Laptop Use from the Students' Perspectives

The Spartan, the San Jose State University Daily, has an interesting article on laptops. Professors at San Jose State have taken a variety of paths with regard to regulating laptop use in the classroom. Here are some of the things they've tried:

• Outright ban
• Requiring laptops and using Synchroneyes-type technology
• Allowing only handwritten notes to be used in the exam

That's the first I've heard of someone using that last one. That's pretty clever.

The students had plenty to say about professorial attitudes toward laptops:

"I think it's pointless," said Kimberly Knoll, a junior animation illustration major. "People are going to do it anyway, and there's no way to check. I think if they want to rohibit that then they need to specifically say, 'Laptop lids down.' One of my teachers used to say that when she gave her lectures."

Still, many students use their laptops in class for other things."Sometimes when the professor is really, really boring or going off in a tangent, I may check my e-mail," said Andrae Macapinlac, a junior political science major. "I said 'may,' though."

Milan Balinton, a junior communications studies major, said he agrees."Being a
college student, we also have jobs and important lives, and I'm also involved in the community on campus and try to multitask per se," he said.

Some said they are more accepting of the rule."The professor is the one who really teach the class, so he has the right to give out his own policy," said William Nguyen, a senior accounting major. "You don't like it? Take another course."