When I teach my high school classes, there is no question of allowing the use of laptop computers. They are strictly forbidden by school policy, along with other electronic devices like cell phones, MP3 players and video games.

But in the evenings, when I teach my college level classes, I face a different situation. My students are adults, and there are no school-wide policies on the matter. IÂ’ve debated how to deal with them. Now, some professors around the country are beginning to ban the devices in class for a variety of reasons.

As the professor lectured on the law, the student wore a poker face. But that was probably because, under the guise of taking notes on his laptop, the student actually was playing poker — online, using the school's wireless Internet connection. The scenario is not uncommon in today's college classrooms, and some instructors want it stopped. So they have done the unthinkable — banned laptops.

The move caused an uproar at the University of Memphis, where law professor June Entman nixed the computers in March because she felt they were turning her students into stenographers and inhibiting classroom debate.

Students rebelled by filing a complaint with the American Bar Association, although the organization dismissed it.

At the University of Pennsylvania, law professor Charles Mooney banned laptops from his classes two years ago for similar reasons.

Around that time, said Mooney, he was serving as an expert witness in a lawsuit. During a break in his deposition, he recalled asking the stenographer if she found the case interesting. She replied that she didn't remember anything she had taken down, Mooney said.

"I thought, 'That's what my students are doing,'" he said.

The ban led to "a lot of grumbling," Mooney said. Some students even dropped the class.

I’ve got mixed emotions here. Were I a student, I would probably want to use a laptop for notes, given my own handwriting issues – it is sometimes almost too illegible to read when I take notes, and is bad enough that I often type up overhead transparencies for classroom use rather than use the board.

But the problem comes down to exactly those things that were cited in the article – online distractions, decreased participation, and an attention to detail that squeezes out comprehension until a later date.

Examples spring to mind. I had a young lady last year who claimed to be taking notes – until one night, while she was in the restroom, I happened to glance down at her unattended screen and discovered she was doing online chat with a her boyfriend. Students who would never dream of opening up a newspaper and reading it in class have no scruples at all about going to CNN or Fox to catch the latest news. And even those who are on-task are so concerned about “getting it all down” letter perfect (which folks do not do with hand-written notes) that they don’t process the material until class is over, rendering class discussion listless. When one of my best students this spring got a laptop, for example, his class participation dropped markedly.

I donÂ’t know if I will ban the devices when summer term starts. IÂ’ve not made my decision on the matter. But I am considering it, given that I am unsure that the devices provide greater benefit than distraction in the classroom. At a minimum, I will explicitly reserve the option to request that individual students stop using laptops in class.

Posted by: Greg at 12:02 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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