DISCUSSION sections are odd. After days of class and lecture, discussions fill a strange niche in the academic schedule at the University. Most of the time, these fifty-minute recitation sessions are effective enough; Many TAs use the time each week as a chance to review the material the professor covered throughout the week, or address specific questions that could not be raised in lecture. Supplemental discussion sections for larger lectures can be an effective tool to enhance the student's understanding of the material. Unfortunately, a section's effectivness is often curtailed by a TA's prohibition of laptops in the classroom. Though this restriction is grounded in valid motives, the detriments of such a policy outweigh the possible benefits laptops offer to both the TA and students in the section.
With the confluence of wireless internet in the classroom buildings and a new generation of laptops that can accomplish an ever-increasing range of tasks, students are tempted more than ever before to use their computers as an escape from a particularly vapid discussion. We've all done it before: The conversation is horribly droll about a topic to which you have nothing to contribute, and what starts as an innocent trip to Facebook soon becomes a full-blown (albeit muted) YouTube binge. That relative ease with which students can whittle away fifty minutes worth of discussion is a source of concern for TAs, because with laptops out it often seems as though no one actually wants to participate. Furthermore, when students have laptops, a portion of the class seems disconnected from the conversation because of the distractions and sense of stuffiness they create. "I try to make my sections a place for conversation," says Aidyn Mills, a TA in the anthropology department, "and I feel like laptops create a barrier that discourages open participation." Laptops can create distraction and block both their users and other students in the section from absorbing information presented in the classroom.
More often than not, professors make their discussion sections mandatory, forcing the TAs to record attendance at each meeting of the group. Realistically, not every single student in a given section is as passionate about the material as those who teach it, and though the disinterested can evade the course throughout the week, compulsory attendance forces them to find an outlet for their boredom in section. Laptops are not the issue in themselves, but merely a symptom of the problem of forced attendance. Laptops may divert the student's attention from the material, but it is neither within the reach nor the responsibility of the TA to compel the student to learn. One cannot be forced to absorb information. Instead, attendance at discussion sections should be open to all but mandatory for none; such a policy would guarantee an involved, effective discussion enhanced both by its willing participants and the academic boost laptops impart.
A laptop truly can benefit a classroom far beyond the obvious note-taking feature. In a course with a significant quantity of online readings, the true advantages of laptops in discussion become clear. By allowing the use of computers in class, TAs effectively offer students a convenient and cost-efficient alternative to the nuisance of printing fifty-page articles: the wireless access in most classroom buildings means students are able to pull the document up in class and scroll through it as the conversation takes place. Many students forego the hassle of printing materials off Toolkit, and though they may do the reading at home will show up to section without a copy of the text, leaving them a step behind in discussions. "It's definitely way easier to just bring my computer to class," says Christine Salvaggio, a second year in the College, "because then I don't have to waste time printing stuff up at the library." With a laptop, a student can literally be on the same page as both his TA and fellow classmates, seamlessly transitioning from one point to another with the electronic copy of the text. In this way, laptops facilitate smoother and more dynamic classroom discussions for students who use them properly, and make the TA's job easier while simultaneously creating a more effective environment for all the section's participants.
David Infante's column appears Fridays in The Cavalier Daily. He can be reached at dinfante@cavalierdaily.com.
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