Printed readings and physical notebooks are coming back into fashion – at least within Yale University’s English department.
The changes include restricting the use of technology inside the classroom, according to the student newspaper.
The Yale Daily News reported:
Professor Kim Shirkhani, who teaches “Reading and Writing the Modern Essay,” explained that for about a decade prior to this semester, she did not require printed readings. This semester, she is requiring all students to have printed options.
“Over the years I’ve found that when students read on paper they’re more likely to read carefully, and less likely in a pinch to read on their phones or rely on chatbot summaries,” Shirkhani wrote to the News. “This improves the quality of class time by orders of magnitude.”
Professor Pamela Newton also changed her approach. She originally prohibited laptops but allowed tablets as long as they were “flat on the table during discussions,” the student newspaper reported. Even these could be used for messaging, so Newton went fully tech-free.
The student newspaper reported:
This semester, Newton has removed the option to bring iPads to class, except for accessibility needs, as a part of the general movement in the “Reading and Writing the Modern Essay” seminars to “swim against the tide of AI use,” reduce “the infiltration of tech,” and “go back to pen and paper,” she said.
Yale Daily News ran a similar article in Oct. 2025 that also highlighted how some professors were restricting the use of technology in the classroom.
Professor Rasheed Tazuden “banned laptops in the classroom outside of specific activities that require them” and “bought every student a notebook.”
He also requires “printed readings” as a check against the use of AI.
“I don’t want to be asking questions about a text or something and if a student has a laptop open might be getting ChatGPT responses,” Tazudeen told the Yale Daily News. “That’s what I was really trying to avoid as well because I can ask ChatGPT myself.”
“I really want to know what the students think.”
