Without question, computer networks are useful tools in business education. Students prepare for class by downloading problem sets from teachers' Web sites, analyzing earnings reports from company financial statements, and graphing government economic data. At the University of Virginia's Darden School, Webcast technology lets students interact with guest speakers who can't make it to the Charlottesville, Va., campus. Students debate whether Citicorp should offer credit cards to Asia's expanding middle class or enumerate reasons why Pepsi shouldn't start a price war with Coca-Cola. Professors use the Socratic method to challenge students who often underestimate the difficulty of doing business in Russia, raising millions in financing, or simply building a better bicycle.
Open laptops block eye contact with the teacher.
Noisy tapping on keyboards annoys neighbors. Note-takers on computers struggle to capture information in charts or graphs. In 1996, UCLA's Anderson School became the first to fully wire its classrooms and require students to own laptops. But last year, to restrict class-time surfing, the school banned connecting cords in required, core classes. It now lets each professor decide whether and when students can plug in.