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

Sat Mar 7 00:49:59 UTC 2009

As someone who has taught college level math courses, I could identify with what he was saying. It is hard to talk to a group for well over an hour if no one seems to be engaged. I am not implying that as a blind instructor, I couldn't engage my students (though one or two of my poorest performers did claim they did badly because of my blindness). I just mean that I can kind of sympathize with the prof, and I don't thic it's all about ego. Of course, one could argue that professors will probably have to modify their expectations in some way, but I'll leave that to other posters.

Angie

Sent from my Nokia N82.

-original message-
Subject: Re: [blindlaw] FW: Law Students Report Positive Reaction to No-Laptop Policy, ABA Journal, March 5, 2009
From: "Bill Spiry" <bspiry at comcast.net>
Date: 03/06/2009 7:08 PM

you're jumping to the conclusion that he would not accommodate a request by
a blind student to use the laptop.

-----Original Message-----
From: blindlaw-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:blindlaw-bounces at nfbnet.org] On
Behalf Of Russell J. Thomas, Jr
Sent: Friday, March 06, 2009 11:56 AM
To: 'NFBnet Blind Law Mailing List'
Subject: Re: [blindlaw] FW: Law Students Report Positive Reaction to
No-Laptop Policy, ABA Journal, March 5, 2009

This is a step backward for any blind person who prefers to take notes on a
laptop. This is stone-age thinking. Is this prof's ego so big, that he
somehow feels slighted if his students are not looking at him?

Respectfully,

Russell J. Thomas, Jr.

THOMAS & ASSOCIATES

www.employersattorneys.com

Orange County Office                      

4121 Westerly Place, Suite 101

Newport Beach, California 92660                             

T: (949) 752-0101                             

F: (949) 257-4756

M: (949) 466-7238

Beverly Hills Office

9107 Wilshire Boulevard, Suite 450

Beverly Hills, California 90210 

T: (310) 461-3561

-----Original Message-----
From: blindlaw-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:blindlaw-bounces at nfbnet.org] On
Behalf Of Nightingale, Noel
Sent: Friday, March 06, 2009 9:21 AM
To: 'blindlaw at nfbnet.org'
Subject: [blindlaw] FW: Law Students Report Positive Reaction to No-Laptop
Policy, ABA Journal, March 5, 2009

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.

_______________________________________________
blindlaw mailing list
blindlaw at nfbnet.org
http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/blindlaw_nfbnet.org
To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for
blindlaw:
http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/options/blindlaw_nfbnet.org/rjtlawfirm%40yahoo
.com

_______________________________________________
blindlaw mailing list
blindlaw at nfbnet.org
http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/blindlaw_nfbnet.org
To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for
blindlaw:
http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/options/blindlaw_nfbnet.org/bspiry%40comcast.n
et

_______________________________________________
blindlaw mailing list
blindlaw at nfbnet.org
http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/blindlaw_nfbnet.org
To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for blindlaw:
http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/options/blindlaw_nfbnet.org/angie.matney%40gmail.com