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Letter to the editor: A professor’s response to the laptop ban

Published: Monday, March 1, 2010

Updated: Monday, March 1, 2010 22:03

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I'm one of those DU professors who's banned laptops in the classroom and, in the process, apparently angered students like Leslie Gehring.

Actually, mine is a regulated laptop policy. I hold frequent in-class sessions in which students use laptops for a variety of activities. I simply instruct them to bring laptops  on the days on which we need them. I'm not a crusty, anti-technology dweeb. I'm just a guy who's trying to create a classroom environment in which everyone can learn productively.

I sympathize with Gehring's frustrations, and I hear her in terms of her argument that if students surf during class, they will "pay the price" in terms of their grade. More and more students are spending more and more time surfing and texting during class.

Surfing distracts me – and other students. It disrespects  me, and, of course, other students if it's going on when these students are contributing to class. In fact, the worst surfing problems often occur during student group presentations. I won't claim to be absolutely fascinating 100 percent of the time. No one can be. But I do work very hard to keep my classes engaging, often, somewhat ironically, by using audio-visual aids such as YouTube videos, DVD clips, PowerPoint, etc. In the end, few of us can concentrate for a full 110 minutes, no matter how wildly entertaining and engaging a class and its professor.

Back in the day, we day-dreamed and doodled. Now, we post to Facebook and text. The tendencies are the same, the tools of distraction qualitatively different. Frankly, I'm not sure of the best way to address these changes.

So, here's my revised policy (I think): Announce I will be watching to see if students are texting and surfing excessively. If they are, they get a zero for their participation grade. They'll get one warning . Then, nothing – until they see that zero in their participation grade column in Gradebook  at the end of the quarter.

What do you think?

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8 comments

Anonymous
Mon Mar 15 2010 14:39
This particular professor has the right idea. Participate in the class, use your laptop as a productive tool, get the grade you earn. Don't participate in class, use the laptop to surf or hide from the class, you also get the grade you earn. Not participating in life, work, and society will also lower your grade in each of those pursuits. If surfing for information is part of your assignment, no matter if it is school or work, then surf on, if not, do not. Some people have learned it the hard way, others just learn it.
MoldySpore
Thu Mar 11 2010 14:51
Hahaha. Wow.

Step 1) Student pays $ to go to school
Step 2) Student pays $ for laptop
Step 3) Professor tells students that having a laptop is not allowed
Step 4) Students gets $ back for laptop and semester tuition cost?????

I don't see how it is acceptable for a professor to tell a student what to do with his property, and how to go about preparing/studying/learning when the professor is being paid by that student's tuition. As someone who has graduated from college already, and who used a laptop in class every day while in school, I would be outraged by this. Especially if the school itself requires the purchase of a laptop.

The only argument these backwards professors fall back on is that it "distracts others in the classroom".

I highly doubt these students are doing anything that produces any sound from their speakers during class, so how about dedicating the back 2 or 3 rows of seating to students with laptops? That way students without laptops won't be tempted to be "distracted" by the laptops...

Besides. they will most likely be able to be distracted by ANYTHING if your lecture sucks. Perhaps the issue isn't laptops, but that the content of said lecture is boring and needs to be revised to INCLUDE laptops rather than trying to say "Back in MY day we used pens and paper!". Cause we all know how well that goes over with today's youth...

NMU Grad
Wed Mar 10 2010 08:46
I have just been admitted to a graduate program here at University of Denver. Reading this article is interesting to me because my university supplies laptops for every student enrolled full-time. Many instructors have it written in their syllabus that laptop use in class is not permitted. Ironic hey? I agree that laptops can be tempting during a less than titillating lecture; however, I also understand the frustration of professors who feel like they are talking to the backs of computer screens for the whole class period. The student is accountable for the grade they get, but no professor wants to have a bunch of students earn crappy grades because they were too busy shopping, playing games or updating their facebook account. Laptop bans are sticky situations, but I guess it all comes down to the professor... they are the ones issuing the grade for the money we spend on tuition. What they say goes.
5hwy7
Wed Mar 10 2010 08:24
oh great, another professor who uses participation grades.

is this middle school?

Anonymous
Sun Mar 7 2010 21:30
I think the student pays for their education and as long as they are not a distraction, there should be no participation grade in classes, it should be based solely on the students work.
Anonymous
Tue Mar 2 2010 13:27
I would like to applaud your holding students accountable in the classroom. I believe that one should have to earn their grade in each and every class. I like your revised policy of allowing laptop use, and giving the student a chance to continue to earn the privilege.

I would also echo some of what the anonymous poster before me spoke of in regards to using Word, or other software, to record the class while taking notes. I am a student with a hearing impairment and using Microsoft One Note in class to record the lecture while I take notes allows me to catch all of the lecture, that I would not of otherwise have been able to catch. The use of this technology allows me to go back to my notes to hear the entire lecture during a section where I might have been distracted by someone coughing, moving in their seat, flipping through a textbook, etc. Without this accommodation, it would be very difficult for me to catch all of the very important issues provided during a lecture. While this may not seem like a big deal to some, it is a huge issue for me as even a little background noise can cost me large portions of a lecture.

DU has graciously allowed for supplemental note takers to aid me in getting a good deal of the notes from class, but this has always left me feeling a bit guilty as the work is not my own work product, and in many cases my piecemeal notes are often better than that of my peers. I would also add that in my use of a laptop I am much more organized than I was without it, providing me with a much better tool to help me with my classes than I get with just a pen and paper.

I like your newly revised policy as I believe it is a great first step towards continued good use, accommodation, and even better understanding of how technology can be used in the classroom. By putting the onus of good practical use on the student, you are allowing us the ability to control our own destiny in the classroom, which is all I could ask for. I would urge you and your faculty peers to consider all of the different uses and accommodations one can achieve with a laptop, and to consider these uses seriously before agreeing to any laptop bans.

Anonymous
Tue Mar 2 2010 12:43
Zing.
Anonymous
Tue Mar 2 2010 09:29
I think the revised policy is good, because you shouldn't punish students who use their laptops productively in class. This quarter I started bringing my laptop to class to take notes because I learned that on Microsoft Word there's a tool that will record an audio version of the lecture as you take notes, so I can go home and listen to it later. This has been very helpful to me because often times when I was taking notes in a notebook, I'd be so focused on trying to take notes as fast as possible that I wouldn't really listen to the Professor and try and understand what he/she was teaching. Now since I know its being recorded, I take less notes in class, and instead focus on listening and learning. And then if there's something confusing to me I go back and listen to it on my computer. So in the end, I think it's helpful for some students to use their laptops, but I would agree with you, the majority are simply on the internet or IMing someone.






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