In its lame, cynical, stupid way, the university tech office has begun its utterly predictable retreat from all of the devices it’s been foisting on students in classrooms, and on professors and administrators in meetings. Turns out it’s rude and unproductive to stare at a screen! And here we all thought it was so Real World, so frabjous, so multi-taskular!

I mean, let’s not even talk about online high schools and universities… Let’s just not go there at all. A moment of silence, rather, for those lost minds and souls.

Let’s just talk about the atmosphere in wired Duke University gatherings.

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And are you surprised that it’s the Office of Information Technology that’s getting its ass out of online first? Don’t be. They’re the ones who follow the studies and know exactly what’s up. So they’ve gone from being arrogant pushers of wired classrooms and meeting rooms – they’ve gone from ridiculing resistance to their electronics as antediluvian – to what we see now.

Now they’re Big Momma and Big Poppa, lecturing their immature, screen-addicted kiddies on how they have to grow up and throw it all away.

(A little historical self-consciousness will serve all of us well in this matter, by the way. Five years from now, these same people will start in on us again about how collaborative, interactive, Real World, and cutting edge the latest tech machines are.)

Yeah, so now the head of tech at Duke announces he’s had it with tech in meetings because it makes nothing happen; and a Duke professor announces it causes anxiety; and another Duke professor announces it makes you stupid.

Wow. Pretty much everyone without a financial or emotional investment in the technology knew this, said this, and published this ten years ago. I guess we had to waste the educations of hundreds of Duke students and spend a lot of their tuition on technology before Duke began to get to the same place.

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Oh, but there are hold-outs. There remain true believers.

To minimize distraction in the classroom, some faculty ask students to put away laptops – but that’s not always the best approach, said Lynne O’Brien, director of academic technology and instructional services for Perkins Library.

Instructors are better off asking students to work together in pairs, calling on individuals and using other strategies to engage participants, so “you’re at risk if you’re not paying attention,” O’Brien said.

O’Brien clings to the Barney approach: Okay kiddies now choose a partner and let’s learn Heidegger together, as a team! What’s on your screen, Katie! Ooh, that’s great! Show Jodie! And Billy – over there – are you paying attention, Billy? I’m afraid you’re not…