Banned Laptops
Brian May 4th, 2006
Another law school professor has banned the use of laptops in her classes. Professor June Entrman, from the University of Memphis, “nixed the computers in March because she felt they were turning her students into stenographers and inhibiting classroom debate. The full AP report is available here.
During my first year of law school, ONU did not have wireless in each room and I hung on every word the professors said. By my second and third years, however, we had a wireless connection in each room and I spent more time than I should have on blogging, IM’ing, and general surfing.
These distractions of having internet were outweighed, though, by the benefits of having an internet connection in class. First, more times than I can count, I was able to pull up cases via Lexis that were being referred to and skim along with the lecture. Second, by having a searchable version of codes, statutes, regulations, etc., I was able to find them much faster than people flipping through the index of a code book. An added bonus of this was not having to carry the huge code book around too. Finally, by typing my notes during class, when I got ready to do make outlines, I could copy and paste a substantial portion of the information.
For me, having a laptop during class was certainly more of a benefit than a distraction, although I can see how it could go both ways.
Some of our professors banned laptops my first and second years. I wish I could have had it there…but eventually it worked out…I’m outta there with a bar license.