[Air-l] laptops and Internet access in class

[M. Deanya Lattimore]

In light of the conversation, I thought I would share my laptop and 
cellphone policy for my first-year composition students.

It's worked great: when a student's cellphone rings, I point out that 
the student is "doing it the right way," and then I ask the student if 
she needs to take the call.  If it's not an emergency, she's usually 
embarrassed enough to remember to turn the phone off next time.
Likewise, if I see folks' eyes wandering to laptop screens more often 
than the class conversation, I say, "okay!  Let's see the screens!"  I 
do this often enough and sporadically enough that no one was banned from 
bringing them this semester (some students did get 2 warnings though; a 
couple of students stopped bringing theirs voluntarily).  And most 
students, when I ask them to turn the laptops around, are either doing 
research on something that we're talking about, at which point they 
share, or they're taking notes in a word processor.
It has seemingly increased class involvement in some ways.  Maybe I 
should mention that I've been teaching in computer classrooms for 10 
years now.

Laptop and Cellphone Policy
	You may bring your computer to class with you, assuming that you use it 
in a scholarly and responsible fashion.  This means that you will only 
have applications and windows related to the current discussion open. 
You may not check email, news, or box scores, surf the web, use chat 
applications, play games, or otherwise distract yourself and those 
around you from the class conversation with your computer.
	I will, at various times during class discussions, tell everyone who is 
using a computer to turn it around so that I may see what you’re doing 
on it.  If you have distracting applications and events open on your 
computer, you will receive one warning; if you persist in such activity 
after two warnings, you will no longer be allowed to bring your computer 
to class with you.
	You are likewise expected to use cellphones in a responsible manner: 
turn them off when you come in to class.  If you have an emergency for 
which you must be available, you should leave your phone out on your 
desk with the ringer ON.  In the event that it rings, you may retrieve 
it and then leave the room to take the call.
	Under no conditions are you allowed to text message, take pictures or 
video (illegal in class), play games, or use the cellphone in any other 
manner during class.

Best!
Deanya
http://www.velvethedgehog.com/deanya/blog/
http://www.deanya.com