It may be hard for current college and law students to imagine, but back when I started law school 10 years ago, whether or not to use laptops in the law school classroom wasn't much of an issue. We also walked five miles to school in the snow--each way--but that's a story for different time.
Now, of course, the issue of whether professors should allow or even encourage laptops in the classroom comes up often, most recently in an article by Florida Coastal School of Law Professor Jana R. McCreary in the Valparaiso University Law Review entitled "The Laptop-Free Zone". Based on information gathered in a survey of 450 law students at three different law schools, Professor McCreary argues that "professors must do their best to teach to all students - to those who feel they learn best by using a laptop as an aid and to those who complain of the distractions caused."
To accomplish this, Professor McCreary suggests a laptop-free zone in the front of the classroom, similar to non-smoking sections in restaurants, so that students who are distracted by others' screens won't see them but students who learn best with laptops are also accommodated.
I suppose I'm old-fashioned, but I think I learn best by writing things down by hand--although I have to admit I've never tried the other way. I'd definitely be willing to experiment with it now that my laptop has become such an important feature in my life.
So what do you think? To laptop or not to laptop in the law school classroom?
Comments
I was class of 98 for undergrad as well but did not hit law school until 2002 and O-M-G I would have been lost without the laptop. It really allows you to get more notes down during the class (just sheer speed of typing versus writing), and it is great because you can search for stuff by keywords. Especially good when taking classes from professors who are not the most organized.
One more thing — on an exam level, I had professors who said they preferred to grade exams that had been taken with laptops than by hand — two reasons (1) easier to read and (2) because you can cut and paste adn move stuff around in exam software, seems that those exams ended up better organized.
I have to say that I think I would’ve done *much* better on exams if we could’ve taken them using laptops…besides the fact that typing is *way* faster than writing, there would be no more outlining! That’s what always took so long for me; making sure I knew everything I wanted to say before I said it so I wouldn’t be drawing maps in my blue books! Now I’m jealous
I’m not a lawyer but I provided tech support to hundreds of them. There is a clear generational divide: several 20 years my junior — say in their 40′s — were novices, treating the laptop as a glorified typewriter; younger lawyers were computer and web-savy. I can’t imagine law school without a laptop. Many high schools now _require_ a laptop. Do law students really want to compete with that?