laptops in college

As early as 2007, universities across the country were noticing more laptop users in college classrooms. Its reception into the education setting was mixed. Many professors commented to organizations like NPR about how distracting it is to try to teach a class while students were doing something other than taking notes. Some like, David Cole, full out banned using it in classrooms. Laptops are being used more during class and it would appear in general the feelings about using them are still as scattered as they were 4 years ago.  Both students and professors are still all over the place in terms of what to do about the problem and how they feel.

Students use laptops in class because they are a good way to take notes. Except as the user found out, there were quite a few distractions on the laptop that made note taking a mundane task. For this reason, some professors believe banning laptops are the way to go. Jeremy Littau, an assistant professor of journalism and communication at Lehigh, banned laptop use except for extreme situations because he found many students either distracted by the laptop or distracted by the computer screen around them.

Some professors have difficulty dealing with the technology and took extreme measure to make their feelings known. Two professors at Ryerson University in Toronto walked out on their class after repeatedly warning students to not use their laptops and cell phones in distracting ways. This walkout caused debate over whether it is acceptable for faculty to walk out on an unruly classroom.

The reaction was based on the students using the technology in a disrespectful way. Most students are still split in terms of whether to use a laptop in class. However, users and nonusers like Markita Underwood, and Lee Mallete feel any technology is going to be a distraction. Mallete, a student at University of Alabama believes:

"Some of my older teachers don’t like having that technology and assume you’re just on Facebook instead of taking notes,” Mallette said. “I think the majority of people are going to play on their phones if not their laptop and professors should just accept the new technology."

As the situation goes right now, most professors are adapting some sort of policy for laptop use in the classroom. The policies have been generated since professors first began spotting a problem with laptop use. Most of the policies I have seen here at NDSU are fairly reasonable once I got used to them.  I would like to hope in the future laptop use stays on campus and the problem stays either the same or goes down just as it has for the past 4 years.