Professors banning in-class laptop use

In yet another sign that Luddism is alive and well in academia (remember Lakehead University's silly WiFi ban?), the Associated Press has picked up on a disturbing "trend" of professors banning laptops in their classrooms. Unlike the WiFi brouhaha, which revolved around fears that the wireless signals might be dangerous, keeping laptops out of the lecture hall is seen as a way of forcing students to pay attention. The AP article cites several law school professors who have enacted the ban, including one whose inspiration came while serving as an expert witness in a trial, when he realized the court stenographer wasn't absorbing any of the content that he/she was transcribing. If you ask us, not only does this policy fail to address the root of a problem -- hey Prof, try making your classes more interesting if you want people to pay attention -- but considering what students are paying for a higher education these days, they should be allowed to lug a mainframe and three monitors to class if that's how they like to get their learnin' done.

[carter @ May 3rd 2006 10:24AM]

I disagree. Unless they are integral to a class, laptops should be off. Cell phones, too. It's distracting to the student, to those sitting around them, and to the teacher.

[larken @ May 3rd 2006 10:29AM]

halfs of the people who bring laptops are surfing webpages or playing world of warcraft, so really I'm on the fence with this one.

[DG @ May 3rd 2006 10:30AM]

I agree with above. I graduated in 03 and laptops were kind of a rarity at that point. However, I'm not excited about laptop proliferation when I enroll in grad school in the fall. If I were convinced that students were using laptops only to take notes -- and I'm not -- I'd be okay with it. However, I find them to be mostly distracting and disrespectful.

And professors making their classes more "interesting," whatever that means, might not be the answer. Perhaps we can all learn to exist without gadgets for 50 minute blocks at a time and absorb information from someone who might know what they're talking about.

[Jozer @ May 3rd 2006 10:30AM]

Its not distrubing, it makes sense. I go to Carnegie Mellon University, one of the highest tech places on earth. In many classes, using a laptop is pointless. People who use laptops in these classes use them to check e-mail and surf the web. Not only do these students not pay attention, but they distract all the people around them. Of course there are classes that require the use of a computer, and they are obviously good for homework, but if you are in Math class, there is very little productive you can do on a laptop (at least related to the course).

[Tomas @ May 3rd 2006 10:31AM]

Disagree. The prof can do pretty much whatever he/she wants in a class, and if that means preventing them from playing 50 minutes of Snood, so be it. So a student has to take notes by hand. Big whoop. If it really hurts your hand that badly, then you can get a disability waiver from the university.

[Ihar `Philips` Filipau @ May 3rd 2006 10:33AM]

Some classes in fact benefit from such bans.

For example math: sole purpose of the subject is to evolve your brain. But if you will be offloading work prof gives for *your* brain to say MathCAD/MathLab/etc - the net result will be close to zero.

Experience have already shown, such practice pays back. I never being good math, but in the end (graduation years) I pared much better to the "MathCAD geniuses".

[Ben @ May 3rd 2006 10:34AM]

I semi-agree. If someone wants to pay for an education and the professor says I can't have that laptop in his class I think I might just laugh at him/her. If that is the way I'm taking notes / recording his lectures then what honestly can he do about it? (Just don't EVER use your real name if he asks...)

On the other hand I have seen the 17 inch Mac laptops and huge Dell laptops in some of my classes and even if the person is sitting in the front if they start playing a game or if their cute/obnoxious/interesting screen-saver comes on everyone in the 20 rows behind them can see it.

I personally would advocate something that says laptop useage in the classroom is dependant on the person. Everyone starts out have the right to use their laptop, but the professor also has the right to ask you to spin your laptop around at any point and show him what's on your screen.

However, on top of all this I most heartily agree, some of the best teachers I have ever had have had the most minimul laptop usesage in their classes.

[Pacey @ May 3rd 2006 10:34AM]

Most of the classes I went to the teacher did'nt put any more thought into the presentation than reading out of the book. It's not that hard to read the same thing at home. Not to mention, if you are actually playing attention and taking notes on your lappy 400, just think of all the trees you're saving by not writing out your notes.

If you're that easily distracted that you can't pay attention to what you are doing when surrounded by the tapping of keys, you will never make it in todays business world anyways.

I can see it now: "Boss, I can't get that project to you on time, Jim was typing all day long and it just threw off my concentration."

[nabil @ May 3rd 2006 10:37AM]

only tablet pc's should be allowed :-P

[Adam @ May 3rd 2006 10:38AM]

I think it is the professor's right. Those students aren't forced to attend the school or the class. If they want to use a laptop whenever they want, there is a place in their parent's basement for them and a job a Dairy Queen waiting for them. No student I've ever seen with a laptop is using it for educational reasons in a class. I, for one, used it for playing Starcraft against other students in the class (no WiFi in some of the buildings so we made our own adhoc networks) and to play World of Warcraft and use AIM in the places that did have WiFi.

[Myrmidon @ May 3rd 2006 10:38AM]

I agree with #1. Laptops in class are extremely distracting. If everyone had tablet pc's, that might be ok. But, the clatter of 40 keyboards in a small classroom would make it very difficult to concentrate, not to mention the din that would be caused by 200 laptops in an acoustically amplifying lecture hall.

[Kevin @ May 3rd 2006 10:39AM]

More power to the Prof! I agree with him totally, and calling it Luddism is totally missing the point. By the time you get to university you should be capable of teaching yourself. Tutors and Professors are there to present the correct information to you, and explain whatever isn't clear; Not to provide a multimedia-enriched entertainment experience - You're not a little kid anymore! While the teacher has the floor you should be paying attention, not dossing. If you disagree with this, you should be flipping burgers, not going to school.

[Charles Ward @ May 3rd 2006 10:39AM]

First, I agree that for most courses the laptop offers no advantages for taking notes then paper. In fact, there are numerous tasks that are amazingly easy on paper and next to impossible on a laptop (a table PC maybe).

Second, I also agree that most people are using their laptops in class to surf the web, check their email, play games, watch movies, listen to music, or do homework. Rarely do I see anyone taking notes in class.

Third, laptops are noisy and obstructive to other students. It�s hard to pay attention to the professor when the student in front of you is watching Family Guy.

Fourth, just because you�re paying an arm and a leg for the Privilege to attend a post secondary institution doesn�t mean you have the Right to do what you want. You are not paying for a service and the professors are not in your employment.

[Clarkson @ May 3rd 2006 10:40AM]

I disagree, too. I used to teach literature at Columbia and I did everything I could to discourage my students from taking notes in class (hand-written, no less -- this was in the days before laptops were common). It seems clear to me that you can either listen and participate, or log what the prof is saying, but not both. And, of course, I much prefer the former.

Moreover, and more interestngly, I think you're taking a position which is common these days, but misguided, in your claim that students should be allowed to do whatever they want in class. Education is not a standard consumer service; just because the students are (in most but not all cases) paying the school, hence paying the teachers, that doesn't mean the teachers are their employees. In this regard, anyway, it's more like a police force, where you pay into a system with the understanding that the system, in some instances, gets to tell you what to do. In my classroom, I set the rules, and if you don't like them, take another class, or find another school. If I were still teaching (and perhaps this explains why I'm not) I certainly wouldn't allow laptops in my classroom, for note-taking or poker-playing.

[t.p. @ May 3rd 2006 10:46AM]

My dental school required us to purchase laptops and required us to purchase DVD textbooks every year so that we could take notes in class. Well the electronic notes were so bad and the DVD so useless that by my final year no one was really using the laptops for educational purposes in class so professors would just tell everyone (including those taking notes on computer) to just close their laptops.

[carter @ May 3rd 2006 10:47AM]

Re. students paying for their education, I suspect most of the time it's often their parents paying, and their parents would expect them to be sitting down and paying attention.

I'm all in favour of using technology in the classroom, and using wireless/mobile devices, but they really do need to be (a) integrated into the instruction and (b) isolated from the Internet (local networks okay maybe).

[San Francisco Photos @ May 3rd 2006 10:47AM]

I think professors need to be lenient and allow for laptop usage. I mean come on this is 2006!!! Everyone's got a laptop and we rely on it. Who writes notes on paper anymore??

[Scott @ May 3rd 2006 10:49AM]

It seems that most people disagree with the position of this article, and I would have to add myself to that group.

The line that I found most disagreeable though was: "...hey Prof, try making your classes more interesting if you want people to pay attention." Where it may be true that many professors are about as exciting as a tree, it is the students responsibility to learn. I can see no reason why having a computer is necessary or helpful during a lecture. Transcribing from a dictation recorder later is a better method, since it allows the student to pay attention during class and transcribe later.

[SpoonDogSVT @ May 3rd 2006 10:50AM]

Being distracted in class is not the fault of the laptop, but the fault of the student and, to some degree depending on the size of the class, the instructor. I have spent many years on both sides of the lectern and it really does come down to personal involvement.

I purchased an IBM/Lenovo Thinkpad X41 *tablet* laptop for the express purpose of taking notes in class. When folded into tablet mode running MS OneNote, it becomes no more distracting than a normal paper notebook. Yes the *temptation* may be there to check email, etc. but my sense of professionalism as a student prevents me from doing so.

Even without a laptop, students are still able to 'zone out'. However, I also agree with (1) in that distractions to other students or the instructor should be minimized. But then what's next? Will there be a ban on papers, textbooks, cellphones, clicky-pens, and the attractive co-student all as possible distractions? ;)

[Kevin @ May 3rd 2006 10:50AM]

Sure the students pay to be there (or their parents pay), but that doesn't mean they have the right to bring machine guns, or laptops, or countless other items that don't contribute to their learning. They also don't pay for grades. The classroom is a controlled environment, and if the teacher thinks that laptops are distracting, it't the teacher's call. Those who don't want to abide by the rules are free not to pay (though of course they won't get the education that way either).

Laptops are great for taking notes, but they're also distracting. I know, because I'm at the office, and I should be working, not posting to this comment board.

[hitkaiser @ May 3rd 2006 10:50AM]

So much better if they got the best solution out:

"Video podcasts"

See, if the whole lecture is recorded (to watch at home), anyone can use them to make their computer notes at home where it wont distract anyone (and they will have enough time to type in everything needed)

They can also spend their time in the lecture listening to him/her rather than worrying about condensing the information into useful notes

[Fanguad @ May 3rd 2006 10:51AM]

I totally agree with these professors. The basic points have been stated above so I won't repeat them, just throwing my vote in on the side of these professors.

[Razib Ahmed @ May 3rd 2006 10:53AM]

"If you ask us, not only does this policy fail to address the root of a problem -- hey Prof, try making your classes more interesting if you want people to pay attention -- but considering what students are paying for a higher education these days, they should be allowed to lug a mainframe and three monitors to class if that's how they like to get their learnin' done."
It is a reality that all the professors are not equally attractive and it is also true that all the students are not equally hardworking. I think that bringing laptops are only distraction for the class. If you do not like the lecture of a professor then do not go for his course in the first place.

[Jason @ May 3rd 2006 10:57AM]

I've conducted training classes for fellow engineers and having their laptops in the classroom is always a problem.

It doesn't matter how interesting your lecture is, or even how important it is for success of the business. People will be people and they will get distracted by an urgent email or reading engadget and won't absorb the lecture material.

[andre @ May 3rd 2006 10:58AM]

I agree that professors should be able to control their classrooms. If that means banning laptops, so be it. I used to take notes on one, and occasionally would have to put it away because a professor would pull me aside after class and tell me that other students were finding it distracting. No problem.

However, usually it wasn't me that was being distracting. It was the guy two rows in front of me that had his laptop open to eTrade, AIM, and ESPN simultaneously. I can tell you that laptops were almost never a problem in the classes that didn't have WiFi access....

Also, RE: #18, maybe you're a much more devoted student than I, but I can tell you that if the lectures were available for download, I never would have gone to class. Putting up the slides that a professor uses is one thing, it's a nice key to memory so you don't have to worry as much about taking notes at the time. Putting up the lectures themselves is a ticket to an empty lecture hall.

[mkh @ May 3rd 2006 11:04AM]

This is in line with a trend toward banning Blackberry devices, laptops, and cell phones during business meetings. Few Engadget readers would argue that wireless technology is worthless, but it isn't always necessary, either. Hell, I am totally in favor of WiFi and cellular jammers in certain public places, e.g., theaters and classrooms. If you need to check your MySpace page that badly, go to a freakin' Starbucks. There's one on every block.

[Louis @ May 3rd 2006 11:04AM]

I'm a law student, and I think this is ridiculous. This would require asking 85-90% of the class to take handwritten notes. Everyone brings in a laptop, and while I see a lot of things on others' screens, the majority of people are diligently taking notes. With the amount of material in law school, it is just not rational to think that students would be better off without the ease of computer organization.

Secondly, we are given so many cases and materials online that it would cost a small fortune and a couple rainforests if we all printed them out.

Finally, It isn't how much I pay that would make me mad. Or the fact that the bar requires attendance and I can't just skip like one poster suggested. It is just the best way to do things, whether the professor likes it or not. I have found that the people taking handwritten notes are usually daydreaming more than me anyway.

[Morgan @ May 3rd 2006 11:05AM]

I am extremely dependent on a laptop for use in classes. If I don't have the laptop to take notes on and keep my focus sharp, I am likely to have trouble paying attention. I never open any programs, including an internet browser, other than notepad, during class time. It's a tiny laptop, with a quiet keyboard, and I don't even have any games installed on it. I also sit in the back where no one could be distracted by my (10-inch) screen. I'd love to find a way to do that and show my professor my screen as well, to assuage their suspicion.

And yes... I do have a note in my disability file that mentions my laptop, because otherwise I would need to use a note-taker (someone in the classes being paid to xerox their notes for me), due to my disabilities, and this way I can actually take my own notes. And the speed of typing, as compared to writing, allows me to write down the things that will actually be useful - the anecdotes or asides by the teacher that aren't mentioned in the textbook - as well as the things that may be duplicated in the professor's notes or text.

Yes, my hand cramps up every time I have to take a long test. But I much prefer that to being in slight pain every day from writing all day. Maybe it's because I'm lefthanded and was one of those people that adapted by craning my hand around the top of the paper. But I really doubt that any students can get a note from the disability office based on hand pain alone.

[puh_fifer @ May 3rd 2006 11:05AM]

Having just graduated in December I totally agree with this article. About 80% of my professors in college just read and distributed notes out of a text. Not only did they make boring classes, but had overly strict attendance so you had to go and listen to them read a book to you.

I personally used a sidekick or pocketpc during classes and still pulled off about a 3.5 in my major just by reading the text. With a few exceptions my professors were useless, as was college in general.

I find myself wishing I went to a technical school instead of college. Before someone chimes in with a "That's what you get at community college" comment, I went to a satellite Penn State campus. The education system as a whole needs an overhaul from the bottom up in this country.

[Ben18 @ May 3rd 2006 11:09AM]

I use my laptop in three of my classes; my econ class, my english class, and my psych class. Do I browse the internet? Of course, but it's only ever so often when the teacher is mindlessly reading a powerpoint slide he/she made. I'd really say that about 1/4 of the kids in my lecture classes have laptops whether they choose to take them out or not is up to them. I for one like downloading the powepoint slides and with my tablet pc I write notes 'in the margins'. I think it's a great solution to taking notes and actually lets me pay more attention to the teacher rather than focusing on the last sentence he said as I try to write it down. Sure kids are gonna web browse, but it's their grades, and you can't tell me they wouldn't get distracted with anything else...text messages anyone?

[Rod Pickett @ May 3rd 2006 11:10AM]

As a pastor and a professor, I do not want students or parishioners to be focusing on taking notes. The purpose of a sermon or lecture is to engage the mind, not to transmit information. (There are much more efficient ways to transmit information.)

Research has shown that people who are writing down everything that is being said are not fully engaged.

And to the issue of a boring class, yes it is the responsibility of the instructor to make the class interesting. But part of that is to create an environment free of outside distractions.

Rod

[NeoteriX @ May 3rd 2006 11:11AM]

Laptops are the norm here in law school. *shrug*

[Nick @ May 3rd 2006 11:17AM]

If anyone has ever sat in the back row of a lecture hall while students were using laptops, they'll have most likely seen hundreds of screens full of solitare, myspace, outlook and hotmail. I'm sure some students actually benefit academically from taking notes via computer, but they are in the minority. College students seem to have entitlement issues these days, and I think that is the real problem here.

[Ryan @ May 3rd 2006 11:17AM]

In many cases just going to the class is a big waste of time. If someone wants to do a little multi-tasking-- let them. Some professors are just insecure, often just regurgitating what is in the text book they prescribed. So I say bring the laptop and tell the professor to kiss your ass when they approach you with their policy�The whole situation bubbles down to harassment and students should be complaining to the profs superiors.

[Shane @ May 3rd 2006 11:18AM]

It's a violation of the American Disabilities Act, if the ban involves a student under ADA need to have one... of course now all the students will have some kind of "learning disability" requiring a laptop, now that I've said this :)

[Terry @ May 3rd 2006 11:19AM]

Laptops are absolutly ubiquitous in my law school. And so often they're not being used for school stuff. I can think of one class where to my left is partypoker.com guy, to my right is MAME guy, and in front of me is victoria's secret guy, and next to him is flash-game girl. It's absurd that people pay $24,000 to sit and play games and ignore class. And this is different from them just "zoning out" or not showing up or doodling in a notebook in that each one of them is creating a 15" colorful flashing attention grabber within a few feet of me... it's terribly distracting.

[Aaron Smith @ May 3rd 2006 11:20AM]

I agree with the article and disagree with almost every one of the comments so far. A paradigm shift needs to happen where students and professors realize that laptops are not a distraction but a tool to enhance learning. I am sure the same shift happened when students started taking notes in class with paper and a pencil, and this is no longer considered a distraction or rude.

I am also disturbed by the former Columbia professor's comments about discouraging note taking in general. I agree that the professor gets to set the rule and that class participation is a very good thing, but when it conflicts with a student's learning styles and there ability to review what they learned in class, then this policy may infact hurt some students.

I am working on a post about this very subject for my blog. I will have it posted in a week or so. Please read it and feel free to disagree. http://k12edtech.blogspot.com

[sracer @ May 3rd 2006 11:21AM]

Banning in-class notebook pc use should increase, IMO. I allowed the use of notebook pcs in my last class, and the leading excuse for those students (using notebooks) for not having good notes was that their computer crashed/died.

"The Internet ate my homework" has now become the official excuse for the 21st century.

[adm @ May 3rd 2006 11:22AM]

there has been a disturbing paradigm shift in the last decade. Once upon a time, students were fortunate to have education opportunities and would have to do whatever was required. You think in 1940 people would try and dictate the terms of their professor's class? School has now become a battle for things that students feel they are entitled to, for whatever reason. It's your education, but it's their class. You're mad? Don't go to school there. Upset because you're paying? Don't pay to go there.
This has nothing to do with laptops for me, sure they're used in some classes...it's about ACCEPTING the fact that you are not your own boss when you go to school. You pay to be told what to do in order to earn your degree. And you either accept those terms or not. But students today have a disgusting sense of indignance about them for things that are normal decisions from respected professors. Get over it, and if you don't like it, get out.

[Lon B @ May 3rd 2006 11:22AM]

Professors are such primadonnas.

[Shawn @ May 3rd 2006 11:22AM]

How ridiculous. How fragile is your concentration if you can't even tune out a laptop? Assuming that the sound is turned off, what is there to be distracting? Also, @ 18, I think video podcasts would be a slick idea, but I can tell you that I don't see that happening anytime soon. I am a computer science major in 400 level classes and I actually have a prof who says that he won't accept emails. :(

[Tut Tut Tut @ May 3rd 2006 11:26AM]

This was on slashdot MONTHS ago.

[crYm fYtr (UGA) @ May 3rd 2006 11:28AM]

NeoteriX is right. Do you need them in a single undergrad class ever? No, those classes are like high school, if you show up every day, you would have to try to not get an A. But in my law school, even the students who are ranked near the top of the class would struggle without their notebook PCs. Do I check my mail or browse the web? absolutley depends on the class and the teachers style. Some of the classes are so intense you could not possibly divert your attention, in others it's easy to drop in and out without missing a thing. Even the only straight-lecture class I've had in law school required us to use notebook PCs, not to mention the socratic method classes. If you are seriously bothered by the sound of rain, because that is what it sounds like with 50-90 of us in a room at once, then perhaps your level of concentration isn't up for law/grad school. I'm just saying, undergrad is nothing like this and should never allow notebooks. Law school is a different story.

[rodJoh. @ May 3rd 2006 11:31AM]

I've never seen anyone use laptops in-class for a good reason. They are always chattin, or listenin to music or whatever. It IS distracting.

[Jordan @ May 3rd 2006 11:32AM]

Everyone has different learning styles. So ban someone's laptop on an individual basis if they are causing harm to other's learning experience, but for crying out loud, don't require someone to use a learning style that's less efficient for them.

[Shaun @ May 3rd 2006 11:34AM]

I use a laptop at college... actually thats what I'm doing right now. Don't worry I'm on my break time. I find that the laptop is very good for taking notes since I can type at 75 kpm and write at a very slow 20 lpm.

[scrotes @ May 3rd 2006 11:34AM]

Banning laptops is pointless. It is solely the student's responsibility to pay attention. If you're distracted by flashy colors, god only know how you survive a commute with billboards along the way.

Yes, I take my laptop to class, but only one, my CS class. No it's not required there, and yes I typically browse the Internet and talk on AIM. But guess what? It's also my highest grade. I can sit and listen and absorb information while he drones on and on. I tried a few classes without the laptop and it turns out that "distraction" keeps me awake and alert to hear anything that might be slightly useful.

I have a Dell 700m so it's a small footprint and I turn the screen brightness down to A) save battery life, and B) not distract anyone.

Oh, and I absolutely agree that I'm paying tuition, and I'm not paying to get some tenured asshole to mess around with me or bored me to death. I'll be whatever I need to do to get the grades in the class. It's the teachers responsibility to present the information they claim to be so passionate about in a passionate and engaging way. If it's not passionate and engaging, you're damn right I'll do what I want. No, I don't have to go to the school, but I'm sure as hell at least finishing the semester I've already paid for. Sadly, I think that tenure is the problem here. "It's "their" classroom." They should have the option to be fired if they suck when they get tenure just as I have the option to not go the school. We'll see how much it matters to have your own classroom when zero dollars are flowing in from students.

It all comes down to my responsibility to get the grades. If I can do it with a laptop, leave me alone. I did the work to get into the college I now go to, let me continue to do it my way.

Oh, and it's not a community college, its the second oldest college in America.

[John Stracke @ May 3rd 2006 11:36AM]

When I was in college, laptops were rare; the first real laptop (i.e., it had a floppy drive and could run DOS) came out my freshman year. I'm currently in grad school, in computer science, and I've never yet seen a student using a laptop in class (after 6 courses), not even in the one class where the professor was just reading off the contents of the book.

I occasionally pull out my Zaurus when I want to hack something to try out what the professor just said; but that's a lot less distracting.

I'm not sure what the difference is—maybe because most of the professors at my school give out hardcopies of their slides, so the easiest way to take notes is by writing on the slides.

[John Stracke @ May 3rd 2006 11:40AM]

puh_fifer wrote:

"Before someone chimes in with a 'That's what you get at community college' comment, I went to a satellite Penn State campus."

Get a clue. Penn State satellite campuses *are* community colleges.

[makes sense @ May 3rd 2006 11:44AM]

Talking to some recent grads, once Wi-Fi came in, now most of these students are surfing and IMing in class. It's distracting. I support this ban.

As to the people who say that the prof just reads the text to them, just don't show up for class. That's what I did, and I went to school long before the class status was updated on a web page. I ran the risk of missing tests and had to go through the trouble of finding out what the prof was covering through other means. Nowadays, you can see the assignments on the web and read them without going to class.

I know there are classes where laptops are useful, but in large lectures, they probably should be out.

And look, we've got a law school bunghole in here. Oh yeah, keep on with that "Paper Chase" stuff. Keep thinking that law school is so much different than everything else, sooo much tougher. Only thing worse than the flood of worthless lawyers is the law profs and their Socratic methods, emphasizing the length of their johnson by comparing their knowledge to that of students.