Profs. Consider Laptop Ban
Surfing the Web may soon disappear entirely from Georgetown classrooms, as a growing number of professors enact policies either banning or discouraging laptop use during lectures and discussion sections.
For David Goldfrank, a professor in the department of history, the turning point came at the beginning of a World History II discussion section in 2007.
“I started with a directed question, and the student replied, ‘Wait a minute, please. I need to turn on my computer where I have my notes,’” Goldfrank said. “[ … As a professor,] I don’t want to know what is in your computer; I want to know what is in your head.”
From then on, Goldfrank said, he has banned laptops from all of his classes.
With these sorts of policies, Georgetown follows an increasingly popular trend that has been documented at colleges nationwide, including Yale University and The George Washington University.
Georgetown Law Professor David Cole conducted a test in one of his courses that resulted in 80 percent of students stating that they are more engaged without their computers in class, 70 percent of students liking his no-laptop policy, and 95 percent of students confessing that they had used their laptop for purposes not relating to the course material, he said in a recent Op-Ed in The Washington Post.
Cole claims that students who use their computers to take notes become stenographers rather than actually processing the information, and those who are surfing the Internet are simply not engaged.
The worry that students are spending their time on non-class-related activities, such as e-mail, instant messaging and Web sites like Facebook is not unfounded.
“I don’t have much self-control,” Cristina Cardenal (COL ’11) said. “When there’s a lull in conversation and I have my laptop … I want to go on the Internet.”
Senior Associate Dean Hubert Cloke enforces a no-laptop rule in his American Civilization class, but is quick to note that laptops themselves are not the cause of distraction.
“Even with only a notebook and pen, if you don’t want to pay attention, you don’t have to — you can draw or do work for another class or sleep,” Cloke said.
Georgetown students also have practical reasons to disagree with the blanket bans on technology.
“There are certain classes, in certain subjects, in which laptop use is simply necessary — classes that require constant note-taking at rapid speed,” Renata Moniaga (SFS ’11) said. “It’s clear that we’re not using our laptops to avoid paying attention. It’s O.K. for professors to restrict laptops, but they should change their teaching style to reflect that new classroom structure.”
The type of classroom setting can also affect how useful a laptop could be for some students.
“It’s important to draw a distinction between using computers in a discussion section and using computers in a lecture hall,” said Pierre Thompson (SFS ’11), whose teaching assistant for Comparative Political Systems last semester discouraged laptop use in discussions. “Computers can be useful in a discussion section, where people are expected to contribute and cite specific facts. With a laptop ban, there’s a missed opportunity to use technology to enhance student learning.” But even these beneficial uses, Goldfrank said, are not reason enough to reverse his policy.
“The few advantages, such as a student’s targeted looking up a disputed or unfamiliar fact during a lecture, could not come close to balancing the negatives,” Goldfrank said.
Students concede this point, but for Moniaga, the issue is one of freedom of choice.
“If students aren’t paying attention, they’re only hurting themselves. When professors ban computers, they’re not treating us like adults. They should leave the decision to the students.”
Feb 10 2009 at 1:42 p.m.
In light of the fact that a ridiculously high proportion of GU graduates go on to law (e.g., two roommates and myself), business (e.g., three roommates), and medical school (e.g., my wife and a roommate's fiancee)--where the use of a laptop in class is a virtual necessity--it seems fruitless to ban them from class for the sake of improving students' education. If anything, they prepare students for the next level of education in a way that traditional means simply cannot do. This is to say nothing of the need for computer and internet access in the (forgive me for the term) "real world."
I'm no advocate for experimental education, but this seems to me to be just another example of what happens when backwards-looking faculty are confronted with forward-looking students; as usual, fear and nostalgia win out and progress is banned...that is, of course, until the young become the old and have their own fears to foist upon the next generation.
But for now, three cheers for the establishment!
Feb 10 2009 at 3:44 p.m.
I tend to agree with the previous poster, but if teachers want to ban laptops, that is their prerogative.
But, those teachers who do so should also start printing large PDF documents for their students. Often, bringing a laptop to class can save a student from having to spend $4 printing their 40-page reading assignment. Those $4 charges add up over a semester.
Feb 10 2009 at 4:25 p.m.
The Hatchet's lede (2/5/09):
"Facebook, video-chatting and instant messaging may soon be a thing of the past - at least in some GW classrooms. A growing number of professors are banning or restricting the use of laptop computers in their classrooms in an attempt to get students to pay attention and engage in classroom discussions."
http://media.www.gwhatchet.com/media/storage/paper332/news/2009/02/05/News/Professors.Limit.Laptop.Use.In.Classes-3614619.shtml
The Hoya's lede (2/9/09):
"Surfing the Web may soon disappear entirely from Georgetown classrooms, as a growing number of professors enact policies either banning or discouraging laptop use during lectures and discussion sections."
And since GW was explicitly mentioned in this article, I find it very hard to believe you hadn't read the Hatchet's article.
Feb 10 2009 at 5:26 p.m.
I'll turn off my laptop when you become more engaging, Professors.
Feb 10 2009 at 6:21 p.m.
In the Hoya's defense, how else would you lede that?
There are only so many salient facts and ways you can state that professors have banned or restricted laptop usage and that such a ban will mean that students can no longer access the internet and do internet-related activities. The most obvious of activities - from a student's perspective - relate to surfing the web, playing games and instant messaging (face it, it happens when laptops are allowed).
So I don't know how else you could write it while preserving the article's content. But if you have any suggestions, I'd love to hear them.
Feb 10 2009 at 10:34 p.m.
The fact that some students choose to waste time, while others are incapable of paying attention, is of no relevance to the larger point that laptops are a useful tool that ought permitted in class. And if you think laptops have no place in discussion-oriented classes, you'll find yourself at odds with the standard practice in every law or business school in the country upon graduation.
Feb 11 2009 at 3:09 a.m.
"In light of the fact that a ridiculously high proportion of GU graduates go on to law (e.g., two roommates and myself), business (e.g., three roommates), and medical school (e.g., my wife and a roommate's fiancee)--where the use of a laptop in class is a virtual necessity"
False. Simply false. Laptop usage will be very high (though not universal) amongst 1Ls. It drops pretty much each semester thereafter, as more and more students realize that they are more distraction than useful tool during class. At least where I go (T6) a disproportionate of people on law review do not, in fact, use laptops in the classroom (except on an ad hoc basis, e.g., for a presentation or analysis or what have you.)
Moreover, the way laptops are 'used' in the classrooms in law school sounds close to the way laptops are used in the classrooms at Georgetown: for a lot of bu!!$hit. If you get in the habit of blowing off class by playing online in undergrad, don't think you'll suddenly turn things around as a 1L.
Laptops encourage terrible habits: creating transcripts instead of synthesized notes, losing track of the class discussion, accquiring a short attention span (honestly, it happens), and not internalizing the material. (Because you don't get to look at your laptop when you're giving your closing, opening up the chest cavity, or brokering that M&A deal over lunch--you have to use that miraculous 'laptop in your head' a.k.a 'the human brain')
Feb 11 2009 at 2:02 p.m.
This is a ludicrous argument. We could go back and forth forever on how best to study in law school. Needless to say, I disagree with you. At my law school, just about everybody used a laptop and most were quite succesful. If they were not, they either stopped or their grades suffered--their choice; their problem. Personal accountability matters at all levels of education. Likewise, my notes on my laptop in law school (which I did not use in undergrad) were infinitely more cogent and better organized (and easier to organize) than they were when I relied on "'laptop in your head' a.k.a 'the human brain'" a.k.a a spiral-bound notebook.
The point is, just because some students "get in the habit of blowing off class by playing online in undergrad" and, therefore, can't handle using a laptop in class, their inability to concentrate or to recognize their own educational idiosynchrasies (sp?) should not have any impact on my right to do what I (NOT YOU) think is best for me (NOT YOU). For example, some people study with music and retain as much information as they would without it (perhaps more); I personally cannot study with music to save my life...so I don't do it. I didn't learn this by divine intervention; I learned it by trying (unsuccesfully) to do so. Should music be banned? The answer, like the answer to the laptop question, is obvious.
Feb 11 2009 at 7:49 p.m.
I think this is really ridiculous. It reminds me of elementary school when teachers arbitrarily tried to regulate what school supplies you could and could not have. Besides if students have the freedom to choose not to show up to class at all, then it follows that whether or not they pay attention in class is not something professors have a right to legislate through rules like this. They do have a right to monitor class disruptions, but laptops don't fall under this category.
Feb 11 2009 at 9:26 p.m.
"They do have a right to monitor class disruptions, but laptops don't fall under this category."
Really? They may not be a "disruption," but they certainly can distract other students. If a student is distracted by another student looking at the Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue online during class (I've seen it), is it not legitimate for faculty to worry about the distraction that causes to students around that person?
Feb 11 2009 at 10:04 p.m.
People who are easily distracted will be easily distracted regardless of the circumstances. Either that, or they just won't attend class in the first place, further supporting the previous poster's argument. Students should not be deluded into expecting their educational experience to occur in a vaccuum.
Feb 12 2009 at 12:51 a.m.
Might as well ban doodling.
Feb 12 2009 at 2:28 a.m.
Groove East:
I don't see how you can (strike that--you can, but I don't see how you can correctly) ignore the argument that laptops misuse can have serious effects on others. This is not the same as doodling and it's not something that only afflicts easily distracted people. I'm sorry, but having a guy in front of me browse porn or play a video (which happens FREQUENTLY in lecture) on a screen that can be as large as 17" is not the appropriate litmus test for whether someone is too distractable. MOST people are distracted by the things that laptop abusers do every day.
Moreover, advocates of laptops in the classrooms under arguments of freedom and individual choice are deluding themselves. Gentle and not so gentle paternalism happens all the time in different settings, classroom included. Maybe I'd feel different if this discussion concerned 55-year-old night school students; for some reason, I'm not moved by the notion of the 20-year-old as an atomistic exemplar of negative liberty to whom we should bow down and allow full decisional capacity. Maybe in movies.
Look, not using laptops has a couple of advantages which I just think are hard to get past: it spares your classmates, it increases the likelihood that you'll actually engage the class and the material (didn't say it guarantees it), it maybe just maybe will encourage positive-feedback style learned behavior (e.g., I might hate the class, but if I sit my butt in the chair and don't have an easy out with my laptop, maybe I'll actually start to find the material decently interesting); the presence or absence of laptops isn't just about note-taking: it's also about your ability to engage the class and think rather than ctrl+f. Again, laptops don't accompany us into court, surgery suites, or lunch deals.
I wonder how many people who are so arduously defending laptops are, at bottom, really just not happy with the idea of their toy being taken away for a few hours.
Feb 12 2009 at 1:51 p.m.
I'm not going to argue the merits of paternalism in education. It has its place, for sure, but this is simply not the place. I've said my piece as to why, and there's no need to go back and forth on how you're unable to concentrate and how I'm unable to muster sympathy for you.
Now, as to your last point ("Again, laptops don't accompany us into court, surgery suites, or lunch deals."), this is most definitely false. I can say that with conviction, because I will be brining my laptop to court with me this morning as I attend a hearing. I can assure you that I will not be the only one. Indeed, I am confident that my client will be bringing a laptop as well. If you're unaware of how things work in the (again, I apologize for the term) "real world," then please refrain from commenting on it and, by all means, do not permit your misconception of it to inform your preference for "gentle and not so gentle paternalism" to your classmates.
Feb 12 2009 at 4:24 p.m.
Groove East:
You are: a. rude, and, b. misinformed. You fail to respond to my substantive points and mask your inability to do so in a tone of mild condescension.
Let me respond in kind: I'm not sure what 'real world' you inhabit--maybe the local divorce court--but where real people practice 'big boy law' (i.e., federal district and appellate court) you don't see open laptops during a live court session--at least not by the lead counsels (nor the clients). They stay closed, as a sign of both respect to the court and the competence of our attorneys.
You've said your 'piece' but your piece is ignorantly misinformed. I hope you don't (or won't, since I doubt you are a practicing attorney) do in court what you do here, i.e., unable to succeed on the merits of the case, you turn toward light ad hominem. It comes off as desperate.
I have no problem concentrating under normal circumstances, nor do (did) my classmates. You fail to acknowledge--in ridiculous, head-in-the-sand fashion--that there's a difference between an abnormal inability to concentrate during class due to e.g., someone doodling (which I'm not advocating banning) vs. a completely normal difficulty with concentrating on a field equation or a phrase of Latin when some idiot (you, I'm guessing?) in the next row is watching pornography or playing a video game on a 17" laptop screen. Moreover, you fail to acknowledge the fact that these are tried and true externality issues--nuisance issues, in the parlance of your supposed profession. You additionally fail to acknowledge the pedagogical value of banning laptops--or at least to consider the pedagogical merits of pursuing such a ban.
In short, your attempt to appear above the fray, comingled with a bit of condescension, comes off as asanine. But that's cool and all: go play with your latptop in court in the 'real world.'
Feb 12 2009 at 7:40 p.m.
Well, it's good to see that it didn't take long for the discussion to devolve into "You're and idiot.", "No, you're a tool."
Could we get back to the point of the article. Professors say that laptops are distracting. Yet the primary example is of a student being unable to answer a question without referring to notes from his computer. This is no different than if the student needed to refer to a notebook. The media is not the problem, the student's comprehension of the material is.
Students pay tuition to have access to classes they want or need to attend. It's the professors job to present the material and assess whether the student comprehends the information. If a student is wasting his time on Twitter then, at least in theory, he will be ill prepared for teacher questions and will have poorer performance on tests and papers. Put another way, if he's dicking around during lectures, he'll get a lousier grade. Frankly, this seems like an elegantly simple self-correcting system.
Ostensibly, students are there to learn and the professor to teach. So long as the student's computer activities aren't impeding the learning of others, I don't see the harm in a student wasting his time and money attending a lecture that he is failing to pay attention to. No where in the relationship is it stated that the student must learn.
If "computer doodling" is such a horrible distraction then eject or harshly grade those students who are incapable of participating in classroom discussions. Alternatively, make your lectures so enthralling that your attendees wouldn't consider using a laptop for fear of missing something truly interesting.
Feb 12 2009 at 10:53 p.m.
Perhaps worth noting, I am viewing soft core porn in class right now in the front row. Its scintilating.
Feb 19 2009 at 3:44 a.m.
There's note-taking and then there's Internet lust. Even note-taking is problematic from what I recall of my university days. You would think by now a real lecture theater solution would have been found. It's simple. Profs should supply transcripts of their lectures. No laptops, no note taking. After the lecture you underline and annotate. Being able to listen to the lecture is the thing, rather than frantically trying to make sure you won't miss anything when you're always a hundred words behind what's being said.
It is happening at some universities where course material is published on the Internet including videos, some of it freely available to non-registered students or anyone like at MIT, MITOpenCourseWare,http://ocw.mit.edu/OcwWeb/web/about/about/index.htm
What everyone would like to see I think is more useful info and feedback shared throughout the campus network, so I've started a newsmagazine online for the national and international university community. I thought your article raised some important questions, so it's being featured first on NewsHammer and later on NewsHammerOnCampus.
--Alan Gillis
May 30 2009 at 3:19 p.m.
what is laptop ban? can you explain me.