Since the advent of the computer age, college campuses nationwide have upgraded classrooms to keep up with technology savvy students. Despite the efforts to stay modern, some students complain technology can get in the way of teaching.

Regardless, the benefit of having technology in classroom is clear to many students and faculty.

“I really like using PowerPoint and I really like having students get their lectures ahead of time,” Andrea Gargas, a UW botany professor, said.

UW sophomore Bryan Koschak said PowerPoint allows “for more information to be covered in lecture,” adding it is more helpful to see diagrams on PowerPoint than on an overhead projector.

Having clear-cut diagrams and graphics for presentations is also a real asset to professors.

“Personally, I’m not very good at drawing things on the board quickly, so I like having the PowerPoint as a diagram that I couldn’t draw as quickly or as intricately,” Gargas said.

Despite this, some students have found having PowerPoint in class does not guarantee good teaching sessions. Professors who use PowerPoint to provide slides ahead of lectures provide an incentive for some students not to come to class Koschak said, adding “PowerPoint promotes laziness.”

“Some PowerPoints are good — the kind that professors actually put time into — and not just from the textbook,” Jon Goldstein, UW sophomore, said. “It has to be reflective of what they’re doing.”

Goldstein said classes relying on PowerPoint could numb students to a lecture.

“If a teacher isn’t using a PowerPoint, you have to be more aware of what’s going on,” he said.

PowerPoint is not the only technological tool to make its mark on college campuses. Clickers, small remote control-sized devices allowing students to signal by using sensors placed in classrooms, are new and Gargas said they are a hot topic among professors.

Students can use clickers to answer professors’ questions and professors can use them to take attendance. Students can also see how their answers compare to those of their peers.

Gargas said clickers can be a great tool in the classroom setting, especially for large-sized classes such as the Zoology 151 class he teaches.

“I wish it weren’t such a big class,” he said. “My favorite class to teach is about 25 students, where I can actually talk to students and they can be apart of it.”

Since the class is so large, Gargas said he has relied on clickers to “make it a more inter-communicative environment.” Students enrolled in Gargas’ course could buy the clickers for $25 and receive a $20 refund at the end of the semester.

Gargas said clickers, “like every technology,” can be good or bad, a sentiment Koschak echoed. Koschak said the new gadgets add a sense of evaluation of what the class knows at a certain point, but “stop the lecture and take up time.”

Still, Gargas said there are days like “those days when your computer doesn’t start” when she would just like to throw technology out the window. “Certainly [technology’s] not perfect and the chalk always works,” she said. “I really think the best learning is people to people. We can use these things as tools that help us interact or help us to teach, but we shouldn’t just have these fancy toys because we can.”