'Teach Naked' Effort Strips Computers From Classrooms

Depends on the professor. Some of the most intellectually challenging lectures I've heard were delivered with no more equipment than a chalkboard.

Because when you take notes, you internalize a lot more than simply reading. It really makes a difference. Worse is when the professor snaps the slides faster than you can write them - meaning much faster than you can comprehend them. Sure I can watch someone flash basic history slides by but when it comes to math, science, obscure stuff there is no way I can catch it off a slide better than if the professor is writing.

For me there was a huge difference between a professor going through the process of deriving a formula on a board versus just having it flash up on a Powerpoint slide.

You could probably use Powerpoint to simulate that, but most professors don't. Even if you do show the intermediate steps, I think the gradual process of watching something being written out (as well as then having the time to write it out yourself) let's it sink in better.

Even something like having to decipher the professor's handwriting contributes to better understanding. If it's ambiguous what a particular symbol is, you're forced to think harder about the context it's in to figure it out. I'm not saying lectures should be given with obfuscated notes or anything, but that split second of interpretation your brain has to do adds value in the end.

I wrote code in various languages on paper for tests in college. Even C++ and Java are not horrible if the teacher just asks for you for a code snippet that demonstrates one thing. Obviously "write a whole program that works" assignments were done on a computer :)

Well, hopefully nobody is asking you to write legal Java down to the last namespace and semicolon on paper. (I know some classes do this; I think it's foolish.) But writing semi-legal Scheme or pseudocode on paper is easy and no more strange or demanding than doing mathematics on paper. I don't think it deserves a cringe.

Also, if it's some small degree harder to actually physically write the program, I'm not sure that's a bad thing in terms of learning; it encourages you to do more thinking and understanding and less fly-by-wire programming and testing.

I had to write code in college for tests. Didn't bother me at all.

I write pseudocode on paper before I implement anything, and it has helped me tremendously. In fact, I think programming on paper encourages nonlinear programming. You can DRAW! Use lines and arrows to code blocks. Sure, it might get messy, but doing it on paper gives you a better idea of how your algorithm should work. You make less mistakes because making a mistake is more costly (you have to erase/mark out the mistake), so you tend to be more careful.

When I got into professional programming compilers were a round trip to the machine room away. So one thing we did to save time was to 'desk check' our code. This usually meant a simple simulation using a piece of paper to hold the variables, crossing them out when they were overwritten. At some point I could do it for limited pieces of code by just simulating the code in my head.

Simulating code in your head goes a long way towards writing solid code, you'll be able to hold a model of the data and your code together and see whether it will work or not and fix bugs before your first compile.

Yes. Most people have taken Powerpoint and tried to use it as a replacement for having 3x5 notecards with major points on them so that they don't get lost during a lecture/speech. Unfortunately that is the poorest use of Powerpoint.

But this comes hand-in-hand with the way we choose professors. They aren't usually chosen for their teaching or speaking skills, just for their knowledge and expertise in a particular field.

I program better on a computer because despite my Catholic elementary school penmanship training my hand begins to ache after a few minutes of handwriting, and I write slowly. The longer I have to hold a pen or a pencil the more difficult it becomes to concentrate on anything but how uncomfortable my hands are.

I reach for pencil and paper all the time for solving problems, but if I can't write what has to be written in less than 5-10 minutes it's not worth it.