Profs ban laptops in class, marvel at higher number of attentive students.


April 8th, 2008 by Ashley Reich,The Daily Trojan

Laptops are beginning to be banned in business meetings and university classrooms across the country, as professionals and professors are becoming frustrated with students and co-workers making more eye contact with their computer screens than with each other.

This trend has begun to take hold at USC as well, with many professors, especially those in the USC Gould School of Law, banning their students from taking notes on their computers.

“It’s a relatively new trend in law schools across the country,” Scott Altman, vice dean of the Law School said. “The view of the administration is that as with almost any teaching technique, faculty should have the discretion to set the general rules in the classrooms, and so we support different faculty members who want to experiment with different teaching methods and styles, including banning laptop use.”

While the Law School has no official school-wide policy against laptop use, students are discouraged from using the Internet in class because of the distractions it poses.

“There are many potential disadvantages regarding laptop use; some students are watching movies or playing games or are on the Internet and doing things that distract their classmates. They may be IMing each other so its like a more systematic way of passing notes and that can be very distracting,” Altman said.

Professor Nomi Stolzenberg, who teaches first-year students in a class titled Law, Language and Ethics, recently implemented a no laptop policy in her class after years of wanting to do so.

“What encouraged me was hearing the experience of other faculty members who did it and they just felt that their sense of their students’ reactions was overwhelmingly positive and that really heartened me and gave me the courage to follow my convictions,” she said.

One of the reasons Stolzenberg said she banned laptop use in her classroom is because of the distractions the Internet introduces, which she said ultimately affects the entire classroom environment.

“There are a larger number of people who just can’t resist the call of using the computer for other purposes and the overall classroom conversation deteriorates because fewer people are really engaged,” Stolzenberg said.

Some professors have tried to discourage students from surfing the Internet during class by blocking Internet access inside specific classrooms.

“We got enough requests that they said they didn’t want people surfing the Internet during class so we put them near our large lecture halls,” said Zazrin Len, a representative from the IT department at the Law School. “But it’s very hit or miss, it’s more like diluting the signal instead of blocking it.”

The increasing amount of wireless access throughout the campus also makes this process more difficult, Altman said.

“We used to be good at blocking the Internet, but as wireless has become more pervasive throughout the campus, our capacity to block Internet in classrooms has become less,” he said.

In order to alleviate student anxiety about being able to efficiently take notes without a laptop, Stolzenberg said she allows two people every class to bring a laptop and take notes on behalf of the entire group. She also offers to distribute her own class notes on Blackboard.

But Stolzenberg said she feels that students can become better note-takers when not robotically typing everything the professor says on their computers.

“With computers there is a dependency because you can transcribe every word - that’s not good note taking,” she said. “With a paper and pen you have to make editorial choices on what notes to take.”

First-year law student Dani Cepernich said one of her professors told her class there had been research done that shows people perform better without laptops.

“She didn’t cite that,” Cepernich said. “But for that class it worked because there were not that many notes and the class was more focused on discussion.”

Other professors require their students to sign contracts stating they won’t use their laptops for non-class purposes.

“She tied it in because the class was all about ethics, and when you saw students using the Internet for other things after signing the contract you judged them and kind of felt bad using it for other purposes,” said Jessica Coffield, a first-year law student.

But Jillian Irvin, a first-year law student, said professors who ban laptops use during class need to be more accommodating in the way they conduct their classes.

“If the teacher is going to say, ‘No laptops,’ then they need to teach the class in a way that accommodates taking notes on paper, which usually takes longer,” she said.

I had a classmate who taped all of the lectures. Prof wasn't too thrill about that either.

I can recall the time when calculators were taboo; changing times, changing technology!

quote:

Originally posted by T.C. CAT:
I had a classmate who taped all of the lectures. Prof wasn't too thrill about that either.

I can recall the time when calculators were taboo; changing times, changing technology!

It's virtually impossible to take adequate notes while trying to gain a full understanding of the material.

I always got permission at the beginning of each class I planned to record.

If they don't want students to use tape recorders for the purposing of gathering good notes, then what da heck are the proposing particularly as the number of professors with accents enter into the classroom

quote:

Originally posted by #1FAMUAN:

quote:

Originally posted by T.C. CAT:
I had a classmate who taped all of the lectures. Prof wasn't too thrill about that either.

I can recall the time when calculators were taboo; changing times, changing technology!

It's virtually impossible to take adequate notes while trying to gain a full understanding of the material.

Then, how did we do it back in the day? Before desktops, laptops, or calculators? Calculators were a luxury that not everyone could afford back then. I remember having to use a slide rule. We wrote ALL of our notes, and networked for whatever we may have missed. All it takes is a little effort.

With the speed in which teachers are going today, it's crazy. They don't spend the time to make sure you understand the material as much as they are trying to make sure everything is covered. Problem is, with today's teacher, they use technologies like Powerpoint and others to TEACH, but won't allow you the same technologies in order for you to LEARN. *smh*

How can you put a Powerpoint presentation up on the board, then tell me that I can't use a laptop?

I truly understand the laptop issue (some end up surfing while in class), but they should at least allow you to record. I had a teacher recently that did nothing but lecture from notes. Students were writing like there was no tomorrow. I got a digital recorder like some of the rest of the students, and called it a day.

quote:

Originally posted by TechRattler:
Calculators were a luxury that not everyone could afford back then.

I remember those times also

quote:

I remember having to use a slide rule.

A what?

quote:

Originally posted by The Dark Knight:
With the speed in which teachers are going today, it's crazy. They don't spend the time to make sure you understand the material as much as they are trying to make sure everything is covered. Problem is, with today's teacher, they use technologies like Powerpoint and others to TEACH, but won't allow you the same technologies in order for you to LEARN. *smh*

How can you put a Powerpoint presentation up on the board, then tell me that I can't use a laptop?

I truly understand the laptop issue (some end up surfing while in class), but they should at least allow you to record. I had a teacher recently that did nothing but lecture from notes. Students were writing like there was no tomorrow. I got a digital recorder like some of the rest of the students, and called it a day.

Because there wasn't ever any money for copies, Professors got smart and started emailing their Powerpoint presentations.

quote:

Originally posted by #1FAMUAN:

quote:

Originally posted by TechRattler:
Calculators were a luxury that not everyone could afford back then.

I remember those times also

quote:

I remember having to use a slide rule.

A what?