
Should Professors Ban Laptops? - ColanR
http://educationnext.org/should-professors-ban-laptops-classroom-computer-use-affects-student-learning-study/
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daly
I sit in class and watch the people around me. Today the person on my left was
txting on their phone under the table. The person on my right was getting txts
on her screen every minute or so (which she read). One of the three people in
front of me was writing on gmail, the other two were surfing the web unrelated
to class. In front of them was a woman using a large iPad to take notes (I
think).

It seems that network addiction is alive and well. About 50% of students
walking between classes are looking at their phones. Phones should have a
collision alert function built-in. I am tempted to carry an air-horn to alert
a student who is about to crash into me.

Fortunately, there is progress. It used to be that you had to tell students to
turn off their sound before starting class. Now I never see a class
interrupted by a ringing phone. Of course, I rarely see a student using the
voice feature of their 'phone'.

One prof asked students who use laptops to sit in the back of class so they do
not distract other students.

As for the comment that "not use technology is holding them back for no valid
reason"... well, if you're actually paying attention it seems that every
sentence the professor utters is relevant to the message. At $50k per year,
you'd think that it would be useful to give your undivided attention... but I
don't think most students are capable of that anymore. 80 minutes of class
without world-contact seems to be impossible.

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tbirrell
No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No.

No.

Why would this ever be a good idea. The education is already in very real
danger of becoming an anachronism. There is nothing inherently better about
the current system. Technology is a way of life, trying to force students (or
anyone for that matter) to not use technology is holding them back for no
valid reason.

Education needs to catch up with the modern era. We can't hold students back
because professors are afraid or incapable of teaching in the modern era.

