History professors to debate use of laptops in classrooms

Lexee Hoene
Editorial Intern
Students may not be able to use laptops in classrooms for much longer – at least, if some York history professors have their way.
Profs from York University’s history department are set to meet some time during winter semester to discuss whether students should be able to use the electronic devices in lectures and tutorials.
While many professors allow students to use laptops in class, an increasing number of profs are turning to implementing policies against them.
Prof. Sam Abdullah of the history department is one of the instructors who believe laptops shouldn’t be taken to class unless absolutely necessary. He said he felt laptops act as a major source of disruption to other students, and that he has his own approach to stopping students from surfing the web during lecture.
“What I usually do is I am always threatening and calling [out] students who make it very obvious they are searching the internet,” he said.
History prof Adrian Shubert said he’s also found laptops to be a problem, and that he, too, has a specific policy for students who need to use a laptop.
“I am a teaching a big lecture course and my policy is that if students want to use laptops, they have to sit in the last three rows of the lecture hall,” he noted.
Prof. Craig Heron of the history department, however, believes there are some benefits to having the computers in class. “My own view is that laptops can be a valuable tool for student note-taking in a classroom, and I am not in favour of banning them.”

Heron added that he, however, does not approve of students using computers to distract other students.
“Students [distracting others] should expect to be asked to stop – just as if they were talking or laughing during the lecture,” he said.
Economics prof. Sam Bucovetsky said he doesn’t care if students use a laptop in his class.
“Some days there are twenty laptops [in classroom] and I can go back and see that my [course] website had six hits during that lecture. So I know the other 14 weren’t paying attention to my class on their laptops,” he said.
“As long as [laptops] are not making noise and distracting me, then it’s fine.”