Laptops in Class

I have seen a few of her debates, and I think that this will be a fun exchange. As this round his just for constructive cases, I will reserve my rebuttals for next round. ARGUMENTSC1: Laptops distract students in ClassIn "a landmark Cornell University study from 2003. .. half of a class was allowed unfettered access to their computers during a lecture while the other half was asked to keep their laptops closed. The experiment showed that, regardless of the kind or duration of the computer use, the disconnected students performed better on a post-lecture quiz. The message of the study aligns pretty well with the evidence that multitasking degrades task performance across the board. " [1]"The orientation and visual nature of laptops, along with pop-ups, instant messages, movement and lighting of text, and even things like low-battery warnings, make laptops inherently distracting. .. Inevitably, when attention is divided and attentional demands exceed capacities, task performance suffers. .. Attentional shifts and cognitive overload can prevent information from being adequately processed and can interfere with learning. Moreover, although attention is often controlled voluntarily, external events and visual stimulation can result in involuntary shifts of attention. Recent research on cognitive interference. .. has shown that new information, such as a pop-up messages, appearing while a subject are performing a primary task slows performance speed and increases errors. Because of the vertical orientation of laptops, they also pose more of a distraction to fellow students than traditional notebooks. .. Thus, the cognitive interference posed by laptops could spread from users to those seated nearby. " [3] "Students admit to spending considerable time during lectures using their laptops for things other than taking notes. More importantly, the use of laptops was negatively related to several measures of learning. The pattern of the correlations suggests that laptop use interfered with students’ abilities to pay attention to and understand the lecture material, which in turn resulted in lower test scores. The results of the regression analysis clearly show that success in the class was negatively related to the level of laptop use. .. ACT scores, HSR, and attendance should act as proxy measures for variables such as academic aptitude, preparation, and conscientiousness. After controlling for these variables, laptop use was still negatively related to academic success. " [3]"The effects of multitasking in the classroom were investigated in students in an upper level Communications course. Two groups of students heard the same exact lecture and tested immediately following the lecture. One group of students was allowed to use their laptops to engage in browsing, search, and/or social computing behaviors during the lecture. Students in the second condition were asked to keep their laptops closed for the duration of the lecture. Students in the open laptop condition suffered decrements on traditional measures of memory for lecture content. A second experiment replicated the results of the first. " [4]"MSU researchers found the more students used the Internet for non-academic purposes -- like reading the news and checking email and Facebook -- the lower their exam scores were. Not only that, but learners in-view of people using laptops for non-academic reasons also had reduced comprehension of lecture material, the study found. " [5]"2006 study of 83 undergraduate psychology students suggested that having laptops in class distracts both the students who use them and their classmates. " [6]C2: Learning and Note-taking with Laptops is More Shallow than Without"Recent Princeton University and University of California studies took this into account while investigating the differences between note-taking on a laptop and note-taking by hand. While more words were recorded, with more precision, by laptop typists, more ended up being less: regardless of whether a quiz on the material immediately followed the lecture or took place after a week, the pen-and-paper students performed better. The act of typing effectively turns the note-taker into a transcription zombie, while the imperfect recordings of the pencil-pusher reflect and excite a process of integration, creating more textured and effective modes of recall. " [1]"Research on learning has consistently and overwhelmingly demonstrated that even the proper use of laptops does not further student learning, but actually distracts students and lessens student engagement. While students using laptops who focus exclusively on class may take more extensive notes, the ability to consult such extensive notes does not compensate for students’ lessened classroom participation as they devote more attention to the taking of those notes. Students using laptops. .. do not absorb as much of the material in class, nor do they engage in classroom exchanges as frequently, thus depriving the rest of the class of their potential contribution. Other research shows that when students use electronic devices while studying, their learning and understanding is 'shallow' rather than deep and that they are less likely to do well on tests and assignments. Finally, research has shown that the process of writing longhand is superior for creating memory than typing. " [2]One professor observed: "I've even had some students who type notes and use a digital voice recorder to make sure they don’t miss a word. While this flatters the professorial ego, it risks ruining the whole point of the lecture format. Since we can type faster than we write, this completist exercise in documenting lectures simply becomes a mindless form of data acquisition. The essential skill of discernment, of determining what is important and what is not, gets lost in a world of students turned secretaries, dutifully taking dictation. .. I've now gone on to ban laptops in several courses. And the result? Many students are relieved. Instead of burying their heads in their screens, they ask more big-picture questions. To be sure, at the beginning of each term, some complain. .. I tell them that. .. [i]n a world of data overload, their job as students is to learn how to determine what is important. " [7]SOURCES1 - . http://www.newyorker.com...2 - . http://content.csbs.utah.edu...3 - . http://staff.washington.edu...4 - . http://web.stanford.edu...5 - . http://www.huffingtonpost.com...6 - . https://www.insidehighered.com...7 - . http://ideas.time.com...Thus, because laptops (b) distract students and (b) produce a less meaningful and in-depth learning experience, I negate. I turn the floor over to Pro. ..