Law Professor Bans Laptops in Class

AP/Yahoo ^ | Wed Mar 29, 8:21 AM ET

[martin_fierro]

Law Professor Bans Laptops in Class

Wed Mar 29, 8:21 AM ET

MEMPHIS, Tenn. - A University of Memphis law professor has banned laptop computers from her classroom and her students are passing a petition against it.

Professor June Entman says her main concern is that students are so busy keyboarding they can't think and analyze what she's telling them.

Students have begun collecting signatures on petitions and tried unsuccessfully to file a complaint with the American Bar Association.

Student Cory Winsett says if he must continue without his laptop, he'll transfer to another school. Winsett says he won't be able to keep up if he has to rely on hand-written notes, which he says are incomplete and less organized.

[martin_fierro]

< lame waffle > I guess I can see both sides. < /lame waffle >

[martin_fierro]

 

June F. Entman

Professor of Law
 

Teaching interests: Civil Procedure, Advanced Civil Procedure, Evidence.

Education: B. A., 1967, Smith College; M. A. T., 1969, University of Chicago; J. D., May, 1981, The University of Memphis School of Law.

Experience: Associate, Burch, Porter & Johnson, Memphis, 1982-84; Law Clerk for Honorable Charles E. Nearn, Tennessee Court of Appeals, 1981-82; Social Studies teacher, 1968-75, New Trier High School, Northfield, Illinois; joined the University of Memphis School of Law faculty in 1984.

Admitted: Tennessee.

Achievements/Publications: Co-author with Robert Banks, Jr. of the treatise Tennessee Civil Procedure 1999.  Professor Entman has authored several articles primarily in the areas of evidence and civil procedure for the Case Western Reserve Law Review, The University of Memphis Law Review, the North Carolina Law Review, the University of Florida Law Review, and the Tennessee Bar Journal; she has served as reporter for Tennessee Pattern Jury Instructions-Civil, 8 Tennessee Practice (2nd ed. 1988 & Supp. 1990); Tennessee Supreme Court Commission on Dispute Resolution, 1992-94; Local Rules Advisory Committee, United States District Court for the Western District of Tennessee, 1989-92.
 

[martin_fierro]

Students have begun collecting signatures on petitions and tried unsuccessfully to file a complaint with the American Bar Association.

They're 0/1.

[vimto]

I liked the idea that 'typing' has now become 'keyboarding'. Nouns into verbs. Ho hum.

kind regards

[Gay State Conservative]

Why don't they sue?

[martin_fierro]

Why don't they sue?

Sure, they can sue the woman who wrote the book on state civil procedure.

And she'll have 'em tied up in Discovery motions until she -- or they -- are ready to retire.

[bvw]

No two sides to see. The Professor is the Master of her class, like the Captain is Master of his ship, or a driver is Master of his vehicle. A total King in his domain (or in this case Queen in her domain).

Now the students have a choice -- they can switch to another section under a different prof, a different class, another school -- or not go to law school at all. In Illinois they could even still become lawyers WITHOUT going to law school. (Hooray for Illinois!)

The Professor's word is the LAW.

[1rudeboy]

Good for the professor.

[1rudeboy]

. . . or not go to law school at all. In Illinois they could even still become lawyers WITHOUT going to law school.

Do you have a source for this?

[1rudeboy]

Excellent treatment of the issue here, if anyone's curious. Good enough to lose her a job at Chicago-Kent, according to rumor.

Molly Lien, Technocentrism and the Soul of the Common Law Lawyer, 48 Am. U. L. Rev. 85 (1998).

[wideawake]

The students are the customers, purchasing instruction from the professor. If the university is a good vendor, it will instruct this wayward employee to give the customers the convenience they expect.

[RightOnline]

The little buggers are FReepin', I tell ya......

[R. Scott]

Winsett says he won't be able to keep up if he has to rely on hand-written notes, which he says are incomplete and less organized.

That’s good. My handwriting is pretty bad, and my notes too were incomplete and ill organized. This had the advantage of forcing me to organize my notes after class instead of drinking and having a good time – but I enjoyed learning so it wasn’t all that bad for me.
Going over the incomplete notes helps to install the information in memory. Searching short term memory to decipher notes is reinforcement. Concentrating on the laptop and what you are typing does distract from what is being disseminated in class.

[conservatism_IS_compassion]

Professor June Entman says her main concern is that students are so busy keyboarding they can't think and analyze what she's telling them

. . . which is why she should hand out notes on what she was going to say.

[twigs]

I think she is silly. I personally agree with her, but if the students are used to taking notes like that, then why deny them that? My husband is a professor and has learned not to do these stupid things when it aggrevates students. Many teachers ban cell phones, but he has a lot of adults with children taking his classes and doesn't want to deny them that. So he uses humor. When someone's cell phone goes off, he begins to dance to the music; it embarasses the students. Another teacher there has the student sing to the music for the class. You can do little things so that students get the idea. If these students think this is so important, let them do it.

[ken5050]

Many, many years ago..during inorganic chem class frosh year of college..2nd lecture of the semester..taught, BTW..by a very distinguished professor, not a GA..50 or so in the lecture hall..he walks in..asks a question of the class..of course no one volunteers..he looks down at us..says.."either all of you are geniuses, and know all the material, and think the question is beneath you, or you are all cretins, and haven't bothered to even open the book. In either case, there's no point in wasting my time, and yours.."..and he walked out of the room..

needless to say..from that day forward..all of us were vigorous paticipants in the discussion.

[DaGman]

"I liked the idea that 'typing' has now become 'keyboarding'. Nouns into verbs. Ho hum."

No different than adding "tion" or "ion" onto a verb and making the verb a noun.... but that's off topic.

[1rudeboy]

You are correct in the sense that there are students taking notes on a laptop who literally know no other way to do so. In other words, they will be caught in this professor's net. On the other hand, as Prof. Lien argues in her law review article (and I have observed myself), in a class where the professor is relying on the Socratic Method, the system nearly grinds to a halt because half the students are too busy taking dictation to participate.

[Rebelbase]

"I liked the idea that 'typing' has now become 'keyboarding'. Nouns into verbs. Ho hum. "

That happened to barbecue a long time ago.

[vimto]

So keyboarding is the new typetion?

Golly gosh, no!