Law Profs Ban Laptops from Class
AP reports that a growing number of law professors prohibit students from bringing laptop computers to class.
The professors complain that students are taking advantage of wireless Internet services to check email, surf websites, and play online games during class.
They also argue that students who type notes into their computers create a distraction for their classmates -- and that these students may not be absorbing much of the lectures and discussions they are taking notes on, anyway.
University of Pennsylvania Law Professor Charles Mooney told AP that he once asked a court stenographer taking down his testimony during a deposition what she thought of the case. She replied that she didn't remember any of what she had transcribed. "I thought, 'That's what my students are doing,'" Mooney told AP.
Mooney banned laptops from his classes two years ago. Some students withdrew from his courses rather than give up their computers.
This year, Mooney agreed to allow laptops into the classroom again, in order to compare the performance of students who used computers against that of students who took written notes. He concluded that it was in students' interest to return to the laptop ban.
Source: "More Professors Ban Laptops in Class," by Kathy Matheson - AP (Philadelphia), 3 May 2006
Added May 4, 2006:
Harvard Law School faculty and staff are reported to be debating a total ban on wireless Internet use during class.
The majority of students who responded to a Law School Council survey did not support the ban. 65 per cent of respondents opposed the ban, 25.3 per cent supported it, and 9.7 per cent had no preference.
In responses to other questions about a proposed ban, 23.7 per cent of respondents said that they would attend class less often if they were banned from accessing the Internet from classrooms.
38.6 per cent said they would pay more attention in class if Internet use was banned. 27.1 per cent said they would "find other ways to distract myself," and 29.4 per cent said they pay close attention to class even when they have Internet access.
Source: "Hundreds Speak Up on Proposed Wireless Ban," by Stephanie Wiebe and Kathryn Baugher. The Harvard Law School Record, April 27, 2006.
The professors complain that students are taking advantage of wireless Internet services to check email, surf websites, and play online games during class.
They also argue that students who type notes into their computers create a distraction for their classmates -- and that these students may not be absorbing much of the lectures and discussions they are taking notes on, anyway.
University of Pennsylvania Law Professor Charles Mooney told AP that he once asked a court stenographer taking down his testimony during a deposition what she thought of the case. She replied that she didn't remember any of what she had transcribed. "I thought, 'That's what my students are doing,'" Mooney told AP.
Mooney banned laptops from his classes two years ago. Some students withdrew from his courses rather than give up their computers.
This year, Mooney agreed to allow laptops into the classroom again, in order to compare the performance of students who used computers against that of students who took written notes. He concluded that it was in students' interest to return to the laptop ban.
Source: "More Professors Ban Laptops in Class," by Kathy Matheson - AP (Philadelphia), 3 May 2006
Added May 4, 2006:
Harvard Law School faculty and staff are reported to be debating a total ban on wireless Internet use during class.
The majority of students who responded to a Law School Council survey did not support the ban. 65 per cent of respondents opposed the ban, 25.3 per cent supported it, and 9.7 per cent had no preference.
In responses to other questions about a proposed ban, 23.7 per cent of respondents said that they would attend class less often if they were banned from accessing the Internet from classrooms.
38.6 per cent said they would pay more attention in class if Internet use was banned. 27.1 per cent said they would "find other ways to distract myself," and 29.4 per cent said they pay close attention to class even when they have Internet access.
Source: "Hundreds Speak Up on Proposed Wireless Ban," by Stephanie Wiebe and Kathryn Baugher. The Harvard Law School Record, April 27, 2006.
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