recent conference and with a wave of interested colleagues who've reached out.

Seeing too much perfection in recent years is also what had Cornell University German instructor Grit Matthias Phelps suspecting students had used AI to complete assignments. 

"All of a sudden, those texts were all perfect," she said, adding that usually, "German grammar is not so easy" for first or second-year students.

"If all the adjective endings are correct or if you use a past tense that we've not discussed in class, it's fairly obvious."

That realization came after she'd already noticed today's "touchscreen generation" of students struggling with some analog concepts and with the idea that mistakes are vital to learning.

In 2022, Matthias Phelps, who is a typewriter enthusiast, decided to combine her hobby with her classroom. She sourced about 20 manual typewriters she hauls in once per semester for a compulsory, "analog text" assignment in every course she teaches.

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Beyond grammar and translation, she says, language learning also involves traversing a new culture, communicating between cultures and operating outside one's comfort zone.

"Students are so trained to get the maximum score ... You have to get it right from the beginning," she said. "I'm trying to tell them 'Enjoy the process. That's part of it. It's not just the result.' "

The typewriters help with that, she believes, because even after listening to her instructions, students must grapple with obstacles like sticky keys, wonky spacing, unfamiliar keyboard layouts and the lack of a delete button — which means striking out typos by pencil after the fact.

It's inevitably a chatty class as she encourages students to help each other out.

Matthias Phelps has received some post-assignment reflections where students say they have to "think differently" since they must consider what they want to say before they start typing.

"It's a slower process," she said. "And I do think they enjoy that."

During the pandemic, while students were learning virtually, Kyle Maclean and colleagues at Western University’s Ivey Business School tested a large-scale, timed, simultaneous oral exam.

But the management science professor has also made some tweaks to how he assesses his elective courses after finding it concerning when a few students couldn't answer questions about their presentations.

So he now includes "a slightly more extended" question and answer session after final presentations — something he considers an extention of the school's existing emphasis on class participation and discussions.

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While the extended Q&As did require much more of his time, and Maclean noted that finding innovative ways to gauge student learning gets more difficult for courses with more people enrolled, he thinks it's important to "always be rethinking assessments" to ensure students stay motivated and are being tested on the learning outcomes their schools care about.

"If you don't re-think your assessments, then all you're saying is the students who cheat will do better."

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