Laptops in the Classroom

The debate about the use of laptops in class by students has been going on for some time now. Earlier this year, the National Law Journal had an article Survey Favors Clickety-Clack of Laptops in Class reporting on a national study from Indiana University that found that law school students who used their laptops in class were highly engaged in classroom activities. Despite this, many law professors remain skeptical about the benefits of laptops in the classroom. Last month, the Chronicle of Higher Education posted an article Students Stop Surfing After Being Shown How In-Class Laptop Use Lowers Test Scores. So the debate goes on without any clear resolution.

Putting aside who is right and who is wrong in this debate, CALI has now posted a video describing two online tools (CALI Instapoll and Google Moderator) that instructors can use to help engage those in the classroom that are using laptops.

The video runs about 26 minutes and has some useful suggestions for intructors.