David Cole, a professor at Georgetown Law Center, has banned the use of laptops during his lectures. Why? He found that students who use laptops aren’t focused on the material, don’t process the content as they take notes, and just plain waste time on all that the internet has to offer. He took a survey after 6 weeks and found that:

About 80 percent reported that they are more engaged in class discussion when they are laptop-free. Seventy percent said that, on balance, they liked the no-laptop policy. And perhaps most surprising, 95 percent admitted that they use their laptops in class for “purposes other than taking notes, such as surfing the Web, checking e-mail, instant messaging and the like.” Ninety-eight percent reported seeing fellow students do the same.

I used my notebook computer in large lectures because I simply couldn’t write by hand quickly enough. I never looked at the screen when I typed and the only application I had open was MS Word.

WiFi and cellphone use are a major problems in classrooms and they most definitely hinder learning for individuals and those around them. The best solution for teachers and professors is to use a signal jammer that disrupts wireless activity within a short radius. Students won’t use technology at the expense of your classroom environment if they can’t access the internet - and the ones who utilize computers for note-taking/etc. can be productive. Read a little bit about jammers and consider the small investment [or pitch it to your department or district] - it’ll solve the problem and your teaching will benefit from it.