Professors & Laptops

[morethananyonex]

Just curious where everyone stands on this and if it's a generational thing.

I'm currently taking a class where the professor is adamant that she does not want students using laptops in class for any purpose (including taking notes). She also acknowledges that she isn't "into" technology. If a student attempts to use a laptop she confiscates it and requires them to write an essay on a topic of her choosing to get it back.

I'm well aware that in a university level course a certain level of respect for fellow students and the professor is required, however I feel this is over the top. It's the 21st century, and in most classes that require note taking at least half the students do it on some sort of electronic device. As long as it isn't disruptive to other students, I don't see the issue. I think this is something professors should be adapting to as times change.

For the record, she is the same way about cell phones in class, however I don't disagree with her there.

 

[mamacatnv]

Huh.....we bought a netbook for DS specifically because so many of his professors want the kids using them to take notes.

I think the confiscation and writing an essay sounds like high school and not college.

I totally get the cell phone issue but a laptop that can be confiscated for note taking - I would hope my DS would have an issue with it and take it up with the proper authorities at the University.

 

[morethananyonex]

Huh.....we bought a netbook for DS specifically because so many of his professors want the kids using them to take notes.

I think the confiscation and writing an essay sounds like high school and not college.

I totally get the cell phone issue but a laptop that can be confiscated for note taking - I would hope my DS would have an issue with it and take it up with the proper authorities at the University.

Most professors don't say a thing, or at the very least will tolerate it even if they don't like it. This is the first one I've come across in almost 4 years that has been this serious about it.

I also thought confiscation sounded very strange when she mentioned it, however it isn't an issue for me in this course as it is the type I'd want to take hand written notes for anyways.

 

[disfan07]

I had a professor like that in the fall. If she or a TA saw you using it she would ask you to shut it off. If she saw you using it again, she would ask you to leave the class. I don't think she took laptops away though.

I understand why though. In a class of 400, it does get very distracting. Especially since most college students are NOT using their laptops to take notes, or at least not just to take notes. Most are on facebook, or doing something else on it instead.

I take my netbook with me everyday to campus but I usually only use it during my breaks. I actually find it better to take notes by hand and it's not as distracting. I don't care what your child says....they will get distracted by something else (email, facebook, etc) while taking notes on the computer.

And you don't realize how distracting that is until you are sitting behind someone who is on facebook or watching a tv show during class. It is very distracting to others.

Now, I will say that I do ocassionally use my computer for note taking especially recently because I have been having some joint problems so when my hands are bothering me, it is hard to write for a long time so it's not that think laptops should not be allowed....it's just that I understand the professors point of view on it.

One of my community college professors was the same way. She did not allow laptops in the class. And shes only 28 so its not like shes old and out of touch. She just gets tired of trying to monitor it.

I totally get the cell phone issue but a laptop that can be confiscated for note taking - I would hope my DS would have an issue with it and take it up with the proper authorities at the University

Here, unless you are registered with disabilities and using a laptop is one of your accomodations, it's the professors rules. Going higher up would get you nowhere. Professors class, professors rules. Laptops are not required except for some engineering or computer classes so no one above the professor would do anything.

 

[bellarella]

This becoming more and more common.

I am not a fan, but I respect the professor's right to do it. I have avoided profs that have no laptop policies.

I know a lot of students have moved to handwriting notes in class even if laptops are permitted. They find they engage more with the class when they do that.

 

[morethananyonex]

I had a professor like that in the fall. If she or a TA saw you using it she would ask you to shut it off. If she saw you using it again, she would ask you to leave the class. I don't think she took laptops away though.

I understand why though. In a class of 400, it does get very distracting. Especially since most college students are NOT using their laptops to take notes, or at least not just to take notes. Most are on facebook, or doing something else on it instead.

I take my netbook with me everyday to campus but I usually only use it during my breaks. I actually find it better to take notes by hand and it's not as distracting. I don't care what your child says....they will get distracted by something else (email, facebook, etc) while taking notes on the computer.

And you don't realize how distracting that is until you are sitting behind someone who is on facebook or watching a tv show during class. It is very distracting to others.

Now, I will say that I do ocassionally use my computer for note taking especially recently because I have been having some joint problems so when my hands are bothering me, it is hard to write for a long time so it's not that think laptops should not be allowed....it's just that I understand the professors point of view on it.

One of my community college professors was the same way. She did not allow laptops in the class. And shes only 28 so its not like shes old and out of touch. She just gets tired of trying to monitor it.



Here, unless you are registered with disabilities and using a laptop is one of your accomodations, it's the professors rules. Going higher up would get you nowhere. Professors class, professors rules. Laptops are not required except for some engineering or computer classes so no one above the professor would do anything.

See, I really don't understand the distraction factor. I've been in deathly boring classes upwards of 200 students (most using laptops), and the only thing that stopped me from paying attention was the fact that the prof was SO DULL. What people look at on their laptops doesn't effect me, as long as they aren't playing something with sound, what difference does it make whether they have Word open or Facebook?

I will agree with you though that taking notes by hand is usually much easier, so this doesn't effect me personally, I just found it was a strange policy for a course that requires a good amount of note taking.

Just as you said you don't care what someone's child says, they will get distracted, I feel the same goes for laptops. If someone else's silent (sound playing is a whole other issue) laptop distracts you, something else is likely to as well.

 

[Feralpeg]

My daughter had several professors in college who did not allow laptops in class.

She had one professor that had a very strict policy on cell phones. If a student's phone rang during class, they had to get up and dance in front of the entire class. Needless to say, this only happened once to my DD. From that point on, she made sure her phone was off or on silent before class started. Sadly, I was the one who called her while in class!

 

[Diznygrl]

Well as an old geezer (30! ) who never had to deal with the whole laptop thing during the course of my schooling, I never understood how it could be allowed in the first place. Do you know how many times I've read message board posts in the past couple years that say something to the effect of, "OMG that made me laugh out loud a little, I hope my teacher didn't hear!"? There's so much room for abuse when kids have their laptops open in front of them during a class lecture...but since I have no firsthand experience with this issue, can anyone please tell me how laptop use is regulated in schools? Not so much college, but grade and high school? What kind of measures, if any, are in place to prevent students from goofing off on facebook and message boards during class? Just curious.

 

[Cinderella94]

I've been on TONS of college tours lately and every classroom I've looked into (a lot) had tons of students on computers/ipads...some people playing angry birds .

 

[Cinderella94]

but since I have no firsthand experience with this issue, can anyone please tell me how laptop use is regulated in schools? Not so much college, but grade and high school? What kind of measures, if any, are in place to prevent students from goofing off on facebook and message boards during class? Just curious.

Absolutely no electronics allowed of any kind in grade/high schools...pretty sure that's relatively standard everywhere.

 

[Witch Mountain]

I haven't had any tell students they can't use them, but two had classes where it just wasn't practical. In my three semesters of Spanish, the only time mine got used was to pull up cultural info during the last semester, since the focus was on Spanish culture more than learning prederite and past imperfect tenses.

In Stats, it would make no sense.

Now that said, both of those professors had no objection to my requests to use a digital recorder to tape the lectures.

One professor was considering a ban on laptops in her class and was upfront about this. It was a lecture hall with 150 students. She was sharp though-if students were getting too involved in the laptop, she'd stop and stare until they realized she was boring holes into them with her eyes.

If you're like a lot of us, you probably type a lot faster than you write and that's an explanation I'd give to the professor for allowing students using them.

 

[Diznygrl]

Absolutely no electronics allowed of any kind in grade/high schools...pretty sure that's relatively standard everywhere.

Well that's interesting, since I've seen so many news shots and whatnot of elementary age school children all sitting in front of laptops during lectures...perhaps these have no internet access and only display information that the teacher wants them to see? I really don't know.

 

[morethananyonex]

Well as an old geezer (30! ) who never had to deal with the whole laptop thing during the course of my schooling, I never understood how it could be allowed in the first place. Do you know how many times I've read message board posts in the past couple years that say something to the effect of, "OMG that made me laugh out loud a little, I hope my teacher didn't hear!"? There's so much room for abuse when kids have their laptops open in front of them during a class lecture...but since I have no firsthand experience with this issue, can anyone please tell me how laptop use is regulated in schools? Not so much college, but grade and high school? What kind of measures, if any, are in place to prevent students from goofing off on facebook and message boards during class? Just curious.

I'll ask you too, who cares what people are doing on the laptops as long as it is quiet? I've been in plenty of classes where people definitely have other things open on their laptops, but I only notice if I'm looking around the room because I'm already tuned out of the lecture.

If the professor can't hold the majority of the classes' attention, then the issue probably isn't the laptop. That's why I fail to see how banning something that the majority of students use simply because you yourself (the prof) don't see the need for it is right.

 

[s____!]

Most of my professors don't allow laptops because most students will sit on Facebook all class, which is distracting to others (I've spent almost an entire class watching someone FB stalk complete strangers).
There was one person in a class watching a movie (sound off, captions on). Another student emailed the professor about it, and from then on laptops were banned in that class.
I prefer hand-writing notes, then typing them later. Most of my teachers provide an outline for the notes, so that we can just fill in things here and there.

 

[Cinderella94]

Well that's interesting, since I've seen so many news shots and whatnot of elementary age school children all sitting in front of laptops during lectures...perhaps these have no internet access and only display information that the teacher wants them to see? I really don't know.

Wow really? I stand corrected!

At my high school we would be laughed at if we asked to use a laptop to take notes/whatever...there would be no wireless internet access in our schools.

 

[jrmasm]

Huh.....we bought a netbook for DS specifically because so many of his professors want the kids using them to take notes.

I think the confiscation and writing an essay sounds like high school and not college.

I totally get the cell phone issue but a laptop that can be confiscated for note taking - I would hope my DS would have an issue with it and take it up with the proper authorities at the University.

What makes you think the "proper authorities" wouldn't support the professor?

I'm old. Laptops didn't exist when I was in college. The other day I sat in a meeting with two men that typed away on their laptops the whole time. For me, the clicking was incredibly annoying.

 

[morethananyonex]

Most of my professors don't allow laptops because most students will sit on Facebook all class, which is distracting to others (I've spent almost an entire class watching someone FB stalk complete strangers).
There was one person in a class watching a movie (sound off, captions on). Another student emailed the professor about it, and from then on laptops were banned in that class.
I prefer hand-writing notes, then typing them later. Most of my teachers provide an outline for the notes, so that we can just fill in things here and there.

Isn't that your fault you watched someone on FB for that long? You could have been just as distracted because of something someone was typing into Word. I think personal responsibility has to come in somewhere, and penalizing everyone for a few who would get distracted isn't the way to go IMO.

IMO being able to tune out small distractions around you is a good skill to have in life, period.

 

[mamacatnv]

I look at it as when one gets to college if one does not want to learn so be it, that is the individuals issue.

For a professor to take away a laptop and then make the student write an essay is childish and belongs in high school not in college.

I understand the whole Prof's classroom Prof's rules but the University my DS attends has made us keep up with technology not tried to stop it.

Cell phones that ring/buzz or whatever sound they make is just rude and I have no issue with a professor "banning" them or demanding they be on silent. However, college is not high school and IMO a Professor should not dictate what tools a student can use when they are a commonly accepted tool on the campus.

 

[morethananyonex]

I look at it as when one gets to college if one does not want to learn so be it, that is the individuals issue.

For a professor to take away a laptop and then make the student write an essay is childish and belongs in high school not in college.

I understand the whole Prof's classroom Prof's rules but the University my DS attends has made us keep up with technology not tried to stop it.

Cell phones that ring/buzz or whatever sound they make is just rude and I have no issue with a professor "banning" them or demanding they be on silent. However, college is not high school and IMO a Professor should not dictate what tools a student can use when they are a commonly accepted tool on the campus.

Exactly what I'm saying.

I will gladly admit that I am only distracted in class when I let myself be, and I don't have anyone to blame but myself for that. I'm not going to notice the person watching a movie or on Facebook for more than a second or two unless I keep looking.

 

[Cinderella94]

No one is forcing anyone's eyes anywhere...if you go to college, you should be there to learn, and have the self-discipline to focus on the professor.