A professor at University of Memphis has recently banned laptops from her classroom. This action provoked outrage from the students, who are, among other things, planning on sending a petition the American Bar Association and threatening to transfer schools if this policy is not changed. This brings several points to mind.
1) How quickly the world has changed. When I was an undergrad, less than 10 years ago, nobody had laptops in the class for taking notes. As a grad student less than 5 years ago, only 5-10% used laptops. Now it’s so standard that preventing it leads to outrage. I wonder what 5 years down the line holds for higher ed…
2) What a sense of entitlement these students have. What next, the students writing to the Bar Association because they don’t like the topic of a paper they have to write? Or they think they have too much reading? The professor has set a policy with sound pedigogical underpinnings, but rather than try and learn from the experience, they take it as an attack. And these are the next generation of lawyers — no wonder we have such a litigious society.
3) There are strengths and drawbacks to having laptops in class. On the one hand, people checking email or playing minesweeper in class aren’t learning as effectively, and can distract their peers (although potentially not more so than doing crossword puzzles, which is what we used to do before laptops). On the other hand, having web access can add to classroom discussion. I taught a class just yesterday where the discussion turned to the Tonkin Bay incident and subsequent resolution, and one of the students googled it and brought it up on his laptop which facilitated discussion. So, I’m not sure whether laptops in the classrooms are in the end positive or negative from a teaching standpoint. But it would be interesting to hear what others think.
I thought this hullaballoo was very funny. One of the students said he would transfer because his handwritten notes would be too disorganized. Apparently he hadn’t realized that notes can be typed up after class. I personally think the teacher should have latitude over this issue; if the laptops are distracting, then she can ban them, but of course if she has students who have to use them (ex. blind students) they must have an exception. Students when I was in college sometimes got upset over silly things, too.
Actually, the kid who wanted to transfer is showing off the power of markets to handle these problems, which means that no one else needs to get involved. If enough students really do decide that such policies at any particular law school are overly cumbersome, they will go elsewhere, and the law school will be forced to change in order to continue to attract students of the appropriate calliber. And if that doesn’t happen… well, then i guess it wasn’t such a big deal, was it?
As for whether lap tops are good or bad, I think depends completely on the student. Some students will find them too much of a distraction; others will find them indespinsible in taking notes and organizing their thoughts. Personally, as long as the sound is turned off and no one is looking at anything that could be distracting to other students, I see no harm in letter students make that decision for themselves. Yes, some students will make poor decisions, and their grades will suffer as a result. But if those students can’t figure it out, and change their behavior accordingly, then they’ve got bigger problems.