Laptops in the (university) classroom

cygsidcygsid
Posted:
in General Discussion edited January 2014
So I am taking my first formal class in a few years out of college, and having been out of the classroom so long, I am a bit out of touch with today's practices and trends for computer use in the classroom. Can those of you who are either still in college or at least have kept in touch with their alma mater bring the rest of us up to speed on this?

Has it become commonplace to bring one's laptop to the classroom? Is it not frowned upon, or seen as snobbish?

What software do people use for taking notes? I know of OneNote on the PC side, a great app for this type of tasks. Any recommendations on the Mac? I am probably going to start with Hog Bay Notebook since I already use it for pretty much everything else in my life.

Do people still take notes on paper? I know I only use paper for quick brainstorming and drawing diagrams these days... but then again my writing is atrocious (even for me), and atrociously slow too (much faster typer).

Has there been any research into this in the education field? Are paperless classrooms the future?
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 111
    kickahakickaha Posts: 8,760member
    Far in the future, if my experience is any indication.



    A lot of people take notes on laptops during class... more surf and play online.



    I prefer to take notes on my trusty green engineering graph paper, and transfer over the important stuff later. The pencil/paper approach is more free form, and allows for the dynamic creation of a conceptual framework, while the electronic format is great for a clearer presentation after that framework is created.



    Paper to learn, PDF for reference. That's my approach.
  • Reply 2 of 111
    sternonesternone Posts: 80member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by cygsid

    Is it not frowned upon, or seen as snobbish?

    What software do people use for taking notes? I know of OneNote on the PC side, a great app for this type of tasks. Any recommendations on the Mac? I am probably going to start with Hog Bay Notebook since I already use it for pretty much everything else in my life.

    Do people still take notes on paper?



    A long time ago, i stopped thinking what other people tought about me, i just do what i wan't to do, i don't care at all what other people think. If you think taking notes on laptop is the thing for you, just do that, trust me, your life will be better if you do the things you wan't to do...



    I checked some tools out for taking notes, and for me the new OmniGraffle is the best, take some time to learn everything and you will be registering notes structured in no time!
  • Reply 3 of 111
    cosmonutcosmonut Posts: 4,872member
    Yeah, I say that you should do what optimizes your education. If you can take better notes and learn better with a laptop instead of pen and paper, go for it. Some may see you as snobbish, but you'll graduate with honors.



  • Reply 4 of 111
    gdconwaygdconway Posts: 71member
    i graduated from law school in 2001. by my third year, about 10% of the class took notes on a laptop, and i have the impresssion that the number has increased dramatically.
  • Reply 5 of 111
    soopadrivesoopadrive Posts: 182member
    if i had a laptop i'd use it for notetaking.

    the only thing i would worry about are



    battery life

    theft
  • Reply 6 of 111
    progmacprogmac Posts: 1,850member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by sternone

    A long time ago, i stopped thinking what other people tought about me, i just do what i wan't to do, i don't care at all what other people think.



    so are you the one who talks on their mobile during the movie? or maybe speaking loudly to your friend in the elevator?
  • Reply 7 of 111
    hxc04hxc04 Posts: 145member
    Im an international politics major so we never have numbers or graphs so notes on the computer is a great idea. I have took my iBook to every class for the last 4 semesters and I don't see a reason to stop anytime soon.
  • Reply 8 of 111
    performa636cdperforma636cd Posts: 187member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by cygsid



    Do people still take notes on paper?



    I would love to know what kind of life you live
  • Reply 9 of 111
    hardeeharharhardeeharhar Posts: 4,841member
    As a graduate student in the sciences who hopes to be a prof in the not too distant future, I will forbid computers from my clasroom, unless I want groups or individuals to work on visualizing a problem. I know that most people surf or play games, and that is not conducive to learning and is indeed distracting for others around them. If they were all in cubicles, I wouldn't care, but they won't be.



    But to answer the question, laptops have become more common in lectures both in academic environments and indeed, at conferences where the clickity clack annoys the fuck out of me. It sucks.
  • Reply 10 of 111
    brussellbrussell Posts: 9,812member
    I'm a prof, and I get probably 5% of students using computers. I can't imagine it would be a good idea for note-taking. Too many distractions, and too hard to get notes down properly. Maybe if you had pen input for drawing stuff.
  • Reply 11 of 111
    cygsidcygsid Posts: 210member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Performa636CD

    I would love to know what kind of life you live



    Getting rather personal, aren't we? I write software for a living... if that helps answer your question.
  • Reply 12 of 111
    hxc04hxc04 Posts: 145member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by hardeeharhar

    As a graduate student in the sciences who hopes to be a prof in the not too distant future, I will forbid computers from my clasroom, unless I want groups or individuals to work on visualizing a problem. I know that most people surf or play games, and that is not conducive to learning and is indeed distracting for others around them. If they were all in cubicles, I wouldn't care, but they won't be.



    But to answer the question, laptops have become more common in lectures both in academic environments and indeed, at conferences where the clickity clack annoys the fuck out of me. It sucks.



    What do you care? They pay for the class and they should have the right to use them.
  • Reply 13 of 111
    mynameheremynamehere Posts: 560member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by hxc04

    What do you care? They pay for the class and they should have the right to use them.



    Did you even read his post?
  • Reply 14 of 111
    pyr3pyr3 Posts: 946member
    It depends on what type of classes you are taking. For math courses, it would suck because you would need to draw diagrams and such (this would be one of the few places that a tablet PC could excel).



    I graduated over the summer (CompSci), but I'm tagging along to one of my girlfriend's classes so that I can help her out with it. In her class (Cognitive Neuroscience), maybe 7 or 8 people out of 50 have laptops in class. And two of them don't really qualify (one is a PDA with foldable keyboard accessory, and the other is one of those ultra light notebook things. It's the size of a DVD case, maybe a little bigger and I doubt it's running Windows). I usually sit at the back of the lecture hall, and only one of these people actually doesn't take notes (she switches between solitaire and note-taking periodically).



    Most of the people seem to be using the PowerPoint slides for the lecture to take notes on. One person is using NeoOffice on an iBook, and a couple are using MS Word (just making bulletpoints). A lot of people just print out the lecture slides (either 1 per page, 4 per page, or whatever), and take notes on the slides themselves.



    As for the theft issue, if you are in class with your laptop then it's not an issue. One of the girls in the class gets around leaving it alone during the break (it's a 3 hours class) by putting it in her backpack and taking it with her out of the lecture hall, but leaving the AC adapter by the desk. (I guess she doesn't think that anyone will care to snatch an AC adapter).



    When I was still in University there was a higher percentage of people with laptops in the classroom. But these were computer science courses, so it's expected. A lot of people did homework for other computer science courses in class. A lot of people just used their laptop to view the PowerPoint slides on their laptop screen instead of on the projector or whatever. In a couple of classes this was beneficial because of the way the class was, but in others it was just a waste of electricity. I've seen people doing everything on the laptops in class from, downloading a picture of the professor and photoshopping it into something funny to the amusement of people that could see the screen, to playing online chess, to instant messaging the person next to them.



    I'll admit that I have been guilty of doing homework for other classes in-class instead of paying attention. But I don't really care at this point because I've graduated. I'm just glad that I'm not working crazy shifts anymore (like 4AM - 12PM, and then class from 3PM-9PM)
  • Reply 15 of 111
    brclark82brclark82 Posts: 182member
    I am currently a student at a university, and I take my laptop to all of my large lectures but leave it in my bag for the smaller classes. Most of my classes have all the notes posted online so I can just go over them as the prof does and then sometimes put my own notes to the side. But for full note taking (ie notes aren't online) a laptop really doesnt seem to be a practical solution, at least for me. There are many students who use laptops during class and no one cares. And yes I occasionally find myself goofing off, or checking my email, but it's not high school, do whatever you want. And for the future prof, I don't anyone who actually comes to class and plays games, they may surf the net here and there, or not really pay attention, but if they take the time to actually go they usually at least attempt to pay attention. I don't think forbidding laptop use in the classroom, as useful as they can be, is really that great of a policy.
  • Reply 16 of 111
    sternonesternone Posts: 80member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by progmac

    so are you the one who talks on their mobile during the movie? or maybe speaking loudly to your friend in the elevator?



    Like i said, i don't care dude
  • Reply 17 of 111
    cosmonutcosmonut Posts: 4,872member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by sternone

    Like i said, i don't care dude



    Look out for number one and f*ck everyone else. Good policy. Tell us how that works out for you.
  • Reply 18 of 111
    gene cleangene clean Posts: 3,481member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by sternone

    Like i said, i don't care dude



    That will last until some guy decides it's enough of your yacking while he's trying to watch a movie, turns around, and bitchslaps you.



    Then you'll care.
  • Reply 19 of 111
    progmacprogmac Posts: 1,850member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by CosmoNut

    Look out for number one and f*ck everyone else. Good policy. Tell us how that works out for you.



    he won't, for he does not care. i bet he's slouching right now.
  • Reply 20 of 111
    sternonesternone Posts: 80member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Gene Clean

    That will last until some guy decides it's enough of your yacking while he's trying to watch a movie, turns around, and bitchslaps you.



    Then you'll care.



    I'm not such a scared ass .. they can always try, i kick back!! (and harder)
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