I come at this issue from both side: as a PhD student (at Cornell) and as professor teaching undergraduate classes (at RIT, btw, so I'm pretty familiar with the scenario Alex laid out). Next year I will be banning cell phone, ipods, etc. in my undergraduate classes. Laptops will be allowed for specific assignments, but otherwise not to be used as well (especially in Freshman classes). This ban extends to myself as well (unless unavoidable, I'm going to rely on lecturing and white boards -- no more ppt). As Alex suggested, my biggest issue with laptops is the distraction that they cause to other students. Geyond that (and outside of lab activities), I am increasingly coming to the belief that they present a barrier to students developing certain skills that will, down the road, better allow those students to use those same devices. And, at least for a school like RIT, that prides itself on preparing it's students for the workplace, basic technology etiquette needs to be stressed. The sad fact is that a lot of the technology behavior I've seen isn't appropriate for the workplace. As far as upper level undergrads, depending on the class makeup, I may allow it. But right now I'm more concerned about raising physical engagement rather than passively encouraging virtual engagement. Now for the possible hypocrisy -- I fully intend to use a laptop to take notes when I attend class. That said, if a prof doesn't allow it, I won't mind. And I'm confident that I'm at a point where I can use the laptop responsibly. - Matt -- ----------------------------- Matthew Bernius New Media and Customer Intelligence Strategist for Hire mBernius@gMail.com http://www.waking-dream.com