Profs kick laptops out of the classroom

by ppeggy | November 19, 2007 at 07:47 am

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Some university professors have banned laptops from the classroom choosing instead to go back to the old pen and paper method of taking notes. They have found, not surprisingly, that it results in fewer distractions and greater concentration by the students on the lecture material.

Prof. Jean Boivin recalls how he was stunned to read in a newspaper that one of his students had lost thousands of dollars day-trading on his laptop during class.

The public exposure of the stock-distracted student was among many irritants that prompted Boivin to declare his classroom a laptop-free zone, where students wouldn't be tempted to surf the web, check e-mail, shop online or network on Facebook.

"It really makes a huge difference," said Boivin, a Montreal economics professor who taught at Columbia University in New York when he and his colleagues in the business school banned laptops after fielding complaints from students that they were being distracted by their otherwise-engaged classmates.

Boivin found the pen-and-paper revival so refreshing -- students actually started paying attention and participating -- that he imported it when he moved this year to Montreal business university Hautes Etudes Commerciales.