Donnie Hogan

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Journalism Professor Robert Jensen first noticed a problem in his large lecture classes

about four years ago. He recognized his students’ participation began to decrease as laptop use

became more common.

“There was a built-in monitoring system among the students in the small classrooms,”

Jensen said. “Students were reluctant to use their computers for anything but note taking. But in

the large lecture classes, it became more of a dilemma because the students have a sense of

anonymity.”

Jensen has recently joined a growing trend of faculty members at the University of Texas

at Austin who take it upon themselves to ban the use of laptops from the classroom in an attempt

improve the learning experience for all students.

Jensen said he talked to other faculty members in the journalism school as well as other

colleges about his dilemma and they all suggested that he ban laptops from his classroom.

“It was at that point that I just realized, oh yeah I can do that,” he said. “So I started

banning them a couple semesters ago.”

Other professors from different colleges have decided to do the same thing.

UT McCombs Business Sr. Lecturer Elota Patton also has implemented a no-laptop

policy for her classes. Patton acknowledges in her syllabus that some students prefer to take

notes electronically. However, there’s no way to stop students from playing games, checking e-

mail or logging on to social media sites if laptops are allowed, she said.
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“The quality and flow of discussion is affected when people engage with laptops in these

ways,” Patton said. “It distracts students who want to participate.”

Patton questions if one is strong enough to resist the lure of Facebook or e-mail if your

laptop is open during class. She said she knows from experience that she is not.

“We humans are just as influenced by intermittent reinforcement as animals,” Patton said.

“My experience is that students learn more when they are not distracted by technology.”

Tina Garza, a junior political communications major at UT, believes it’s ultimately up to

the students whether or not they want to pay attention during lecture. Garza said that in previous

semesters she always brought her laptop to class, but only used it to take notes.

However, this semester she has decided to take hand-written notes in preparation for

blue-book essay exams she’ll be taking throughout the semester.

“I’ve never really had a problem with laptops in the classroom,” Garza said. “When

you’re having one of those lazy days, I guess it’s easy to be off track or get distracted. It all

depends on the student.”

Students who admitted the use of laptops for functions not related to the class during

lecture were reluctant to contribute their names to this story for fear of being reprimanded by

their professors.

Law school professors at the universities of Michigan, Memphis, Pennsylvania, Chicago,

Georgetown and Harvard all have banned laptops from lecture classrooms. Michigan’s law
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school has taken it one step further by installing a computer system that blocks students’ use of

wireless internet during their scheduled class times.

Jensen said he believes the problem with blocking students’ internet use is that people

will just find a way around it. He said if it gets to the point where you have to block students’

Wi-Fi access, there is a bigger problem than students being distracted.

“If being on Facebook is more important than being in class, that raises two questions,”

Jensen said. “What does that say about the students and Facebook? But more importantly, what

does that say about the professors and the structure of the classroom?”

Apart from some immediate grumbling, Jensen said the students’ reaction to his laptop

ban has been positive. Students are more engaged during lecture and ultimately will perform

better in the class, he said.

“There’s been no revolution to overturn the banning,” Jensen said. “So I will continue to

ban them because no one has presented an argument that their presence in the classroom

increases learning.”
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Cover Sheet

Sources:

Robert Jensen, journalism professor, (512) 471-1990, rjensen@uts.cc.utexas.edu

Elota Patton, sr. lecturer McCombs School of Business, (512) 471-4766,

elota.patton@mccombs.utexas.edu

Tina Garza, junior political communications major, tinagarza@gmail.com

Why story is news:

My story on professors banning laptops from classrooms is news because it has not been

covered by school or local press, and laptops will continue to be more of an issue in the

classroom as multimedia technology evolves to be smaller and more mobile.

Web sites:

http://www.mccombs.utexas.edu/dept/irom/courses/syllabi_spg2008/MIS%20301%20-

%20Information%20Tech%20in%20Business%20%28Patton%29.pdf

(page 1, paragraph 7)
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http://www.mlive.com/news/ann-arbor/index.ssf/2008/09/no_typing_please_some_universi.html

(page 2, paragraph 5)

http://media.www.statehornet.com/media/storage/paper1146/news/2006/05/18/Features/Some-

Universities.Ban.Laptops.Due.To.Distractions-2425817.shtml (page 2, paragraph 8)

http://chronicle.com/blogPost/Professor-Considers-Laptop-Ban/3956 (page 2, paragraph 8)

http://www.wi-fiplanet.com/news/article.php/3612571 (page 2, paragraph 8)

http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20090210/0617533719.shtml (page 2, paragraph 8)

I chose to include these sources because they differ in age, gender, profession, school,

ethnicity and opinion about the issue.

My sources are diverse because Jensen is a white male who teaches journalism and feels

that laptops and other electronic devices in the classroom are a problem. I chose to include

Patton because she is a female professor from a different school who also shares Jensen’s

opinion. I chose to include Garza because she is a female student of Hispanic descent who does

not have the same opinions as the previous two sources.

My story deviates from Summer’s instruction in how I did not allow myself enough time

to investigate further if studies have been done by education researchers to see if students pay

attention and learn more by taking hand written notes compared to note taking on a laptop during

lectures.
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I think the general public would be interested in this topic because it is not something that

is widely covered or talked about. As time goes by, mobile technology will improve and students

will continue to be further distracted by their own computer screen or someone seated next to

them. This distraction hinders the education that college students pay so much money to receive.