<p>I’ll admit to using Facebook during classes. Large classes or lecture classes, not discussion-based or really small classes. I don’t tend to take notes and if I wasn’t on facebook, I’d be doodling. I remember spoken speech very well. If it’s a class that is based solely on lecture then I’ll take notes by typing. </p>
<p>I have had classes where laptops were banned. In discussion-based classes, I can understand because there’s no need to take notes really and they are very distracting in discussions. In lecture classes, I’d be beyond irritated because I take notes by typing. If I take them by hand, I WILL lose them. It’s just how it is. If I’m paying money to take your class, I really can’t see how you can ban my laptop in a lecture class where I’m not disrupting anything (if you sit in the back of the class and are not doing anything dumb, you won’t disrupt anything… if you are, you can be asked to leave the same as if you’re doing anything distracting).</p>
<p>At my previous college it was pretty technology advanced so most people had their laptops out and were usually on Facebook and other sites during the lecture. I sometimes brought my laptop to class and sometimes didn’t. It depended on what we were doing that day and how my attention span was that day. </p>
<p>I took production classes where professors required us to have laptops out if we were learning new software or something. I also would have to take notes during it.</p>
<p>I go to a community college now and most people don’t use laptops. I find a majority of them have ‘no laptop rules.’ I haven’t brought mine to the actual campus since I am only their for about 2 hours a day so I don’t see the point. </p>
<p>For me I personally would rather take notes by hand and keep my laptop in my bag unless I really do need it. I will admit to getting distracted on it if I have it out. I’d go on Facebook, read the news, and check out the gossip sites rather than focus on the professor or the other students. Just don’t distract the other students is my thing. I had someone sit infront of me and use Skype the whole class which was so frickin’ odd.</p>
<p>I post slides on Blackboard, so many students annotate the slides on their laptops during class. If students want to surf, that is their business. (Using their phones is much more of a distraction.) One colleague got tired of surfing on laptops, though, so she stopped class one day and told the students to put their hands on their heads. She then went around the lecture hall checking their laptops.</p>
<p>Me too. I’ve long since passed the point where I attend classes, but I attend meetings where I have to take notes. When for some reason I’m at a meeting and don’t have my laptop with me, I take notes by hand, then immediately photograph then will my cell phone and email them to myself. That way, they don’t get lost.</p>
<p>I think it is completely disrespectful and inappropriate, and am surprised that professors put up with it. My son went to visit two schools where he was accepted in April and sat in on classes. At one of the schools (a very competitive almost-ivy level school), students were on FB a lot during class. This was formative in his decision to NOT attend that school.</p>
<p>He is on FB constantly at home. Yet, he also felt that it would interfere with his education if classes were filled with disengaged students.</p>
<p>As for disengaged, I understand what you’re saying. I doodled and did crossword puzzles throughout college. And it WAS disrespectful. It was also a sign of boredom, since many of the required courses were boring and felt like a waste of time.</p>
<p>My son chose a college where the classes he sat in on seemed engaging and fast-paced enough so that students were not on FB and were involved in the class. Hopefully, it will continue that way for him. </p>
<p>I am not blaming the students, per se. Some of the blame goes to the professors for structuring classes that almost invite a lack of involvement. This might include boring lectures, listening to other students present projects that will have no impact on learning, etc. Some of the blame also goes to the curriculum set up at many universities that require an inordinate number of required classes (not in their major), resulting in students taking classes that do not interest them.</p>
<p>Well, the definition of a lecture is that it generally does not expect students to be engaged with one another. Which is a reason that lectures are horrid ways to teach anything.</p>
<p>I’m not in college yet (three months!) so forgive my lack of qualification to comment… But why are so many people concerned with what kids do on their laptops during class? Professors having kids put their hands on their heads to check their laptops?.. That sounds more obnoxious than highschool. </p>
<p>We’re paying to learn, not be babysat… And professors are being paid to teach, not babysit… Right? If a professor’s lecture that day is either off-topic, not relevant, or something I don’t necessarily need to pay attention to (which is totally based upon my own judgment), what’s wrong with browsing Facebook? It’s better than not even showing up. </p>
<p>We’re in college, so we’re old and mature enough to make our own decisions, and we’ll obviously face the consequences if they happen to be bad decisions. It seems out of place for a college professor to be trying to micromanage the students like HS teachers do. </p>
<p>This just seems way over dramatic, and worse than high school where it’s essentially 8 hours of babysitting a day. Maybe it’s just College Confidential. Maybe it’s just me. Who knows.</p>
<p>annas, I actually like lectures. I also do really well with online, almost teach-yourself classes which many students don’t do quite as well in. It’s all in how you learn.</p>
<p>coase, that’s ridiculous. It’s not the prof’s place to treat their students like their in elementary school. I’d be beyond angry and irritated if I had a prof that petty.</p>
<p>Except that there’s a huge body of published research that shows that engaged and active learners learn more. Being required to prepare ahead of time and demonstrate in class that you have mastered the material - and receive immediate feedback from the professor - results in far more learning than just sitting and listening to a lecture. Of course it also means a lot more work on the part of the student, which is a big reason that many (most?) students prefer lectures, IMO.</p>
<p>EDIT: Done well, it also means a lot more work for the professor, too, which is the reason it’s so rare - in addition, of course, to the fact that it can’t be done in a class of 700 students.</p>
<p>It’s rude. If you want to make those kinds of judgment calls, then you should be attending online classes with recorded lectures and you can do as you please.</p>
<p>I was in a class of 800 students back in the 70s and we had discussions. Of course, not all 800 of us every class period, but those of us who wanted to discuss could do so.</p>
<p>It’s not only rude to be browsing Facebook during a lecture; you are not going to be likely to tune back in when things get “relevant”. Your mind is elsewhere. Not so different from people thinking they can text and drive. Of course, the danger is higher there, but the denial is similar. You can browse Facebook for free. Why pay college tuition for the privilege?</p>
<p>Yup. Incredibly rude. Also, disrespectful to the professor who is trying to doing his job while faced with a roomful of bozos and disrespectful to the parents and taxpayers who are paying for the educational process. But apparently courtesy and respect are not qualities that are found among today’s college students. My D tells me this goes on all the time in her classes. It’s sickening. I think if I were conducting a class and saw a student surfing the internet, I want to throw him out, permanently.</p>
<p>As a kid you go to your friend’s house. They do things differently than what your family does. You don’t take your shoes off when you come into the house they do. Your family eats dinner in front of the TV while their family sits around a table. Your friend has a limited time on the computer while you are able to do it as you please. While at your friend’s house you follow their house rules. You learn this at a young age to follow their rules.</p>
<p>Pretend your professors classroom is your friend’s house. I am 19 and still go over to my aunt’s house and hate taking my shoes off but that is how they like it. At home I walk around with flip flops on all the time. I deal with it at that time and do whatever I want when I am not at my aunt’s house. You can be off your computer for the hour you are in the classroom and get on it once you get out.</p>
<p>I find it incredibly rude for professors not to show up to office hours, to treat their students poorly, and to talk about their wives sorority sister’s big’s grand little’s new house decor when I’m paying them $60k/year to learn academic material. If you can’t meet the basic requirement of teaching the subject I’m paying you to teach me, I will gladly take my money elsewhere.</p>
<p>again, I’ve been in plenty of meetings where many people in the room are making 6 figures and the blackberries are being used for unrelated things.</p>
<p>so I don’t think it’s fair to limit your views to “college students”</p>