“Nobody is in the room. The professor is just another open browser window, 1 of 10.”- CNET News.com

Read the complete article here.   Reaction from EdVentures in Technology Blog- click here.

Many professors may hear the above statement and want to ban laptops.  This would be treating the symptoms not the cause.  Professors today need to engage students while they are in the classroom.  There are many tools and technology is only one of them.

 

Look at the photo above.  The students are ALL paying attention to the professor even with their laptops in front of them and Internet access.  Why?  They are engaged. - perhaps by using a student response system such as CPS, customized TWEN poll, Cali InstaPoll, or others means to make students feel that they must pay attention and their particpation in class is valued and enhances their learning.