Jeff Cooper gives a professorial view of laptops in the classroom (responding, in part, to a previous post).

I must protest that the comments (at least mine) on game-playing are largely facetious. I rarely play games on my computer (and 90% of the time it's solitaire -- a game that's easily interrupted). I mostly pop it open when I am falling asleep in class. I haven't had to resort to game-playing this year -- my classes aren't absolute snoozefests (yay!). Of course students with laptops will sometimes play games, but when I prefaced my comments on the usefulness of laptops with a funny remark about game playing, I meant it to be the exception to the rule.

As for paying attention in class, I might pay a little more attention [as I do admit to a few games of dots] if my fellow students actually read the assigned readings. In all of my larger classes it is necessary to beat a point of law to death before everyone understands it. I'm from the school of thought that assumes everyone knows the blatant and blunt ideas that are available; class time should be spent on discovering the intricacies. I prepare for my classes. I know what the professor is speaking of when he or she asks questions. Unfortunately, not everyone does, and class becomes a monumental waste of time when I have to sit through the torture of the socratic method being inflicted upon a skimmer.

And the value of the laptop in the learning process? My notes are all in one place. I have my notes from the cases, the notes from class, and my inchoate class outlines. I can read my cases off my laptop instead of wasting paper printing them out (I have a 97.3% chance of losing any loose piece of paper). I can actually read what I write. I don't have to write down any black-letter law because it's right there. Instead, I can focus on the ambiguities or interesting tangents. I don't concentrate on writing everything down. In fact, I probably spend most of the class with my hands off the keyboard because of aforementioned nonsense.

Comparing my classes now with my undergraduate classes, I can see how my retention of the material has really improved. There, something truly interesting would be mentioned, but I would forget about it because I just couldn't get it down. Here, I can capture everything of interest and whittle later.

As for the observation on the lack of preparedness of today's students, one might also blame the availability of modern how-to guides for law school that repeatedly emphasize the value of learning the black letter law. The conclusion that today's students lack understanding of the material cannot be supported on the rise of laptops alone.

In sum, I truly don't believe I'm losing out because I use a laptop. I pay too damned much not to pay attention. I wouldn't argue that I pay tuition in order to blow off class; that's a truly asinine argument. Anyone who believed me to imply that is just plain wrong.

By the way, if professors want us to pay more attention, don't tell us when we'll be on call. That's a surefire way to get students to not pay attention, especially if the material isn't especially engaging. I know from observation that students are far more prepared and pay much more attention when professors regularly call on fifteen or more students per class. You never know if or when you'll be called on. You can't risk not paying attention or not doing the reading. Ask questions and then call on a student. There are ways of striking the fear of god into a student without focusing on them for an entire class.