Laptops in the Classroom?

[Diamicles]

I'm just speaking from experience. Some instances it can be helpful, others completely detrimental. I have just seen more of the detrimental effects more frequently.

Another thought crossed my mind. Is calligraphy or basic handwriting becoming marginalized because people type so much? I know that my work values writing clearly and legibly. Does that mean a laptop is required to organize your thoughts or quick makeshift charts to your peers if you rely on it so much in college? I'm not against technology, just against the complete reliance on making it your second brain.

agreed, working in a field where you literally have to write down (not type) everything that you do, and write it legibly for QA to be able to read it. It basically a requirement to organize your thoughts the first time around, and you don't have to record it twice (on a computer and then hand write it), which I learned how to do in college. Then again, I did graduate in 2004 so take it for what it's worth.

[rog]

Another thought crossed my mind. Is calligraphy or basic handwriting becoming marginalized because people type so much?

Probably. My handwriting is completely illegible, with numerous letters looking identical (a u and sometimes o are all more or less the same, g j are identical, 9 and 4 are different, but anyone who doesn't already know the differences would never be able to identify them, e and c are difficult to distinguish, 5 and s are the same, lower case f occasionally looks like L, etc, etc). And yet, i don't even consider it a problem. I type over 10k words a day minimum, every single day, and average less than .2 handwritten word per day (other than just now, i haven't so much as picked up a pen in probably 2-3 months now). If it were actually important, i would have worked on my handwriting years ago, but it just seems like a waste of time. When i need to, i can write clear enough that no one would ever confuse one letter/number for another, but it takes 3x longer than when i write normally.

[Souj]

The most annoying thing about laptops in class for me is, when people are actually using their laptops to take notes in class. click click click click click click click click click click click.

Note I said annoying, not distracting.

[Deadgye]

The most annoying thing about notebooks in class for me is, when people are actually using their pens to take notes in class. click click click click click click click click click click click.

Note I said annoying, not distracting.

ftfy

[warc]

Women have a naturally better ability to multitask than men

No. Everyone is usually equally terrible at multitasking. Decades of studies have shown that multitasking lowers performance in almost any task. The video I linked earlier is a prime example of this.

[Cleverness]

This is lulzy. I'm a computer engineer and I'm not even allowed a calculator, much less a laptop or a smartphone into class at all. Quit your bitching.

I started out as a Computer Engineer after High School and got a calculus class like this, I fucking raged. They spent all of my high school years shoving a graphic calculator in my face and making me use it, without really learning how to draw graphs by hand, and then I got thrown into this. Needless to say I needed to retake the class later since I had 3 other courses taking up time as well. I can manage without it now but I found it ridiculous that they don't stay consistent and either let students A) use calculators throughout or B) not let them become dependent on it.

On the laptop thing, I can't get away with it during majority of my classes since it's alot of drawing(Organic Chem, math, etc) or working out equations, but for my liberal arts requirements and Biology it was pretty awesome. Could write the notes as fast as they were written up or put up on the projector. I sat in the back in the corner so unless you sat right next to me it wasn't distracting since I don't type loud. I can understand the distraction thing as I have seen, and done myself, stuff on my laptop that isn't class related if it's boring or the teacher goes on a rant or a story that isn't really relevant to the lesson and not interesting(varies by professor, if I like the professor I'll listen but if they're a douchebag I could care less what he has to say outside the relevant material). They most likely want to eliminate any possible distraction.

[rog]

No. Everyone is usually equally terrible at multitasking. Decades of studies have shown that multitasking lowers performance in almost any task. The video I linked earlier is a prime example of this.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/s...-than-men.html

Not sure what your statement has to do with anything. Obviously doing multiple things at once lowers performance in all of them. How is that relevant? Also, everyone being equally terrible at multitasking is so wrong, it's funny.

[Deadgye]

No. Everyone is usually equally terrible at multitasking. Decades of studies have shown that multitasking lowers performance in almost any task. The video I linked earlier is a prime example of this.

The video you linked was horrible, and just barely related to the actual topic. Multitasking is clearly superior. Sure, you'll be performing worse per task while multitasking, but the combined performance is greater than the performance attained doing it one at a time.

There are times where you don't want to multitask, like when you're studying. But lecture class isn't studying. Close, but no cigar.

This is part of the problem. You sit in class for lecture to be lectured. You go home to do homework. Doing homework during class is distracting you from the teacher's lecture. Regardless of how useful the lecture is, in this instance, you are allowing yourself to be distracted from the task at hand.

Then maybe the lecture shouldn't have been on stuff I already know, or better yet, on the homework. It's not part of the problem, you're just trying to rationalize your argument by painting it as a problem. It's a solution. You're in a class for no reason, so instead of wasting your time you're being productive.

With Facebook, Twitter, BG, etc, me bringing a laptop to class is a surefire way for me to be completely distracted the entire time.

Here's a novel idea. Turn off the internet.

[warc]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/s...-than-men.html

Not sure what your statement has to do with anything. Obviously doing multiple things at once lowers performance in all of them. How is that relevant? Also, everyone being equally terrible at multitasking is so wrong, it's funny.

I meant to say that both genders are equally bad at multitasking but I was wrong regardless.

The video you linked was horrible, and just barely related to the actual topic. Multitasking is clearly superior. Sure, you'll be performing worse per task while multitasking, but the combined performance is greater than the performance attained doing it one at a time.

Time efficient? True. However, when you are in a classroom, how important is it that you check your email, facebook, bluegartr, etc? Yes, you can accomplish these tasks at the same time but why risk the chance of missing something in the lecture? I am not arguing against using a laptop in the classroom at all. Computers in the classroom are so misused though that the detriments outweigh the benefits so some teachers don't allow laptops to be used. It was stated clearly on the teacher's syllabus that electronics are not allowed and laptops needed permission from her. Technology should be an aid/tool for studying, not a necessity.

[synistar]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bloom's_Taxonomy

The relevant part is the Cognitive portion of the article.

As I see it, when you have the ability to type verbatum everything the professor says, you're only using the first level of the cognitive domain. What college does is enable students to access the higher tiers of cognitive skills.

Now say that you are just pounding away at the keyboard streaming the lecture to wordpad (hey, be a stenographer at this point, they make decent money!) and the prof explains a topic. They typically only go into at depth the 3rd level of cognitive learning. But if you're just going verbatum, you're merely memorizing the professor's words. What I find doing things via writing on paper is that it forces your mind to pick out the important topics, elaborate in words you can understand, then apply it to other processes. This was a reoccuring theme in a few of my courses like Enzyme Kinetics and Eukaryotic Metabolism. Soon, you can guess where some topics are going based on previous knowledge. Such as how carboxyl groups are reactive because of free electrons via the double bonded oxygen or why certain sites are favorable for chemical reactions. Part of it is memorization, but more of it is comprehending and applying bits of knowledge into a solvable problem.

No I didn't get the best GPA and a bit disappointed there, but hell I learned a whole bunch of stuff that most people still go "huh" and apply it to real life situations. Class of 2005 FYI.

And my handwriting wasn't the best either. 9s and 4s can get mixed, e's look like i's. But I can make sense of it and thats all that matters.

[Norellicus]

How are people still confusing the difference between the technology being a distraction and the person allowing themselves to be distracted?

Edit for the post above me: You're an idiot if you think people are transcribing the entire session instead of just taking the relevant parts and organizing them in a way that makes sense on screen. Notepad.exe vs notepad on your desk; it's the same damn thing.

[Deadgye]

Time efficient? True. However, when you are in a classroom, how important is it that you check your email, facebook, bluegartr, etc? Yes, you can accomplish these tasks at the same time but why risk the chance of missing something in the lecture? I am not arguing against using a laptop in the classroom at all. Computers in the classroom are so misused though that the detriments outweigh the benefits so some teachers don't allow laptops to be used. It was stated clearly on the teacher's syllabus that electronics are not allowed and laptops needed permission from her. Technology should be an aid/tool for studying, not a necessity.

It's up to the student to decide if it's worth it or not, not the teacher. If the teacher decides it just hurts the students who want to use them. Just like in the OPs case, he went and asked the teacher for permission and she just said no. She intended to outright ban them. How important is it that I check facebook, bluegartr, etc? Not very. My email? If I'm checking my email during class it's most likely academically related. The other things I use my laptop for in class? Taking notes, Looking at old notes, looking at the homework, looking at the textbook. All stuff that's very important, usually relevant to the class, and not detrimental at all.

Sure, it's not like I haven't assembled a pokemon team during a computer science class, or watched anime during a digital electronics class, but that was because we were going over stuff that I had a firm understanding on. :3 Also, it's my choice whether or not I want to listen to music in class. I keep the volume low enough so that nobody can hear it, and it helps me concentrate. What right does a teacher have telling me that I can't do that? An outright ban on all electronics is even sillier.

Notepad.exe vs notepad on your desk; it's the same damn thing.

Don't forget sticky notes and mspaint. :D

[rog]

Edit for the post above me: You're an idiot if you think people are transcribing the entire session instead of just taking the relevant parts and organizing them in a way that makes sense on screen. Notepad.exe vs notepad on your desk; it's the same damn thing.

Writing everything that is said verbatim is often impossible, but typing it generally is not. Not gonna comment on how how many people actually do that, since i don't take notes at all, but yeah.

[Siniroth]

It's not that I think there's a really substantial reason to not use a lap top, but dropping a class over the ordeal is fairly retarded.

Because it's impossible to take the class at another time with another professor who will understand that laptop is pwn for taking notes for some people and let Seno use it?

[Korietsu]

It's up to the student to decide if it's worth it or not, not the teacher. If the teacher decides it just hurts the students who want to use them. Just like in the OPs case, he went and asked the teacher for permission and she just said no. She intended to outright ban them. How important is it that I check facebook, bluegartr, etc? Not very. My email? If I'm checking my email during class it's most likely academically related. The other things I use my laptop for in class? Taking notes, Looking at old notes, looking at the homework, looking at the textbook. All stuff that's very important, usually relevant to the class, and not detrimental at all.

Sure, it's not like I haven't assembled a pokemon team during a computer science class, or watched anime during a digital electronics class, but that was because we were going over stuff that I had a firm understanding on. :3 Also, it's my choice whether or not I want to listen to music in class. I keep the volume low enough so that nobody can hear it, and it helps me concentrate. What right does a teacher have telling me that I can't do that? An outright ban on all electronics is even sillier.

Let me know how you feel about that during a presentation, or how your bosses feel about slacking off like that. If the teacher says no, then don't do it. It's disrespectful to them as well as to other students. Eventually you'll find a professor that doesn't like how you act and just drops you from his class no questions because of it, or just write off an F for you and call it a day. You can also learn to use a notebook from which you retain information better and to top it off just as usual you don't need textbooks for classes unless you're pulling hw out of em.

[Kryssan]

Hmmm idk an abacus seems a lot more distracting than a slide rule >_>

You would think so, but as someone who uses a sliderule for 90+% of their maths (there are occassions when I need to be more accurate than 3 sig figs), most people are extremely distracted by a sliderule. It's something new, different, unusual. As such, people that aren't used to seeing it are distracted by it. Honestly, computers are the same way.


Edit: Of course, in this case by 'new' I mean new to them, not 'new' technology. I can't tell you how often people keep wanting to play with the damn thing or run off with it and then I have to realign it afterwards because they don't have a clue what they're doing. It's honestly a bit bothersome at times, but I'd rather use a sliderule than a calculator because it keeps me thinking about the math.

[octopus]

I'd imagine a good old typewriter would satisfy the "no games/facebook/youtube" problem, but you have all the noise to go with it ;o

Or better yet, use one of those graphing calculators that have a blackberry style keypad on it?

[Zhais]

I took awesome notes in college when I actually paid attention.

Anything you do with writing notes can be done when typing notes. Don't write verbatim, expand on the thoughts where appropriate, etc. I had my laptop in pretty much every class throughout college save for physics labs and calc (though I did do some calc notes on the comp as well).

Let me know how you feel about that during a presentation, or how your bosses feel about slacking off like that.

Because work environment and college environment are the exact same.....

[aduidarnenye]

It's really strange how laptops have gone from being very rare when I was in school just 5-6 years ago, to being the most prevelant and useful tool available to students (according to this thread). I'm trying to think of other educational tools that have taken over the landscape so rapidly and thoroughly but all I can come up with are TVs and VCRs to show films. Whiteboards perhaps? When I was finishing university there were classrooms that still had old-fashioned chalkboards.

[GRT]

does your professor want his/her papers turned in as .doc files or at least typed and printed? if so, i would write a story about "technology discrimination" and send it to the school paper

i find it funny how a journalism class does not allow computers when the survival of the entire profession depends on them. Does the school have serious budget issues? my comm classes 5 years ago all took place in computer labs