Pro-laptops:
More note-taking: Laptops give students the ability to keep all of their class-related documents organized on their own computers, which includes their own notes if students choose to type them.
Though how students take their notes comes down to personal preference, it has been found that students type far faster than they write http://pro.sagepub.com/content/32/5/381.abstract , which in turn gives them a better chance of taking down everything their professor says. Beyond just typing notes, though, laptops even give students and professors the opportunity to record entire lectures for later use.
Better use of class time: Laptops greatly open up the possibilities of what can be done during class time. With access to the internet, students can easily pull up course-related documents or other useful tools, and students can read from textbooks digitally.
Laptops also are useful because they allow students to participate in collaborative online activities and professors can use student response software for real-time measurements of student learning.
Anti-laptops:
Laptops are not always used by students for such noble academic pursuits, and therein lies the foundation of the argument in favor of banning laptops in the classroom.
Laptops as distractions: Students on laptops can become easily distracted and start browsing the internet during class. Whether that means updating various social media outlets like Facebook or Twitter, checking sports scores, shopping for clothes, or even putting their headphones in and watching clips on YouTube, there is no limit to ways that students can slack off during class if they have a computer.
Largely, the case for banning laptops in the classroom revolves around removing these distractions by removing laptops completely. If students aren’t tempted to surf the web during class, they can devote their full attention to listening to what their professor is saying and take notes.
Laptops as black holes for productivity: For students that are simply seated around someone surfing the web, seeing what that person is looking at can be just as much of a distraction as it is to the laptop user. Moreover, a student may laugh out loud, accidently leave their sound on long enough for everyone to hear the familiar ‘beep’ of a Facebook message, or make distracting facial expressions as they surf the web, all of which would provide further disruption to people who are trying to pay attention.
Laptops as crutches: If a student is overly-reliant on their laptop, they might assume that they can e-mail a professor a question rather than asking it to them in person, robbing a student of the chance to develop a relationship with their professor.
Writing more is not writing better: Though students tend to type faster than they write, that doesn’t necessarily mean it helps students learn better. In fact, many recent findings have shown http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/a-learning-secret-don-t-take-notes-with-a-laptop/ that taking traditional pen and paper notes creates the need for students to be more selective in what they write down, allowing them to more readily process and internally summarize the information that is most important. This in turn led students who took paper notes to do better on post-lecture pop quizzes than students who typed their notes on their laptops. http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/elements/2014/06/the-case-for-banning-laptops-in-the-classroom.html
(Next page: To ban or not to ban – what should be done)
- 4 reinvention best practices from across the pond - August 29, 2016
- New tool plays admissions matchmaker - August 15, 2016
- New tech to revolutionize studying abroad education - July 5, 2016