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U. of Chicago Law School Blocks Internet Access

Posted by kdawson on from the solitaire-without-a-laptop dept.

Scott Jaschik writes "While some individual professors have banned laptops from classes at various colleges, the University of Chicago law school is going further, cutting off wireless and wired access in its classrooms to confront what officials see as out-of-control Web surfing. The story was first reported in the Above The Law 'legal tabloid' late last month. Students and the university's CIO question the strategy." Things will get interesting when Sprint WiMax service lights up in Chicago later this year.

5 of 343 comments (clear)

  1. Cue the knee jerk reactions... by vtscott · · Score: 5, Insightful
    Please, it's not as if they've banned their law students from accessing the internet completely. They're just not providing them with a convenient way to play flash games and read blogs during class. I graduated from college about a year ago, and as someone who normally sits in the back of the class I can tell you that a large percentage of the class would just browse the internet idly while the professor lectured and sometimes even play games like WoW. This got to be very distracting when trying to concentrate, because one would have to ignore movement on laptop screens and frantic clicking. I would hope law students would be a bit more mature and would simply be browsing the news or chatting with friends, but when they're doing that they're definitely not getting the most out of their lectures.


    That said, overall I don't have a problem with students wasting their tuition money (or their parents' tuition money) by browsing the internet in class all day. But this isn't some power grab to squelch independent thinking. These students are free to browse the internet in their dorms, or the library, or the dining halls, etc. It might be poorly thought out, but I think people (or at least you) are freaking out over nothing.

    1. Re:Cue the knee jerk reactions... by JonSimons · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Mod parent up!

      Those that sit and surf the net while in class are complete assholes. Don't bother coming to class if you're not going to productively participate in lecture or if you're just going to distract others that can see your screen.

      Not to mention that it's also just blatantly, obliviously, and childishly rude to the lecturer.

      The same things go for talking on your cell phone in confined spaces.

  2. Instead, just force people to make a decision by Idaho · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The right solution is, IMO, to simply ban laptops from being open during lectures. It sends the same message as people using laptops during meetings basically: if you can't be arsed to even pay attention (to the lecture, or the meeting), why are you there in the first place. For meetings it may be the case that you are basically "forced" to attend, however this is seldom the case for lectures (at least at my university).

    So I fully understand lecturers who urge (or force) people to make a conscious decision *either* to stay in the lecture room and (at the very least pretend to) pay attention, or if you don't feel like paying attention, want to browse the internet, or absolutely *have* to chat with your neighbour about the previous weekend, can you please just go to the lunchroom next door, thank you so much and don't let the door hit you on the way out. Because it's not like anybody is *forcing* you to be there. If you think you'll do fine by reading the lecture sheets and/or the book, you're free to do so (and in many cases that's perfectly possible, too).

    If you want to take notes during the lecture (the excuse everyone uses), paper still works just fine, as it has for ages.

    --
    Every expression is true, for a given value of 'true'
  3. Re:What the hell??? by LurkerXXX · · Score: 5, Insightful

    When lecture time is wasted because a professor has to repeat his question twice for all the students that aren't paying attention, it hurts the quality time of the other part of the class who do want to get their money's worth for the class. It is an issue.

    The folks surfing during class aren't just cheating themselves. They are cheating the other people in the class who are trying to learn.

  4. Re:Where I come from... by compass46 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Because actual learning isn't just about passing a damn test. It's about intellectual curiosity and absorbing ideas from others which in turn spark new ideas within yourself. Too many people are simply satisfied with being able to memorize someone else's words without ever having formulated their own unique and creative thoughts. These people pass tests but they're boring as hell.