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Should teachers and professors ban student use of laptops in class?
The research is unequivocal: Laptops distract from learning, both for users and for those around them. It’s not much of a leap to expect that electronics also undermine learning in high school classrooms or that they hurt productivity in meetings in all kinds of workplaces.
Should students be allowed to use laptops in class?
Laptops allow students to collaborate with their classmates inside and outside the classroom. They can ask questions, compare notes and share what they have learned more readily. They can also work together on group projects even if they are not in the same location.
What is the disadvantages of a laptop?
The laptops are costly as compared to PC, because the smaller components required by the laptop come costly. The laptop doesn’t offer an option for personalization consistent with one’s requirements. The laptop only gives access to the computer’s memory and disk drive.
Should professors ban laptops?
Banning laptops is about professor insecurity, not student learning. When professors issue unilateral laptop bans, the professor doesn’t have to change at all, the student does. Instead of thinking about pedagogy and the effectiveness of the teaching method, it shifts the blame onto the student.
Do you ban electronics in your classrooms?
Though I make a few exceptions, I generally ban electronics, including laptops, in my classes and research seminars. That may seem extreme. After all, with laptops, students can, in some ways, absorb more from lectures than they can with just paper and pen.
Do laptops help or hinder learning?
Measuring the effect of laptops on learning is tough. One problem is that students don’t all use laptops the same way. It might be that dedicated students, who tend to earn high grades, use them more frequently in classes. It might be that the most distracted students turn to their laptops whenever they are bored.
How can researchers solve the problem of laptop use among students?
Researchers can solve that problem by randomly assigning some students to use laptops. With that approach, the students who use laptops are comparable in all other ways to those who don’t.