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"Innovation means new, not necessarily better,"
says Chris Jernstedt, professor of psychological and brain sciences and
director of Dartmouth's Center for Educational Outcomes. "You can't just
throw it out there. In Michigan, they gave every teacher a computer. It was a
waste of money; most had no idea how to use it in actual teaching. But this
wireless network here has the possibility of making things vastly
better."
Jernstedt, who'd been teaching at the College since 1967, wasn't aware that
the new network had any value to him at first. That changed when he called
Larry Levine, the College's chief technology officer, who had sold the idea to
then-Provost Susan Prager. "Larry went out on a limb to install the
wireless system, making an expensive resource available before many could see
the need for it," says Jernstedt. "I found out about it because I
went to him with a general need and he pointed me to this specific solution. I
started using it immediately."
 Jernstedt's "general need"
was every teacher's: He wanted more and better responses from the students in
his classroom. He equipped each student in his Psychology 22
"Learning" class with a wireless-enabled Handspring Visor PDA
(Personal Digital Assistant), donated by the manufacturer. Then, whenever he
asked a question, none of the 80 students had to raise their hand and vie for
attention — all of them could answer immediately by tapping their responses
into their PDAs, which transmitted and projected all the answers to a screen in
front of the class, with instant feedback in both directions. "Not only
could they all respond," reports Jernstedt, "but they all did. You go
from a 50-minute class with an average of seven responders out of 80 to a
50-minute class with 80 responders out of 80. And not only do they get the
feedback, but so do I. A high percentage of wrong answers tells me I haven't
made the point clear."
Jernstedt calls this process "brain-based learning," a term that's
not redundant to a brain scientist. "When the brain is truly
engaged," he explains, "when it's actively forming a connection —
memorizing or recalling — that process is a physical one. Neuronal connections
are formed and real learning takes place. And the brain is much more actively
engaged when answering a question, than it is when passively listening."
With the wireless network's ability to actively connect every student to every
question posed during a class, even if the class has gathered on the grass in
front of Dartmouth Hall, Jernstedt says all teachers will have to adapt to
it.
But how soon they'll adapt is unknown. Because for every Jernstedt, there's
probably a Luddite such as the unnamed faculty member (identified only as
"a scientist") quoted in the College's 2000 Self-Study Report on the
Computing and Information Environment at Dartmouth who described the Internet
as "a vast waste of bandwidth," and who suggested his comments be
included in an appendix titled, "The Old Fogey Mindset."
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