Not all technology has to be banished from the classroom. Sometimes

it can act as a helpful learning tool and actually aid, rather than

distract, students in the classrooms.

The key word would be “sometimes.”

The use of laptops in classrooms is slowly becoming more prevalent in

this day and age where electronic equivalents are replacing older,

more analog ways of doing things. Laptops, unlike texting or

earphones, can actually be beneficial in classrooms, if they’re used

correctly.

“It’s more about how you utilize them in class and how much you seek

engagement in your class in the first place,” Helené Wagner, speech

instructor, said.

Like any other form of electronics, laptops have their time and place,

and should students use them effectively as tools for learning the

time is during school and the place is in class.

The big issue is if the majority of students are able to recognize

this and not abuse the ability to go online or play games during

class.

“I actually don’t play games or go online anymore, but I did

originally,” Andrew Springer, 20, computer science major, said.

The common trend seems to be that laptop users sit in the back of the

class, possibly as to not distract others, or possibly to be able to

play games or surf the web without anyone seeing them.

“They sit in the far back corner,” Ben Hong, 18, administration and

justice major, said, “playing minesweeper and solitaire, or online

games.”

Anyone that does misuse their laptops during class will soon realize

it can have costly effects on their grades and in-class performance,

as it is very easy to get distracted with what they are looking at and

drown out what their instructors are saying.

“It distracted me because I would be multi-tasking, supposedly

listening to the professor talk while going on Facebook or Youtube,”

Kenneth Park, 20, undeclared, said. “This semester I thought, yeah, I

shouldn’t do that.”

Andrew Springer also realized that his class time should be devoted to

paying attention and being an attentive student.

“I realized it was more important to pay attention and get good

grades,” Springer, who now uses his laptop exclusively for taking

notes during class, said.

The use of laptops in class is still relatively uncommon, which could

be a result of several things, some being the price tag or that

students simply prefer taking notes with pen and paper.

Alexis Aguiles, 20, psychology major, said that he prefers writing his

notes out by hand due to better muscle memory and that he’d rather not

use a laptop because he would inevitably misuse it during class.

From an instructor’s standpoint laptops are seen as a helpful learning

tool only if use was moderated and used to aid students in their

education.

“You would definitely have people abuse it,” Wagner said, “I think

it’s more of a case-by-case basis, because if you can see that

somebody is an active participant and they’re partaking in

discussions, I don’t think there’s any reason to believe that they’re

doing something other than what they should be doing.”

Wagner is open to the idea of students using laptops in classrooms as

certain students learn in different ways, and using a laptop may make

deciphering things easier for students.

“The more avenues that you could bring to the classroom, the better

chance for every student to learn,” Wagner said.

The usefulness of laptops extend beyond just the possible ability to

take notes faster and more conveniently, they could ultimately cut

down on the amount of books to carry around and the amount of paper

wasted. Students could easily buy books in digital form and read them

right on their computer screen, but their may be less of a convenience

using laptops in certain types of classes.

“It depends on the subject, if it’s something like math or science,

then you need to write it down,” Park said.

Getting an online connection seems to be hit and miss depending on

both the user and the location.

Andrew Springer was only able to get a connection during class in his

computer administration class, while Kenneth Park didn’t seem to have

problems getting an internet connection in most areas of the campus.

Laptops really do have the ability to become more popular among

students and instructors alike should their usefulness in class be

respected and not abused.

“Like with anything, you just have to learn to be able to have good

classroom management as an instructor and be able to use them to

enhance the class” Wagner said.