A Washington Post Op-Ed by Georgetown Law professor David Cole explains his “no laptop policy” and includes results of a survey on his students laptop use.
A self-professed “Internet addict” himself, Professor Cole instituted a laptop policy out of frustration — he notes that prior to implementation of his policy, the most common student response to a question from him was “could you repeat the question?” — and students often seemed distracted either by their note taking or those “other activities” they were pursuing. After the policy was in place, he surveyed his students for six weeks, and it turns out that the majority of students (70%) prefer the no laptop rule. (Cole does allow two designated students to record notes on laptop for distribution to the entire class afterwards.)