Although many universities have taken steps to limit the use of laptop computers in classrooms, ASU leaves that decision to professors.
Schools like Bentley College and Babson College in Massachusetts have used tools to block access to the Internet during lectures and exams in an effort to revive the paper-and-pen method of taking notes.
Music theory and composition freshman Alexis Gelinas said banning laptops shouldn’t be the University’s responsibility.
“It is your responsibility to pay attention in class,” he said. “You paid for it. If you have a laptop and don’t pay attention, then it’s your fault.”
Michael Kelley, who works in the West campus’s College of Teacher Education & Leadership and teaches ASU 101 to freshmen, said laptops have become a needed part of a student’s academic life.
“The bottom line is that we want to encourage technology, but technology that is linked to academics,” he said.
Former teacher’s assistant Michael Bolton said each professor should decide whether or not laptops are acceptable in the classroom.
“I think that laptops are perfectly fine in classroom situations,” Bolton said.
They make note-taking easier and allow students to look up information relevant to class discussion, he added.
In his classes, Bolton allowed laptops but took away points if he found students using them inappropriately.
“I didn’t want to ban them for the most part,” he said. “I never had a problem with them using them for class purposes, but I didn’t want to walk around looking over students’ shoulders.”
Bolton established the rule the first day of class and never received any complaints, he said.
Students with laptops can be a distraction not only to themselves but to those around them, said journalism freshman Emily Timm.
“If someone is taking notes, it wouldn’t be [distracting], but if they were surfing Myspace, then it would be because of colors and motions,” she said.
The use of laptops is encouraged through ASU’s 1:1 program, and laptops also make way for ASU’s green movement.
“I think banning them is a bad idea because the whole school is going eco-friendly and paperless, so it would be a step backward,” Timm said.
Reach the reporter at erica.m.rodriguez.@asu.edu.
