In light of the conversation, I thought I would share my laptop and cellphone policy for my first-year composition students. It's worked great: when a student's cellphone rings, I point out that the student is "doing it the right way," and then I ask the student if she needs to take the call. If it's not an emergency, she's usually embarrassed enough to remember to turn the phone off next time. Likewise, if I see folks' eyes wandering to laptop screens more often than the class conversation, I say, "okay! Let's see the screens!" I do this often enough and sporadically enough that no one was banned from bringing them this semester (some students did get 2 warnings though; a couple of students stopped bringing theirs voluntarily). And most students, when I ask them to turn the laptops around, are either doing research on something that we're talking about, at which point they share, or they're taking notes in a word processor. It has seemingly increased class involvement in some ways. Maybe I should mention that I've been teaching in computer classrooms for 10 years now. Laptop and Cellphone Policy You may bring your computer to class with you, assuming that you use it in a scholarly and responsible fashion. This means that you will only have applications and windows related to the current discussion open. You may not check email, news, or box scores, surf the web, use chat applications, play games, or otherwise distract yourself and those around you from the class conversation with your computer. I will, at various times during class discussions, tell everyone who is using a computer to turn it around so that I may see what you’re doing on it. If you have distracting applications and events open on your computer, you will receive one warning; if you persist in such activity after two warnings, you will no longer be allowed to bring your computer to class with you. You are likewise expected to use cellphones in a responsible manner: turn them off when you come in to class. If you have an emergency for which you must be available, you should leave your phone out on your desk with the ringer ON. In the event that it rings, you may retrieve it and then leave the room to take the call. Under no conditions are you allowed to text message, take pictures or video (illegal in class), play games, or use the cellphone in any other manner during class. Best! Deanya http://www.velvethedgehog.com/deanya/blog/ http://www.deanya.com