[Air-l] laptops and Internet access in class

[Ellie Wix]

Just to add a student response...

I adapt my note taking habits to the lecture style of the professor.  This
semester I had a professor who had very structured lectures and note taking
on paper was easy.  However, I've had professors in the past who use
gigantic powerpoints with tons of information and basically read off of
them.  I tried taking notes by hand but I wasn't able to write fast enough,
so I started using my laptop.

One of the advantages of typing notes in class is that sharing notes among
classmates is very easy.  One of my classmates had to miss a class so I just
emailed him my word file.  It also makes it very easy to search through
notes for specific items.

However, just the simple fact of having a laptop in distracting.  I don't
agree with shutting down the wireless or email servers during what should be
class time.  First, taking down wireless or blocking it during class time
is, in my view, a waste of university energies.  I'd rather see the tech
departments spend their budgets and time on upgrading the lab computers that
choke on even medium sized SPSS files.  Second, blocking student email
access during class times is wasteful.  What if the professor cancels class
and the system doesn't know?  Plus, how many students use their student
email accounts that much?  I check it several times a day, but I never leave
it open in the background like I do my gmail.

As for instant messaging in class, I've done this with a classmate sitting
next to me on her laptop.  As a courtesy I always sat in the very back of
the classroom when using my laptop.  It is distracting, but it was rather
interesting to have an insiders commentary on the material being presented.
That being said, I wouldn't argue for it's use or a classroom wide chat room
while the professor is lecturing.  That is what discussion times are for.

I prefer hand taking notes and typing notes at different times for different
reasons.  I feel more free when hand writing notes because I don't have to
follow computerized formatting rules, and I honestly don't trust technology
with important notes.  I do like taking notes on my laptop just in the cases
where the professor goes too fast and it is difficult to keep up by hand.

If I had a professor who banned laptops in class I would completely
understand that it is distracting to all parties, and I would not object.
However, certain exceptions should be made in the case where a student might
need online translation services (as mentioned by a previous message), or if
the student had a disability of some sort and worked better by entering
notes on a keyboard instead of paper.

-Ellie, going back to the lurker cave.