Hi All, How do you all deal with laptop use in class? I ask students to put up PDAs/cells, but it seems a few use laptops for something other than note taking. This seems to happen at the start of class when we talk about the daily news or our sociological observations or when students are talking. Many colleagues report similar findings...students who think they can listen in while doing email, etc.
Obviously it’s disrespectful to those who are speaking but it also appears to distract the laptop user’s neighbors. Luckily, it’s not much of a problem for me, but I’d like to nip it in the bud and get a handle on it before next semester. I *think* I’d like to handle it in as “light” of a way as possible (e.g., an email in passing to the class about respectful laptop use?). What do you say to your students? Do you have “policies” for laptop use? How do you monitor laptop use, if at all? Thanks. Andi
