Summary Of In Defense Of Laptops In The Classroom

496 Words2 Pages
Rebecca Schuman addresses the issue of whether students should be allowed to use laptops in the classroom. In her capacity as a professor, Schuman wrote the opinion article ‘In defense of Laptops in the Classroom’ to encourage college educators to allow the use of laptops in the classroom. Although the arguments she raised were valid, they were not persuasive. In my opinion, while the use of laptops fosters independent learning, they serve as a great distraction to learning and do not promote effective learning in the classroom. The use of laptops fosters independent learning. Schuman mentions that banning laptops in classrooms ‘further infantilizes these 18-to-22-year-olds’. Schuman’s merit was the use of her immense involvement in the students’ learning process given her teaching experiences as a professor as examples to show that students can be given some autonomy to make simple decisions on how to carry out their learning process, given her teaching experiences as a professor. This strengthens her argument and convinces me, with the added credibility as a stakeholder in education.…show more content…
Schuman argues that students ‘should be old enough to decide for themselves whether they want to pay attention in class’. However, her argument can easily be challenged. The classroom is an avenue for learning. If the use of laptops gives students the choice to decide if they want to pay attention in class, should educators still allow the use of laptops even though it is an element of distraction which can disrupts the students’ learning process? Schuman fails to go on and evaluate if the use of laptops by students in classrooms is by any terms essential or valuable, when students are distracted by
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  • In Defense Of Laptops In The Classroom Summary

    497 Words  | 2 Pages

    in “In Defense of Laptops in the Classroom” that the banning of laptops is not the best solution. Schuman is an education columnist for an online web magazine, Slate, where she has written many critiques on current education issues such as: “Syllabus Tyrannnus” and “Beware of the Gilderoy Lockharts of the University” (Slate). The article targets educators who advocate the banning of laptops in classrooms, in an attempt to convince them otherwise. Schuman asserts that the banning of laptops is not

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