Also, it’s not the student’s role to determine the importance of whatever their professor is saying and whether or not they should pay attention.b You go to class to listen, learn and focus on what the professor determines.

I don’t think the taking away of laptops is a case of “Kids These Days Outrage.” Throughout time there have been items banned or prohibited in schools and colleges. Think baseball caps, walkmans, slap bracelets, long-hippie hair on guys, Tomagotchi, etc. This is just a modern example of educational institutions trying to limit distractions.

College students are old enough to make the decision on their own, imo. “Getting the most out of my money” might mean that I choose to spend that 10 minutes of my professor rambling about nothing in particular …writing a grocery list and emailing it to my roommate.

I think this KIDS THESE DAYS outrage is a little over the top, really. Give it five years. You’ll have Google Wave backchannel discussions in every college lecture class. In many cases, I wouldn’t be surprised if they were professor-initiated. And yeah, there’ll be a significant amount of OMG I SLEPT WITH XXX LAST NIGHT on the side, but hey, at least they aren’t asleep.

But posting videos to your Facebook profile or chatting with your roommate about if you’re out of Ramen are what we’re talking about here.

Additionally, if you’re paying whatever godfull amount per credit hour, I’d think you’d want to get the most out of your money by seriously concentrating on the classes content and discussion, not what your buddy just IM;d you.

Not to mention how many useful backchannel conversations were had during my time in college, e.g. with students exchanging back and forth commentary/ clarifying notes via IM.

In my last two years of college, I was in a program that actually encouraged us to use our laptops in whatever way we felt was useful during class. If that meant working on our portfolios while the professors talked about video editing tricks you already knew, then you worked on your portfolio.