This is an autobiographical account of my attempt to bridge the digital divide to meet students' changing needs. When I first began teaching at Georgetown University Law Center in 1993, I employed many traditional teaching techniques and used printed textbooks. However, laptops soon began peppering my classroom; at first there were only a few, and then suddenly almost every student was hiding behind a laptop. I noticed that my students were looking down at their screens, typing furiously, instead of watching me while I discussed my material written on the blackboard or projected overhead. When I realized that I was teaching to eyebrows instead of engaging my students eye-to-eye, I concluded that the traditional teaching methods were no longer effective. In 1999, I decided to research the mindset of these new learners, to overhaul my teaching methods and ultimately to create an interactive, electronic book that could sit conveniently on those laptops in the classroom.
59 J. Legal Educ. 485-514 (2010)
Scholarly Commons Citation
Donahoe, Diana R., "An Autobiography of a Digital Idea: From Waging War Against Laptops to Engaging Students With Laptops" (2010). Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works. Paper 435.