Good morning!

My name is Karol Oviedo, and I will be your guest lecturer for this section of this 181 course, Writing about Science Fiction Literature and Film. Your Professor is in Spain as we speak.

Today, we will be talking about the theme “Entering Class Discussions.” An overview of today’s class will be: an icebreaker, perceptions of entering class discussions in high school, and how different it is entering a class discussion in college. Since most, if not all of you, are First-Year Students, you might remember how high school discussions went. The teacher would pose a question, a student would answer, one would agree or disagree and the conversation continued. In college, this might differ a bit. But I am getting ahead of myself. I would love to meet your first. Let us do an icebreaker. Everybody, get on your feet and lets stand in a circle. You will say your name and a movement. For example, I will say Karol while making a piece sign with my fingers.

In this Eng 181 course, entering the discussion involves a small convention that one should follow. This convention includes: stating the name of the last person who spoke (this will help you remember their name), summarize what they have mentioned briefly (this will allow you to make clear any misunderstandings), and extend or refute on what the previous person has argued (if possible, include references to the text being discussed or any other source that contributes to the discussion). Any questions? No? All right.
To be able to put all of this information into practice, let us set the chairs in a circle. Let us read this article by Clay Shirky, a professor of media studies at NYU.
Here is the link: https://medium.com/@cshirky/why-i-just-asked-my-students-to-put-their-laptops-away-7f5f7c50f368
After reading this article, the topic question for today is; should laptops, tablets, phones, and other technological devices be allowed during lecturers? Please, when you answer, cite the article accordingly…