To Ban or Not to Ban?

For me, there is no question about banning laptops from the classroom.  It gets under my skin, so much, when I am teaching a class and I see students playing online instead of paying attention to the topic of discussion.  My supervisor told me to pick my battles, but this should not even have to be a battle.

When I taught a developmental class, I had a student who understood the material better than most of the class, but he could not bring himself to take the class seriously.  He would try to text underneath the desk and would play around online, during lab, until he saw me coming to check on everyone's progress.  This student did not pass the course.  Having a laptop around is just too big of a temptation to have in the classroom.

Using a computer lab for a specific purpose is understandable, but, once that purpose has been served, the computer needs to be gone.  Rockmore's point about it being the student's responsibility if they do not get it is good in theory, but if enough students start doing poorly due to unchecked behavior it can have a harmful effect on your department and you, in the end.

However, he does make a good point about turning a college lecture hall into a room for high school teenagers.  This is the time for students to get introduced to the real world and, in the real world, you will not have to turn in your electronic devices at the door.  Also, in the real world, there are methods of surveillance to ensure workers are using company property correctly and there are consequences, when you are caught.  Now, if schools were to disallow the use of personal laptops and allow classrooms to use school computers and equipment that IT staff were monitoring, then I could see something being worked out.  This would be especially helpful if students signed a contract, like at a real job, that outlined rules and procedures of proper behavior.