Why I Ban Laptops in My Classroom | Britannica Blog

“Could you repeat the question?” That is still the most common response from my law students at Georgetown University. It is inevitably asked while the student glances up from the laptop screen that otherwise occupies his or her field of vision. After I repeat the question, the student’s gaze, as often as not, returns to the computer screen, as if the answer might appear there. Who knows? With instant messaging, maybe it will

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Note-taking on a laptop encourages verbatim transcription

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Note-taking on a laptop encourages verbatim transcription. The note-taker tends to go into stenographic mode and no longer processes information in a way that is conducive to the give-and-take of classroom discussion. Because taking notes the old-fashioned way, by hand is so much slower, the student actually has to listen, think and prioritize the most important themes. Of course, if one’s idea of a lecture is a process by which the notes of the teacher get transferred to the notes of the student without passing through the brain of either, then laptops may be the perfect transcribing tools.  But if the goal is an interactive classroom, I find that laptops just get in the way.

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Because taking notes the old-fashioned way, by hand is so much slower, the student actually has to listen, think and prioritize the most important themes.

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Laptops also create a temptation to the many other things one can do there — surf the Web, check e-mail, shop for shoes, play solitaire, or instant-message friends

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Note-taking on a laptop encourages verbatim transcription. The note-taker tends to go into stenographic mode and no longer processes information in a way that is conducive to the give-and-take of classroom discussion. Because taking notes the old-fashioned way, by hand is so much slower, the student actually has to listen, think and prioritize the most important themes. Of course, if one’s idea of a lecture is a process by which the notes of the teacher get transferred to the notes of the student without passing through the brain of either, then laptops may be the perfect transcribing tools.  But if the goal is an interactive classroom, I find that laptops just get in the way.

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Laptops also create a temptation to the many other things one can do there — surf the Web, check e-mail, shop for shoes, play solitaire, or instant-message friends. That’s not only distracting to the student who is checking baseball scores and statistics but for all those who see him and

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About 80 percent reported that they are more engaged in class discussion when they are laptop-free.

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Other surveys have reached similar findings. A 2006 study by Carrie Fried of laptop use in an introductory psychology class at Winona State University found that students reported using their laptops for other tan note-taking purposes and average of 17 minutes out of every 75-minute class, or almost 25 percent of the time

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So I conducted an anonymous survey of my students — by computer, of course. The results were striking. About 80 percent reported that they are more engaged in class discussion when they are laptop-free. Seventy percent said that, on balance, the liked the no-laptop policy. And, perhaps most surprising, 95 percent admitted that they use their laptops in class for “purposes other than taking notes, such as surfing the Web, checking e-mail, instant messaging, and the like.” Ninety-eight percent reported seeing fellow students do so.  (Which prompted one colleague to remark, “I didn’t know that two percent of our students were blind.”)

Other surveys have reached similar findings. A 2006 study by Carrie Fried of laptop use in an introductory psychology class at Winona State University found that students reported using their laptops for other tan note-taking purposes and average of 17 minutes out of every 75-minute class, or almost 25 percent of the time. Students identified other students’ laptop use as far and away the biggest source of distraction during class.  The students’ own laptop use was second!  After controlling for ACT scores, high-school rank, and class attendance, Fried’s study found that laptop use was significantly and negatively related to class performance. The more students used their laptop in class, the lower their grades.

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clear, I believe that in some settings and for some subjects, laptops and the Internet can be useful pedagogical tools. But in all too many classroom settings, they are little more than an attractive nuisance

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