Laptops in Class

Thanks to Alyssa; great debate! I would, at this time, remind Pro that she must "waive" in this final round. My mission in this round is to defend my case, and then to present some voting issues that will explain why a Con ballot needed. MY CASEC1: Laptops Distract StudentsPro makes several arguments against my studies. The first problem with Pro's analysis is that she assumes I am referring to a single study, for example, when she writes: "[t]he study that bsh1 has us consider. .. ". In fact, I cited multiple studies in this contention, each of which needed to be addressed separately. But now lets move on to discuss the specific objections Pro raised. Pro suggests that if classrooms had no internet access, then this would solve the distraction problem. Their are several flaws with this line of analysis: (1) lack of connectivity does not prevent distractions, as I may have downloaded games on to my computer that may not need connectivity to operate, or I may be using an application like a word processor to do some other non-internet-related activity; (2) if there is no connectivity in the classroom, then Pro cannot access/achieve the supposed benefits of laptops she describes such as instant data access or saving time/space, because I cannot use the internet or applications (e. g. cloud storage) in class--at the very least, these impacts of hers would be diminished; and (3) it is often impractical to simply remove connectivity from rooms--wifi access can be achieve through phones that generate hotspots, and shutting down access for specific buildings may be difficult when the whole campus has wifi. Pro then posits the idea that post-lecture tests are not a good way to measure student performance as it doesn't model a real-life classroom environment. Again, there are several problems with this: (1) not all of my studies measured student performance this way, so Pro's quibble with this method does not rebut all of my data; (2) post-lecture tests do sometimes model real-life classes--I have been in classes where pop quizzes or end-of-class tests were a staple of the course, so it seems that this method does at least reflect some real-life classes; (3) if students who use laptops have poorer recall on post-lecture tests, it shows that they absorbed less information, which strongly implies that they will do poorly on any exam on the topic, whether it is minutes after the lecture or weeks after it; and (4) Pro herself admits, "laptop users who look up things perform worse than people who don't use laptops. "Pro then reiterates her Washington Post study. Unfortunately, the new link she posted was also broken. In fact, all of her links this debate were totally inaccessible. This means that we should prefer my studies because at least we can access them to ascertain their validity and credibility. Since we cannot access Pro's study, we just have to take her word for it that the study is credible and valid. Posting a correct link this round would also be too late, since I would have no chance to examine and rebut it based on its content. Pro's next objection was that I ignored a controlled study and that I am ignoring that homework helps students who use laptops make up ground. Firstly, I offered a controlled study of my own in Round 2: "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. " Secondly, lectures often contain information that isn't in the homework, or they distill arguments in order to make them more understandable; therefore, being distracted in a lecture deprives you of information and/or it makes it harder to understand the homework material. Lectures are there for a reason, and student who pays attention in a lecture and does homework is going to do better than a student who just does homework. Finally, Pro does not rebut any of my evidence that shows the visual nature of laptops is inherently more distracting than pen and paper. Extend this. C2: Learning and Note-taking with Laptops is ShallowFirst, cross-apply my arguments about how post-lecture tests are effective measurements, and about how doing homework really isn't going to catch lagging students up. This is going to address a lot of Pro's concerns with my second contention. Pro attempts to emphasize these points citing various studies; unfortunately, none of Pro's links are usable, so we cannot assess the validity or comprehensiveness of these studies. This has to undermine the strength of Pro's claims. Again, it would be too late to post the links in the final round, since I have no way of rebutting them or analyzing them in-round. It is also worth reiterating, regarding the idea that studying outside of class does not making up for what is lost during the lecture, that one of my sources wrote: "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. " This is, as I noted earlier, going to mean that student's comprehension of information falters, which may hinder their ability to critically assess the data their textbooks and notes are conveying to them. Additionally, I cited evidence which concluded: "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. " So, even studying from or with laptops outside of class reduces comprehension of material. Pro also suggests that verbatim note-taking can also be done long-hand. Firstly, notice that Pro never rebuts that taking verbatim notes reduce comprehension. Extend this; all I need to show now is that laptops increase verbatim note-taking, and I have shown that they are harmful in this fashion. Secondly, Pro's inset quote from the study does not actually (as Pro claims it does) admit that verbatim note-taking can be done long-hand. Thirdly, even if verbatim note-taking can be done long-hand, most people type faster than they write [1], so it is going to be far easier to mindlessly take verbatim notes while typing than it is while writing, so I still retain impacts here. Finally, Pro really offers no studies of her own to contradict my claims in this contention. Even if you dislike the methods of some of the sources I cited (though I already defended such methods), we should prefer some studies to no studies. And that is the exact choice Pro is giving us here: something or nothing. We should prefer something. VOTING ISSUES1. Laptops are Distracting Laptops are inherently more distracting than pen and paper; they have been shown in studies that controlled for possible confounding variables to reduce classroom success (not just success on post-lecture tests); and, homework or outside study is unlikely to help distracted students catch up. 2. Laptops Diminish Comprehension Reliable studies have shown that verbatim note-taking is harmful to learning; moreover, Pro does not contest this. Laptops increase the chances that a person will take verbatim notes, and, consequently, decrease the chances that people will comprehend the information presented to them. 3. Severity Prefer my impacts because they're more severe. We measure student learning through tests--even Pro has seemed to implicitly accept that. If laptops aren't paying off on tests, they aren't helping students learn. Pro never shows that laptops help on tests, whereas I show they're harmful. Plus, I can perm a lot of Pro's offense, which reduces Pro's impact offense. SOURCE. http://learningenglish.voanews.com...Thank you!