The experience also highlighted how difficult it was to sit BEHIND someone who has graphical content on their laptop. I consider myself a fairly animated speaker, but I apparently resemble an animated character popular with undergrads these days, and it was distracting for students to see that animation on screens several rows ahead. That is, I have a feeling laptops are far more distracting to others in the room then they are to the users.
I've heard students repeatedly saying that they like full f2f engagement and technology used for particular purposes, but it may depend on a course. There are different levels of engagement while listening and taking notes or listening and multitasking, but lecturers can't control that. I agree that laptops can affect students who don't use them. Recently, I was sitting in a dimly lit room waiting for a public lecture when someone with a laptop sat in front of me. A glare of a small screen was quite unpleasant, especially that there was a large screen switched on to be viewed during the lecture. I had to move to another seat. I imagine that interesting things happening on someone's screen can be distracting to students. This is not to say that laptops and mobile phones can't be used successfully in the classroom. Sam's example shows a successful use of technology integrated in class activities and used by everyone. Has anyone tried to use mobile phones in the classroom? A couple of years ago mobile phones were successfully used at UTS to boost popularity of some very unpopular but compulsory 1st year finance courses. Students were asked to send answers to questions, which were diligently reviewed during a break and presented to the class. It turned to be a really good way to engage the students. Suzana Suzana Sukovic _________________________________________ Information & Knowledge Management Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences University of Technology, Sydney PO Box 123 Broadway NSW 2007, Australia