<p>Just wondering if most college kids are taking their laptops into the classroom or if they still take notes the old fashioned way? Even though he's really bright, my son's penmanship is not the best nor is he a super fast note taker. Therefore I think I laptop would work best for him. Are there profs that object to this for any reason?</p>
<p>On the tours we have done, there are laptop plug ins in most of the lecture halls. I honestly don’t know what kids do, but wouldn’t the constant click, click of a keyboard be distracting?</p>
<p>I think it depends on the school, the type of class, and maybe even class size. In my large lectures, most students use laptops but some use pen and paper. In my foreign language and math, there are no laptops. In my small discussions, maybe one or two laptops. I always use my laptop, my notes aren’t even usable otherwise.</p>
<p>Some professors do not allow them. At my school I have only bumped into one professor so far that doesn’t, but every prof is going to have their own feelings about it.</p>
<p>Most students get used to the sound of the keyboards. Laptop keyboards tend to be fairly quiet. I don’t even notice it.</p>
<p>Really depends on the profs and how interesting the class is.</p>
<p>At orientation last year, Son’s school said that they had decided to ban them.</p>
<p>A lot of people take their laptops to large lectures. If you’re in a small discussion it’s a bit more awkward. People tend to notice if you’re not paying attention in those cases.</p>
<p>Laptop keyboards aren’t very loud so it isn’t a big problem. I find the person playing a flash game in the row in front a bit more distracting.</p>
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<p>Oh yes. Two of my professors had rules against laptops in class and for good reason: chances are, a student with a laptop open is on Facebook instead of Microsoft Word. In fact, a large percentage of students on their laptops strongly suggests that the students aren’t paying attention to the professor, which could be the fault of the professor, the students, or both.</p>
<p>I went to orientation at UNC with my son last week and most of the current students we spoke with didn’t bring their laptops to class. One of the professors who spoke with parents told us he doesn’t allow laptops in his large lectures. He said a walk up and down the aisle during the lecture found many students not using their laptop to take notes.</p>
<p>Seems like banning laptops would just build resentment, and it can be a useful note taking tool. A lot of people can get the internet and games on their cellphone…</p>
<p>My kids rarely ever take a laptop to class.</p>
<p>My H is a college professor who does not allow laptops in class - he has found students are doing anything but taking notes on them (and he works for a college that “gives” incoming students a laptop). He will also penalize them if they are texting or surfing on their cell phones.</p>
<p>Neither of our kids takes their laptop to class. Not even S and he is a CS major - they have computers in those classrooms for them to use.</p>
<p>There is software that records lectures/discussions and keys the replay to one’s notes. Don’t remember a key point? Click on a word and listen to that part of the lecture. That can be very useful. Available for the iPad as well.</p>
<p>Not all professors are willing to be recorded. Most professors who do allow their lectures to be recorded post the lectures or Powerpoints to BlackBoard/ WebCT/ whatever classroom tech software the school uses.</p>
<p>My daughter took her computer to her art history class. It was life saver for her. When her professor showed a painting, she would download it from the internet (via wifi), copy it to Word, then write notes next to it. Her professor used to give a lot of examples in class, outside of their text book. If she didn’t have her laptop she would have been lost. She had a Dell, and that’s the reason we got her an Appler because it is lighter.</p>
<p>I sat in on 3 classes at the school I will be attending in the fall (Smith)</p>
<p>1st Class: Economics. Very nice lecture, very engaging. No laptops, everyone was doing pencil and paper notes, but very few notes. They seemed engrossed by what he was saying</p>
<p>2nd Class: Shakespeare Class. A class of about 15 students. 3-5 had laptops, the rest didn’t. All seemed engaged and paying close attention, but more note taking than the last class</p>
<p>3rd Class: Study of Women and Gender. THe prof acutually had small groups and asked teh students to get out their laptops to look at a few things. Everyone was on task and really using their laptop productively.</p>
<p>I think all three worked nicely</p>
<p>Neither of my 2 kids took/take laptops to class.<br>
Some profs also banned cell phones/pda’s. Too much texting noise and Facebooking on Blackberry’s during lectures.</p>
<p>“He will also penalize them if they are texting or surfing on their cell phones.”</p>
<p>I have never heard of conduct grades in college. If they aren’t paying attention and aren’t bothering anyone else I’d leave them alone and let them suffer the consequences at test time. I’m guessing this is an LAC?</p>
<p>In some colleges/courses, the notes are available online. That frees the students to concentrate on learning. One of our tourguides at can’t-remember-which-college said he printed the notes before class and then annotated them by hand for further clarification. </p>
<p>(At Case some of the lectures get “videotaped”, with access via web. It may happen elsewhere too)</p>
<p>I’m currently teaching a summer class with 11 students enrolled. Yesterday (Day2), three people were using laptops and one had an iPad. I’d be more impressed except that when I took a seat in the audience for a student presentation, the girl in the front row spent her time jumping between windows that looked like (1) word - hopefully notes for class, (2) facebook, (3) email, (4) not sure. If I was distracted from three rows over and four seats back, I can imagine that other people might actually have been able to read her emails.</p>
<p>Usually, in a class of 40, I get one or two people with laptops, and none at all in my smaller seminars, which are heavily discussion based. HOWEVER, this is a third tier public, so we may be behind the curve.</p>
<p>Personally, I rarely see people using laptops. Sure, in giant lectures you’re always going to see a few, but they are few and far between. This is at a tier 1 public school, which would have no reason to be behind the curve. I figure the people who are just going to be on Facebook the whole lecture would rather just not show up for class.</p>
<p>As far as note taking, unless you’re going to be trying to get huge amounts of text and no pictures or symbols or anything, a laptop might be more useful. This hasn’t applied to any single class I’ve taken. It really is better just to take them with paper and pencil.</p>