Laptop ban? Paging Rolvix & Native

[Lavabe]

Just a weird thought. How would students respond to this?
http://www.washingtonpost.com/postevery ... classroom/

[bjornolf]

I was part of one of the first university level "paperless" classes back in 1994. I think it was a C+ programing class. We used Mac laptops. Each student was issued an infrared transceiver to beam info around the room. The professor could put info on any of our screens or project our screens onto the big screen instantly. Because of that, I was never really tempted to fool around. The chance of suddenly having my business projected in front of everyone kept me in line. It was great for helping with debugging code though.

I got quoted in the New York Times article about it. I was so excited.

I couldn't find that article, but here's the Journal article by the professor:
http://thejournal.com/Articles/1995/10/ ... m=2&Page=1

So this is all my fault. Sorry.

[Rolvix]

Just a weird thought. How would students respond to this?
http://www.washingtonpost.com/postevery ... classroom/

Students would be unhappy.

I think that the usefulness of a laptop depends largely on the course and the manner in which material is being taught. For example, laptops were banned in my English class last May on Utopian/Dystopian societies. As a small (15 person) seminar course, I could tell that this made a significant difference in terms of student engagement when compared to other seminar courses that allowed laptops.

My biology and biochemistry courses provided the lecture slides beforehand more often than not, essentially nullifying the need for a computer. Many students printed the slides beforehand and annotated by hand throughout the lecture. However, some did the same thing on the computer (and often ended up on Facebook -- I'm guilty of this as well).

The only courses in which laptops were irreplaceable were those in professors expected large quantities of information to be memorized but didn't provide slides or draw the material from a textbook. My Dynamic Oceans course (Oceans for Jocks) was like this, if I remember correctly. The slides had very minimal information, so it was helpful to be able to quickly type every point that the professor made, which often appeared on exams. I found myself too busy typing to be distracted.

By the end of college, I realized that I either had to take notes by hand (which I did for courses like organic chemistry that required drawing molecules and figures) or sit in the very first row so that everybody in the lecture hall could see what I was doing on my computer. Otherwise, I found myself quickly switching over to FB or DBR (gasp) almost subconsciously whenever there was a lull in class.

I think banning laptops should be a decision made by the professor, but one that professors feel like they can make without difficulty or pushback.

[Native]

As a Computer Science major, I digitize everything.

I would not be pleased.

[Lavabe]

Okay Native... I was a computer science major as well, once. Still have the degree too. Admittedly Native, you are a SOLID student. I bet you can multitask with the best of them, and you do fine.

But here's the thing. I do a general education lab science requirement course with loads of nonmajors. I post the powerpoints and mp3s in advance of the class. If you want to see a prof who is digitized, go see my Blackboard class site, complete with virtual museum and guided tours. And well, when a multitasker comes up to me at the end of the course and says "it's like it doesn't sink in. I attend most of the classes" (point in fact: missing 25% of the classes probably doesn't help as well).

NOW...
If most of the students are concentrating on the electronic devices, instead of actually dialoguing with the professor (which is well, sort of what they're supposed to do), AND if there's more research showing that handwritten notes work more effectively, AND there's an emerging body of evidence showing that people adjacent to multitaskers score lower on their exams, AND umm, I have some stats showing the number and variety of sites being visited during a lecture, AND umm, I have a greater than two standard deviation difference in a student's score before and after the student starts routinely texting in class (I don't know of any note-taking software that mimics the balloons of iPhones MESSAGES)...

guess who also isn't pleased.

By the way, this is REALLY a hot topic in higher education. I'm just really wanting to get some student perspectives on it.

[Native]

Okay Native... I was a computer science major as well, once. Still have the degree too. Admittedly Native, you are a SOLID student. I bet you can multitask with the best of them, and you do fine.

But here's the thing. I do a general education lab science requirement course with loads of nonmajors. I post the powerpoints and mp3s in advance of the class. If you want to see a prof who is digitized, go see my Blackboard class site, complete with virtual museum and guided tours. And well, when a multitasker comes up to me at the end of the course and says "it's like it doesn't sink in. I attend most of the classes" (point in fact: missing 25% of the classes probably doesn't help as well).

NOW...
If most of the students are concentrating on the electronic devices, instead of actually dialoguing with the professor (which is well, sort of what they're supposed to do), AND if there's more research showing that handwritten notes work more effectively, AND there's an emerging body of evidence showing that people adjacent to multitaskers score lower on their exams, AND umm, I have some stats showing the number and variety of sites being visited during a lecture, AND umm, I have a greater than two standard deviation difference in a student's score before and after the student starts routinely texting in class (I don't know of any note-taking software that mimics the balloons of iPhones MESSAGES)...

guess who also isn't pleased.

By the way, this is REALLY a hot topic in higher education. I'm just really wanting to get some student perspectives on it.

I'll clarify: laptops are one thing, but my iPad is indispensable and has completely replaced pen and paper for me. Having the convenience of having all of my notes — still able to be "handwritten" with a stylus — backed up and synced to Dropbox is huge. One iPad has taken the place of four spiral-bound notebooks, graph pads, and folders (and a planner).

But, yeah, if you're not paying attention and using your laptop to check Facebook or what have you, you deserve the grade you get.

[Lavabe]

Likewise Native, iPad use during labs is FANTASTIC! These sorts of uses are fine, but the straight lecture... ugh.