[Air-l] laptops and Internet access in class

[Matthew Bernius]

I come at this issue from both side: as a PhD student (at Cornell) and as
professor teaching undergraduate classes (at RIT, btw, so I'm pretty
familiar with the scenario Alex laid out).

Next year I will be banning cell phone, ipods, etc. in my undergraduate
classes. Laptops will be allowed for specific assignments, but otherwise not
to be used as well (especially in Freshman classes). This ban extends to
myself as well (unless unavoidable, I'm going to rely on lecturing and white
boards -- no more ppt). As Alex suggested, my biggest issue with laptops is
the distraction that they cause to other students. Geyond that (and outside
of lab activities), I am increasingly coming to the belief that they present
a barrier to students developing certain skills that will, down the road,
better allow those students to use those same devices. And, at least for a
school like RIT, that prides itself on preparing it's students for the
workplace, basic technology etiquette needs to be stressed. The sad fact is
that a lot of the technology behavior I've seen isn't appropriate for the
workplace.

As far as upper level undergrads, depending on the class makeup, I may allow
it. But right now I'm more concerned about raising physical engagement
rather than passively encouraging virtual engagement.

Now for the possible hypocrisy -- I fully intend to use a laptop to take
notes when I attend class. That said, if a prof doesn't allow it, I won't
mind. And I'm confident that I'm at a point where I can use the laptop
responsibly.

- Matt

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Matthew Bernius
New Media and Customer Intelligence Strategist for Hire
mBernius at gMail.com
http://www.waking-dream.com