By Lucy Carroll
For five days near the end of October, Waverley College decided to embark on a technology-free experiment: every lesson would be held without laptops or devices.
Research was done using old-fashioned hard-copy textbooks; teachers photocopied class notes; and essays were drafted by hand. Students from years 5 to 12 left their school-issued computers at home, and work was completed using only pen and paper.
Waverley College students Dante Fearn and Ben Cromer embraced the tech free week.Credit: Janie Barrett
“It gave everyone in the high school this chance to have one week away from screens. It was challenging, a bit like a tech detox,” said year 10 student Ben Cromer.
“For subjects like history and maths, taking handwritten notes was helpful. There weren’t as many distractions. But for writing long essays that need a lot of editing, typing is easier.”
Waverley College deputy principal Lynsey Porter said tech-free week’s aim was to improve study habits and well-being, while also “shift the balance from laptops being the default, to using more handwritten notes”.
“We knew it would be difficult, but by the end of the week, teachers noticed improvements in student engagement and focus,” she said.
Porter said the all-boys private school, which supplies laptops to years 5 to 12 students, is now considering weaving a tech-free day into the timetable once a week, or once a term.
“The staff response was overwhelmingly positive, with 91 per cent supporting the initiative in our feedback survey,” she said.
Students were told to copy their timetables into their diaries before the day started or to print copies for the week, while homework could still be completed using a laptop.
Year 10 student Dante Fearn said being limited to pen and paper for a week “was a bit of an eye-opener”, adding a mix of study techniques was good for younger years and that laptops become more necessary for senior students.
“Maybe the best solution would be one or two tech-free periods a day. That would help create more long-term habits so you only use the laptops when really needed.”
Research shows Australian students spend more time on screens during the school day compared with most other OECD nations, clocking up to three hours on devices for learning and another hour for leisure.
In June, education expert Pasi Sahlberg told the Herald that over past the decade, schools had rapidly embraced screens, devices, apps and iPads in classrooms without substantial evidence to support the shift.
“The OECD has warned excessive use of digital devices for leisure at school can negatively impact students’ academic performance,” he said.
Porter said teachers at Waverley had looked to the benefits of traditional note-taking, including a study published this year that showed handwriting trumped typing when it came to boosting brain power.
Ben Cromer (left) said the week “was challenging, a bit like a tech detox”.Credit: Janie Barrett
The all-boys’ school is not alone in examining how technology is used in classrooms. Another eastern suburbs private school, Cranbrook, is winding back its bring your own device policy (BYOD) steadily over the next two years, and instead will issue laptops for years 7 to 12.
BYOD policies, where students bring in their own laptop or tablet, have been standard across hundreds of public and private schools for more than a decade. Many government schools require parents to supply the latest generation iPads from year 5, at a cost of up to $1000, including accessories.
Sydney Grammar, a top-ranked selective private school, uses banks of laptops that can be booked by teachers when necessary.
Mosman all-girls school Queenwood also uses a bank system where teachers can book computers for classes if needed. From year 9, students bring their own laptop.
The school’s director of research and practice, Rebecca Birch, said research showed handwriting was particularly useful for building students’ conceptual memory and recall.
“There are so many benefits to it. Attention is such a barrier in the classroom, even on a good day,” she said.
“By delaying technology a bit, we make sure students are developmentally ready and have built a lot of background knowledge before engaging with the world of the internet and technology. It can help teachers be more purposeful about how they’re going to use screens in class so it’s not just an automatic thing.”
Birch said typing was particularly useful for organisation, longer assessments, research projects and sustained writing tasks.
“In year 7 and 8, we are also looking at library lessons to teach touch typing and research,” she said.
“Something I’ve seen with BYOD in year 7 and 8 is students open their laptop during breaks. So, not having a phone – and not having the BYOD in [year] 7 and 8 – means there is a lot more interaction in the playground.”
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