Laptops. The view from Boston.
… [MIT] professors complain about students trading stocks online, shopping for Hermès scarves, showing one another video clips on YouTube — leading some faculty to call for the unwiring of all lecture halls.
“Students are totally shameless about how they use their computers in class,’’ said David Jones, an MIT professor. “I fantasize about having a Wi-Fi jammer in my lecture halls to block access to distractions.’
… Jonathan Zittrain, a [Harvard] professor and Internet law specialist who cofounded the Berkman Center for Internet & Society, has banned laptops and all mobile devices from his first year torts class since 2004.
“If you sit in the back of the room and see what’s going on, it’s so demoralizing,’’ Zittrain said. “It’s not just poker or Minesweeper, they’re shopping for shoes as you’re talking about some fascinating Supreme Court case.’’
… I always wonder, ‘Why are they in class?’, because it’s clear they are not paying attention,’’ Jones said…
April 23rd, 2011 at 11:56PM
Maybe the professor should ask himself how he manages to make his classes so boring that students prefer to shop online in the meanwhile. It’s always easy to blame lack of interest on the part of the students on technology, bad parents, an evil conspiracy and little green men. It’s a bit harder to recognize that one is a crappy teacher who can’t make his material relevant to the students.
April 23rd, 2011 at 11:59PM
Clarissa: Studies seem to suggest that students will use laptops for non-class activities in all available classes – those taught by brilliant charismatic professors, and those taught by duds.
April 24th, 2011 at 7:13AM
I don’t care how good a professor you are, if you are competing against the entire body of world knowledge and entertainment resources online, you lose.
April 24th, 2011 at 7:14AM
At some point, a forward-thinking (and financially astute) college or university will offer internet-free classrooms. That will be as an inducement to parents who do not want to pay big $$ for their almost-but-not-quite adult children to sit in class and surf the web. I am so, so, so glad that my kids went to college before this issue arose.
April 24th, 2011 at 8:05AM
Ulrich Undertaker, our director of development, assisted by Mr. Malice, our CFO, decided about 6-7 years ago that we needed wireless across the whole campus. A half-mil or so from some poor shlub of trustee was obtained to do the work. The faculty were, of course, not consulted about the desirability of this or even told what was happening. When word did leak out, many faculty protested, their keen minds foreseeing that on-line pornography might appeal more than differential equations and Facebook more than than a discussion of causes underlying the collapse of the Weimar Republic. Today, our science faculty place plastic sheets over their lab equipment to protect it from the rain pouring through the ceilings…the history faculty hold classes in rooms with heaters so old and noisy that EVERYONE NEEDS TO SHOUT IN ORDER TO BE HEARD ABOVE THE DIN…a couple of buildings are literally sinking…but students can play Farmville in every nook and cranny of the campus.
April 24th, 2011 at 5:27PM
I seriously think it’s an addiction, an addictive behavior. That’s the only way I can explain the texting habits of some people I know…they will text their best friend rather than talk to them, even if the friend is sitting five feet from them.
And also, your average “traditional” college student may not have learned the level of self-control a 40 year old prof might have. (I know when I’m in my office, with a stack of grading at my elbow, it’s far, far more appealing to go online and shop for books or visit commentary websites… Which is why I often now take my grading home with me, instead.)