Banning Laptops: A Good Idea?

    Law professors are currently debating whether to ban student use of laptops in the law school classroom.  The overriding concern is that in-class use of laptops is distracting, diminishes student engagement, and lessens the quality of class discussion.  Law faculty are much less concerned about laptop use outside of class even though a walk around any law school will expose the visitor to most law students talking on a cell phone, texting on a hand-held device, or viewing their laptop screen.  Casual observation of laptop screens will show that the subject matter on any random screen usually relates to email, social networks, video or picture sharing websites, and blogs. Sometimes one sees text from assigned readings, a draft of a paper, or text from a legal research project.

    Very little empirical evidence is informing this debate.  Instead, most of the debate relies on law teacher perceptions about the educational value of in-class laptop use. But in January 2009, George D. Kuh, professor of education at the University of Indian (Bloomington), released a report on the 2008 Law School Survey of Student Engagement (LSSSE).  This broad survey of over 29,000 American law students included a question on student use of technology.  From the answers to this question, when compared to other responses on the survey, Professor Kuh concluded that laptop use for assignments enhanced engagement and learning.  Professor Kuh inferred from these results that excessive in-class use of laptops for extraneous purposes lessened engagement and learning.     

    Professor Paul Caron at the University of Cincinnati School of Law also looked at the 2008 LSSSE data and concluded that in-class laptop use was aimed primarily at learning activities.  He concluded that laptop use generally enhances learning, but he made the more important point that law teachers should be thinking about ways to enhance student engagement.  Professor Caron is a proponent of clicker technology and asserts that its use in the classroom would lessen the temptation of surfing the web, reading and sending email, and using instant messaging.

    Finally, Professor Eugene Volokh (UCLA Law School) banned laptop use in his first-year, first-semester criminal law course.  He then surveyed the same students in the second part of the same course in the spring semester.  His survey results suggest that, on balance, the laptop ban improved student concentration, interest, and enjoyment.  The effect on learning the material was mixed.  And the effect on the quality of class notes was negative.  Professor Volokh also looked at responses to see how students answered based on the grade they received in the first-semester class.  Not surprisingly, lower grades reduced satisfaction with the ban.

    In my own study, I surveyed the students in my spring 2009 Federal Income Tax class.  The survey was voluntary and anonymous.  Of the 37 students in the class, 34 responded.  Concerning in-class laptop use, I asked: 1) the impact on learning, 2) the amount of in-class use for non-class purposes, and 3) the perception of non-class use by others.  Of those responding, 74% thought that laptop use improved their learning, while only 21% thought such use was negative.  The the rest viewed laptop use as neutral.  Most of the students used their laptops for non-class purposes for 20% or less of the time.  Some admitted to using their laptops up to 60% of the time for non-class purposes.  Interestingly, a majority of students thought that others were using laptops for non-class purposes more than they were.  This suggests that laptop use may be distracting.

    In any case, the laptop debate continues.

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