I recently returned to school after a ten year absence and I feel having a laptop in class has been beneficial for several reasons.
Last week my accounting professor mentioned Nucor Steel as an example of a company that had an innovative bonus structure which made them the most efficient steel company in the country. Some of the students had specific questions that the professor wasn't able to answer. I was able to access our school's online article database and find several magazine articles on the company.
In my statistics class, the teacher tends to go off on tangents which have nothing to do with the material in the class (this seems to happen a lot in other classes as well). Having a laptop enables me to get other work done, or to read the material the teacher won't have time to cover later because he or she wasted too much time telling stories.
The Graphing utility would have been great to have in my calculus class last semester. Unfortunately, I didn't have access to it at the time as I've been using a Windoze machine until my MacBook arrives.
I have never found laptops to be a distraction when others are using them, but I would feel awkard using one in a small class where the professor actually engages the students (most students don't use them in these situations).
The only times I have been distracted were when other students were either text messaging or playing games on their cell phones. Do you ban these as well?
The only times I have been distracted were when other students were either text messaging or playing games on their cell phones. Do you ban these as well?
Kickaha, while I certainly agree with the core ideas you've expressed, your "bad prof" diatribe is based on generalizations that really make me wonder when the last time you spent time in a class not directly related to your own field. What you've described sounds like a lazy set of assumptions and, honestly, nothing like what I've experienced.
The fact is that there are a myriad of reasons why slides are useful depending on the subject and it's not all bullet lists or lazy profs. I've seen very little of that. What I've seen more of is a range of material in a range of formats integrated into each class.
Also, when I think of the handful of bad profs I've had, I don't think any of them used slides. In fact, at least one of them shared your viewpoint toward powerpoint and thought she had the whole teaching thing figured out (and damn she was wrong). The bad profs I've run into pretty solidly fall into two categories: 1) know the subject, but never bothered to even think about how to teach or 2) have really strong opinions about teaching styles and have a set of methods that they put too much faith in.
In fact, I'd argue that the far more extensive crutches that profs turn to are things like presentations and group projects, assigning them at some of the most inappropriate times. I can think of at least one graduate program related to my field at a chicago-area school that has been turned into an empty shell of busywork through heavy dependency on trendy teaching formats.
On the other hand, I'm also amazed with some of the other comments here. IM in the classroom? You have to be joking. Likewise with cellphones. They are totally unacceptable.
And hardeeharhar, the simple fact is that while you may believe otherwise, your opinions are simply opinions that, when injected with the "It's my classroom and I'll do what I want" attitude, are very likely to be detrimental.
The simple fact is that I'm having a hard time reconciling the kinds of things being said here (slides always = lazy prof, kids playing unreal in class) with what I've seen myself over the past few years taking graduate and undergraduate classes at a major university. Perhaps I've been lucky. Maybe it only happens in low-level undergrad classes. I don't know. Granted, in recent years my choice of classes has also always weighed heavy on student evaluations of the profs, so maybe I've been successful in largely avoiding crap ones.
You are in a lecture hall, and you have a question... your first instinct is to IM someone a question?
No! It is to fucking raise your hand and ask. What has happened to verbal communication?
Like I said, I have no experience of lectures, and certainly not American, but upon reading this conversation I got the impression that any disturbance to the professor at all was a most grievous insult.
Now, is all communication during the lecture supposed to be professor <--> pupil, and none at all between pupils? If so, why?
Now, is all communication during the lecture supposed to be professor <--> pupil, and none at all between pupils? If so, why?
Not necessarily, but generally yes. The professor is there to teach subject material that the students have had little to no experience with. Class discussions are generally reserved for non-science courses due to the fact that they are much more subjective and student opinions are important. However, most lectures are a distillation of knowledge/understanding and are thus from prof to student.
I have taken a hard tack in this thread because to be honest students are not and should not be responsible for the environment of a classroom. In reality, I will probably wait until I see that the computers are distractions and then subsequently ask the students who are distracting not to bring them/all students not to bring them. There are very specific reasons why one would need a computer in a class room, and taking notes is not one of them -- regardless of how much belly aching I have heard here, we all learn how to write on paper, and if someone does learn better by staring at a computer screen, they can transcribe the notes later (which would benefit them anyway).
The class room is a participatory oligarchy, and the only real power rests with the professor.
Kickaha, while I certainly agree with the core ideas you've expressed, your "bad prof" diatribe is based on generalizations that really make me wonder when the last time you spent time in a class not directly related to your own field. What you've described sounds like a lazy set of assumptions and, honestly, nothing like what I've experienced.
You're exceedingly lucky, or as you point out below, diligent in avoiding the bad profs. The tools for disseminating information about profs, such as online anonymous feedback lists, are *wonderful*, and I wholeheartedly support them. Students should use their 'voting power' in signing up for classes with good profs, and avoiding the bad ones. hardeehar, while you are technically correct, profs are answerable to the student body eventually, or should be. Too many crappy profs have wielded absolute power in the classroom to the detriment of the students.
Of course, then you run into the same problems you do with any democratic feedback system, where the average students swamp the opinion polls, but it's better than nothing.
Quote:
The fact is that there are a myriad of reasons why slides are useful depending on the subject and it's not all bullet lists or lazy profs. I've seen very little of that. What I've seen more of is a range of material in a range of formats integrated into each class.
Again, good for you. I never said that PowerPoint presentations *in general* are bad, I said that *bad profs* rely on them too much *to the exclusion of everything else*. And what they rely on most within PP is bullet lists, because they require the least work. Unfortunately, they also get across the least real semantic content.
Quote:
Also, when I think of the handful of bad profs I've had, I don't think any of them used slides. In fact, at least one of them shared your viewpoint toward powerpoint and thought she had the whole teaching thing figured out (and damn she was wrong).
Always a danger. A good tool will never turn a bad prof into a good one, but a bad prof can turn a good tool into a poor one. As I've stated, I *use* presentations (Keynote, actually), but I use them as an accessory to the lecture, not a replacement for it.
Quote:
The bad profs I've run into pretty solidly fall into two categories: 1) know the subject, but never bothered to even think about how to teach or 2) have really strong opinions about teaching styles and have a set of methods that they put too much faith in.
Yup, I've had both too, and they both bite. I have put a lot of thought and work into how to teach, and am open to new teaching styles or tools... but the one indicator that has remained constant across all the profs I've had, lectures I've attended, and seminars I've gone to is: a presentation that consists mostly of bullet lists punctuated with crazily complex and unreadable diagrams is boring, unclear, and the sign of a poor speaker who didn't put enough thought into how best to convey the information.
To be honest, I model my talks after Jobs' keynotes in a lot of ways, with a hefty dose of Tufte thrown in. Mostly speech, with simple things on the screen to provide a touchstone for the current discussion. Minimalist is best in my experience.
Quote:
In fact, I'd argue that the far more extensive crutches that profs turn to are things like presentations and group projects, assigning them at some of the most inappropriate times. I can think of at least one graduate program related to my field at a chicago-area school that has been turned into an empty shell of busywork through heavy dependency on trendy teaching formats.
Oh *god* yes. I've had my share of those too. Like I said, no tool or teaching fad will make a bad prof into a good one.
I don't think we're too far apart on opinion here, to be honest.
Thanks for the reply. I'm not trying to advocate professors being lazy and I have to agree with you on most of your points. I did not realize that you were really advocating a lecture... lecture. I thought that you were of the mind that chalkboards and overhead projectors were better than PowerPoint for some reason.
Oh heck no. The tool isn't nearly as important as the professor's teaching ability. The problem with PP, IMO, is that it gives a *veneer* of competence to an otherwise unremarkable professor. [/quote]
Quote:
The thing that I like about PowerPoint presentations or outlines is that it gives you an idea of where the professor plans to go with their lecture; otherwise, it's hard to organize your notes as you are taking them. There have been many times where the professor mentions something at some point, goes off on a tangent and then comes back to the original point. You can't add notes to the original point because the notes on the tangent are in the way now. (Although a laptop would allow you to just add new lines under the original point) I guess you could say that it's lazy on my part, or lack of organization on the professor's part in his/her lecture. But that, to me, it the real boon to posting stuff like that for the students.
Hmm. I always just drew an arrow back to the original material if I wanted to add something. IMO notes shouldn't be necessarily clean, crisp, and polished. They're called 'notes' for a reason. They're just to jog your memory, to recall important bits and pieces. They're great for jotting down a date, sketching a trend graph, or otherwise supplementing the learning process, but if a student is trying to write down every word, or worse, if the prof *expects* them to, they're likely missing the most important part of the lecturing environment: the concepts. Too many students (and profs, yet another feedback loop) concentrate on the minutia to the detriment of the overall topic. Learn the abstractions, and the overarching concepts, and you can always look up the details in a reference text later. Profs who expected students to just memorize and regurgitate annoyed the piss outta me. Still do. What good is rote memorization when reference texts are so available? Concentrate on the *difficult* parts of learning, and leave the tedious data in the dusty tomes until needed.
</rant>
Quote:
Another boon is that it's easier for me to learn the material if I'm paying more attention to what the professor is lecturing about than just taking notes. With the PowerPoint slides you have most of the major points summarized, the professor just expands on them with additional information, testimonials, insights that his research has given him, etc. Personally, I come away from the lecture feeling like I learned something more so when I don't have to concentrate as hard on note-taking vs. digestion of the information. Maybe you think that makes me a lazy student, but I feel that I learn better that way.
For certain teaching styles (which unfortunately seem to be the norm), that's just raw survival. The prof expects you to recall/remember all the details, to the point that you risk missing the *concepts*. That's ass backwards in my book, but apparently is the way most profs still teach. (Yes, I have a very dim view of teachers in general, from grade school on up - I kept expecting them to get better, and they never did.)
Quote:
As to the your laptop viewpoint, I agree that if it's being disruptive to the class it shouldn't be there. But I don't think that an all-out ban is a good thing. I feel like that is just a reactionary measure, rather than being more proactive.
Unfortunately, I have been in classrooms as both teacher and student where a ban would have been better than allowing them in... \ I would much prefer a 'here are the rules, act like adults' situation, but especially in undergrad classes, it seems to rarely work that way. \
Quote:
I've recently been living in Toronto, and there was a major shooting incident at a major shopping area right after Christmas. The Canadian politicians seemed to think that the solution to the problem is to ban all hand guns. But this is a measure that is a 'punish the innocent' maneuver. Washington D.C. has a ban on hand guns, but that doesn't stop gun violence there. It just puts unnecessary limitations on the people that are not criminals and are responsible with their guns.
Totally off-topic, but point made.
Quote:
I feel like a ban on laptops is too broad of a measure to use to weed out the few bad apples. If someone is a distraction in class (like talking loud to someone next to them or something), can you not kick them out of the classroom/lecture hall? Why couldn't this same method be applied to students that are being distracting with their laptops?
There is growing trend in higher academia to sue the prof when things don't go the student's way. Frequently it is the parents who initiate the process. I was warned repeatedly by several profs not to flunk anyone, in fear that I would get sued - turned out I still haven't flunked anyone, because I make sure they have the resources and help to get past that barrier, but the threat is real. I've seen a student (in another class) literally respond to a request to leave with "Make me. You can't. I pay your salary, so I'm going to sit here." Security was called, then the lawyers. Yes, the prof was sued on several grounds... all dropped, but that's the environment that many profs find themselves in. Using technology to fix abuse of technology (such as WiFi blocking) seems to me to be a much better solution than either a ban or a blind eye.
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?
This topic has gone out of control, but I thought I would add a little insight that I have not seen anyone else mention. I am currently applying to law schools, and I recently had the chance to visit one of them and sit in on a constitutional law class.
There were about 25 students in the class, and about 3 in the class did NOT have laptops with them. Almost all seemed to take notes exclusively with the laptop, along with their conlaw book next to them. I noticed a few actually taking notes by hand, and then at times typing on their computer. I have heard that this is the norm for law school curriculum now.
I think it depends on a lot of things. All the time I was at uni (graduated 2 years ago) I saw just one laptop used in class and it wasn't a class I was in - I saw it from the hallway. It was also a snob/nerd who was using it.
This was a Physics/Maths/Comp Sci building. I had a laptop but I wouldn't use it in class.
Most of the people at uni couldn't afford decent laptops and mostly had Dells which were about the size of desktops so hardly portable.
I also found paper to be easier to carry, quicker to setup and far easier to use for drawing complicated diagrams or equations. The only real reason I got a laptop was because I stayed at home and I needed to do presentations.
If the Mac Mini had been available, I would have bought one of them instead - I have one now and take it with me when I stay with relatives. Seriously, they had monitors in the CS lab so I would just have to plug it in. Minis are half the price of the notebooks and have the same performance.
I don't really want to read all the posts in this thread. But i would like to say that when i was in professional school, i took notes with paper and pencil, then transferred them to the computer at home. I ended up with some excellent notes and the more ways you manipulate the data, the easier it is to remember. Our course load was between 33-35 credits per quarter, and we we're all looking for whatever edge we could get. I could write a macro that substituted a blank for keywords and then listed the word in a seperate list. Made a great self test. Not all subjects lend themeselves to this, but where applicable, it made a big difference.
Comments
Last week my accounting professor mentioned Nucor Steel as an example of a company that had an innovative bonus structure which made them the most efficient steel company in the country. Some of the students had specific questions that the professor wasn't able to answer. I was able to access our school's online article database and find several magazine articles on the company.
In my statistics class, the teacher tends to go off on tangents which have nothing to do with the material in the class (this seems to happen a lot in other classes as well). Having a laptop enables me to get other work done, or to read the material the teacher won't have time to cover later because he or she wasted too much time telling stories.
The Graphing utility would have been great to have in my calculus class last semester. Unfortunately, I didn't have access to it at the time as I've been using a Windoze machine until my MacBook arrives.
I have never found laptops to be a distraction when others are using them, but I would feel awkard using one in a small class where the professor actually engages the students (most students don't use them in these situations).
The only times I have been distracted were when other students were either text messaging or playing games on their cell phones. Do you ban these as well?
Originally posted by iroach
The only times I have been distracted were when other students were either text messaging or playing games on their cell phones. Do you ban these as well?
D'uh.
The fact is that there are a myriad of reasons why slides are useful depending on the subject and it's not all bullet lists or lazy profs. I've seen very little of that. What I've seen more of is a range of material in a range of formats integrated into each class.
Also, when I think of the handful of bad profs I've had, I don't think any of them used slides. In fact, at least one of them shared your viewpoint toward powerpoint and thought she had the whole teaching thing figured out (and damn she was wrong). The bad profs I've run into pretty solidly fall into two categories: 1) know the subject, but never bothered to even think about how to teach or 2) have really strong opinions about teaching styles and have a set of methods that they put too much faith in.
In fact, I'd argue that the far more extensive crutches that profs turn to are things like presentations and group projects, assigning them at some of the most inappropriate times. I can think of at least one graduate program related to my field at a chicago-area school that has been turned into an empty shell of busywork through heavy dependency on trendy teaching formats.
On the other hand, I'm also amazed with some of the other comments here. IM in the classroom? You have to be joking. Likewise with cellphones. They are totally unacceptable.
And hardeeharhar, the simple fact is that while you may believe otherwise, your opinions are simply opinions that, when injected with the "It's my classroom and I'll do what I want" attitude, are very likely to be detrimental.
The simple fact is that I'm having a hard time reconciling the kinds of things being said here (slides always = lazy prof, kids playing unreal in class) with what I've seen myself over the past few years taking graduate and undergraduate classes at a major university. Perhaps I've been lucky. Maybe it only happens in low-level undergrad classes. I don't know. Granted, in recent years my choice of classes has also always weighed heavy on student evaluations of the profs, so maybe I've been successful in largely avoiding crap ones.
Originally posted by hardeeharhar
That is ridiculous.
You are in a lecture hall, and you have a question... your first instinct is to IM someone a question?
No! It is to fucking raise your hand and ask. What has happened to verbal communication?
Like I said, I have no experience of lectures, and certainly not American, but upon reading this conversation I got the impression that any disturbance to the professor at all was a most grievous insult.
Now, is all communication during the lecture supposed to be professor <--> pupil, and none at all between pupils? If so, why?
Originally posted by Zandros
Now, is all communication during the lecture supposed to be professor <--> pupil, and none at all between pupils? If so, why?
Not necessarily, but generally yes. The professor is there to teach subject material that the students have had little to no experience with. Class discussions are generally reserved for non-science courses due to the fact that they are much more subjective and student opinions are important. However, most lectures are a distillation of knowledge/understanding and are thus from prof to student.
I have taken a hard tack in this thread because to be honest students are not and should not be responsible for the environment of a classroom. In reality, I will probably wait until I see that the computers are distractions and then subsequently ask the students who are distracting not to bring them/all students not to bring them. There are very specific reasons why one would need a computer in a class room, and taking notes is not one of them -- regardless of how much belly aching I have heard here, we all learn how to write on paper, and if someone does learn better by staring at a computer screen, they can transcribe the notes later (which would benefit them anyway).
The class room is a participatory oligarchy, and the only real power rests with the professor.
Originally posted by giant
Kickaha, while I certainly agree with the core ideas you've expressed, your "bad prof" diatribe is based on generalizations that really make me wonder when the last time you spent time in a class not directly related to your own field. What you've described sounds like a lazy set of assumptions and, honestly, nothing like what I've experienced.
You're exceedingly lucky, or as you point out below, diligent in avoiding the bad profs. The tools for disseminating information about profs, such as online anonymous feedback lists, are *wonderful*, and I wholeheartedly support them. Students should use their 'voting power' in signing up for classes with good profs, and avoiding the bad ones. hardeehar, while you are technically correct, profs are answerable to the student body eventually, or should be. Too many crappy profs have wielded absolute power in the classroom to the detriment of the students.
Of course, then you run into the same problems you do with any democratic feedback system, where the average students swamp the opinion polls, but it's better than nothing.
The fact is that there are a myriad of reasons why slides are useful depending on the subject and it's not all bullet lists or lazy profs. I've seen very little of that. What I've seen more of is a range of material in a range of formats integrated into each class.
Again, good for you. I never said that PowerPoint presentations *in general* are bad, I said that *bad profs* rely on them too much *to the exclusion of everything else*. And what they rely on most within PP is bullet lists, because they require the least work. Unfortunately, they also get across the least real semantic content.
Also, when I think of the handful of bad profs I've had, I don't think any of them used slides. In fact, at least one of them shared your viewpoint toward powerpoint and thought she had the whole teaching thing figured out (and damn she was wrong).
Always a danger. A good tool will never turn a bad prof into a good one, but a bad prof can turn a good tool into a poor one. As I've stated, I *use* presentations (Keynote, actually), but I use them as an accessory to the lecture, not a replacement for it.
The bad profs I've run into pretty solidly fall into two categories: 1) know the subject, but never bothered to even think about how to teach or 2) have really strong opinions about teaching styles and have a set of methods that they put too much faith in.
Yup, I've had both too, and they both bite. I have put a lot of thought and work into how to teach, and am open to new teaching styles or tools... but the one indicator that has remained constant across all the profs I've had, lectures I've attended, and seminars I've gone to is: a presentation that consists mostly of bullet lists punctuated with crazily complex and unreadable diagrams is boring, unclear, and the sign of a poor speaker who didn't put enough thought into how best to convey the information.
To be honest, I model my talks after Jobs' keynotes in a lot of ways, with a hefty dose of Tufte thrown in. Mostly speech, with simple things on the screen to provide a touchstone for the current discussion. Minimalist is best in my experience.
In fact, I'd argue that the far more extensive crutches that profs turn to are things like presentations and group projects, assigning them at some of the most inappropriate times. I can think of at least one graduate program related to my field at a chicago-area school that has been turned into an empty shell of busywork through heavy dependency on trendy teaching formats.
Oh *god* yes. I've had my share of those too. Like I said, no tool or teaching fad will make a bad prof into a good one.
I don't think we're too far apart on opinion here, to be honest.
Originally posted by pyr3
Kickaha:
Thanks for the reply. I'm not trying to advocate professors being lazy and I have to agree with you on most of your points. I did not realize that you were really advocating a lecture... lecture. I thought that you were of the mind that chalkboards and overhead projectors were better than PowerPoint for some reason.
Oh heck no. The tool isn't nearly as important as the professor's teaching ability. The problem with PP, IMO, is that it gives a *veneer* of competence to an otherwise unremarkable professor.
The thing that I like about PowerPoint presentations or outlines is that it gives you an idea of where the professor plans to go with their lecture; otherwise, it's hard to organize your notes as you are taking them. There have been many times where the professor mentions something at some point, goes off on a tangent and then comes back to the original point. You can't add notes to the original point because the notes on the tangent are in the way now. (Although a laptop would allow you to just add new lines under the original point) I guess you could say that it's lazy on my part, or lack of organization on the professor's part in his/her lecture. But that, to me, it the real boon to posting stuff like that for the students.
Hmm. I always just drew an arrow back to the original material if I wanted to add something.
</rant>
Another boon is that it's easier for me to learn the material if I'm paying more attention to what the professor is lecturing about than just taking notes. With the PowerPoint slides you have most of the major points summarized, the professor just expands on them with additional information, testimonials, insights that his research has given him, etc. Personally, I come away from the lecture feeling like I learned something more so when I don't have to concentrate as hard on note-taking vs. digestion of the information. Maybe you think that makes me a lazy student, but I feel that I learn better that way.
For certain teaching styles (which unfortunately seem to be the norm), that's just raw survival. The prof expects you to recall/remember all the details, to the point that you risk missing the *concepts*. That's ass backwards in my book, but apparently is the way most profs still teach. (Yes, I have a very dim view of teachers in general, from grade school on up - I kept expecting them to get better, and they never did.)
As to the your laptop viewpoint, I agree that if it's being disruptive to the class it shouldn't be there. But I don't think that an all-out ban is a good thing. I feel like that is just a reactionary measure, rather than being more proactive.
Unfortunately, I have been in classrooms as both teacher and student where a ban would have been better than allowing them in...
I've recently been living in Toronto, and there was a major shooting incident at a major shopping area right after Christmas. The Canadian politicians seemed to think that the solution to the problem is to ban all hand guns. But this is a measure that is a 'punish the innocent' maneuver. Washington D.C. has a ban on hand guns, but that doesn't stop gun violence there. It just puts unnecessary limitations on the people that are not criminals and are responsible with their guns.
Totally off-topic, but point made.
I feel like a ban on laptops is too broad of a measure to use to weed out the few bad apples. If someone is a distraction in class (like talking loud to someone next to them or something), can you not kick them out of the classroom/lecture hall? Why couldn't this same method be applied to students that are being distracting with their laptops?
There is growing trend in higher academia to sue the prof when things don't go the student's way. Frequently it is the parents who initiate the process. I was warned repeatedly by several profs not to flunk anyone, in fear that I would get sued - turned out I still haven't flunked anyone, because I make sure they have the resources and help to get past that barrier, but the threat is real. I've seen a student (in another class) literally respond to a request to leave with "Make me. You can't. I pay your salary, so I'm going to sit here." Security was called, then the lawyers. Yes, the prof was sued on several grounds... all dropped, but that's the environment that many profs find themselves in. Using technology to fix abuse of technology (such as WiFi blocking) seems to me to be a much better solution than either a ban or a blind eye.
Originally posted by cygsid
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?
This topic has gone out of control, but I thought I would add a little insight that I have not seen anyone else mention. I am currently applying to law schools, and I recently had the chance to visit one of them and sit in on a constitutional law class.
There were about 25 students in the class, and about 3 in the class did NOT have laptops with them. Almost all seemed to take notes exclusively with the laptop, along with their conlaw book next to them. I noticed a few actually taking notes by hand, and then at times typing on their computer. I have heard that this is the norm for law school curriculum now.
This was a Physics/Maths/Comp Sci building. I had a laptop but I wouldn't use it in class.
Most of the people at uni couldn't afford decent laptops and mostly had Dells which were about the size of desktops so hardly portable.
I also found paper to be easier to carry, quicker to setup and far easier to use for drawing complicated diagrams or equations. The only real reason I got a laptop was because I stayed at home and I needed to do presentations.
If the Mac Mini had been available, I would have bought one of them instead - I have one now and take it with me when I stay with relatives. Seriously, they had monitors in the CS lab so I would just have to plug it in. Minis are half the price of the notebooks and have the same performance.
I can't wait to see what the Intel Mini is like:
1.8GHz Intel
1GB Ram
Radeon X1600 128MB
80GB HD
<£500
cheers