Typewriters vs AI: A German Prof's Low-Tech Learning Revolution

0:00A German teacher at Cornell University is bringing back manual typewriters to keep her students honest in class. Once each semester, grit Matthias Phelps sets up dozens of these old machines for an analog writing assignment, forcing everyone to type without, screens, spell check, or AI help. No delete keys, no online dictionaries, just pure unfiltered effort. This started back in spring of 2023 when Phelps got fed up with kids using generative AI to spit out flawless homework. She figured why grade something they didn't really create. So she hunted down thrift store typewriters to make them feel the grind of real writing from the pre-digital days. Students show up totally thrown off, staring at these relics like they're from another planet. A 19-year-old freshman says she'd only seen them in movies and had no clue how to load paper or hit the carriage return after that classic ding. At the line's end, it's a crash course in focus, one key stroke at a time. Meanwhile, this tie-briter vibe fits a bigger push across schools nationwide.

1:01Profs are ditching laptops for in-class pen and paper tests, or straight up oral exams to block AI cheating and bring back genuine learning. As more educators dig into these low-tech fixes, it reminds us that sometimes stepping away from the glow of screens sharpens the mind in ways code, can't touch. From your city, powered by AI, this is Durham News Today.