[blindlaw] FW: Law Students Report Positive Reaction to No-Laptop Policy, ABA Journal, March 5, 2009

Jim Barbour jbar at barcore.com
Fri Mar 6 21:33:20 UTC 2009


Harmful practice?

Jim

On Fri, Mar 06, 2009 at 12:24:58PM -0500, Shane D wrote:
> That could be a harmful practice to a blind person in the class,
> though. I'm sure they'd have to make the exception in that case.
> 
> On 3/6/09, Nightingale, Noel <Noel.Nightingale at ed.gov> wrote:
> > Blindlaw listers:
> >
> > This article struck me as showing one edge blind law students and lawyers
> > may have over their sighted counterparts, who apparently need to look at
> > their screens rather than at the person who is speaking!
> >
> > Noel
> >
> >
> >
> > Link:
> > http://www.abajournal.com/weekly/law_students_report_positive_reaction_to_no-laptop_policy
> >
> > Text:
> > Law Students Report Positive Reaction to No-Laptop Policy
> > Posted Mar 5, 2009
> > By Debra Cassens Weiss
> >
> > A law professor who banned laptops in his first-year criminal law class
> > surveyed his students about their reaction-and found it was generally
> > positive.
> >
> > UCLA law professor Eugene Volokh had the results in a memo to his collegues
> > (PDF) and on his blog, The Volokh Conspiracy.
> >
> > Seventy-one percent of the students who responded reported the policy had a
> > strongly positive or slightly positive effect on their concentration in
> > class. Fifty-four percent said it had a positive effect on their overall
> > enjoyment of the course.
> >
> > Only 36 percent reported a positive influence on learning, though; 41
> > percent said the experience was neutral in regard to learning.
> >
> > One student pointed out that the experiment had a negative effect on trees.
> > The student's e-mail to Volokh said those who brief cases on their computers
> > have to print out their notes for class. And those who want their class
> > notes neatly typed and available on their laptop have to transcribe
> > classroom notes.
> >
> > While students were positive, Volokh said he noted no material differences
> > in classroom discussions. He suspects 1Ls tend to be engaged, and they often
> > find criminal law particularly interesting. He wonders if the results would
> > be different in classes with little voluntary class participation.
> >
> > Earlier this week on Prawfsblawg, Howard Wasserman, an associate law
> > professor at Florida International University, noted that his own classroom
> > laptop ban was going better than he had hoped.
> >
> > "I never realized how much I missed eye contact," Wasserman wrote. "Even the
> > bored and checked-out students at least look up at me. And when students
> > have to look up, you can get a sense from their eyes as to whether they are
> > 'getting' what you were talking about and adjust accordingly. I also never
> > realized how loud keyboards are when 75 students are typing simultaneously."
> >
> > He noted that he'll have to wait for class evaluations at the end of the
> > semester to see what his students think of the ban.
> >
> >
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> 
> 
> -- 
> -Shane
> Website: http://www.blind-geek.com
> AIM: inhaddict
> MSN: shane at blind-geek.com
> Skype: chatter8712
> Twitter: blind_geek
> 
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