Laptops distract from learning

"Could you repeat the question?"

In recent years, that has become the most common response to questions I pose to my law students at Georgetown University. It is usually asked while the student glances up from the laptop screen that otherwise occupies his or her field of vision. After I repeat the question, the student's gaze as often as not returns to the computer screen, as if the answer might magically appear there. Who knows, with instant messaging, maybe it will. The Washington Post

Law professor David Cole banned laptops from his classroom this year after rote note taking and Web surfing interfered with his classes. He says this class is more engaged, and his students think so, too.

From the CEC Smart Brief