Walk into any Chicago-Kent classroom and you will see maybe all but two or three students taking notes with a laptop. A few law professors around the country are now banning laptops in the classroom. Professors seem distressed over the perception that if a student is not furiously taking down every single word a professor says with a laptop, then the student is likely shopping, playing poker, or chatting on the internet.

The Importance of Laptops
I would advise an incoming law student avoid entering law school without a laptop. It is easier to take legible notes. Plus an important part of most students' learning process for exams is assembling an outline. The ability to copy and paste between notes and outline is crucial.

If your law school has the option to take exams on computer, take that option and do not try to hand-write the exam. Professors may claim that they will not discriminate between a handwritten and typed exam, but how can a handwritten exam possibly look as neat and clean as a typed exam? (One of our professors mentions this in his podcast about exam tips HERE. Sorry, not sure which one it is.)

If you are torn on whether to get a laptop, know that it is one of the best investments you can make going into law school. Laptops have become pretty inexpensive and you do not need anything fancy. Just a basic model to take notes, assemble an outline, take the exam on, etc.** It is important to make sure you check with your school's IT department before you buy a laptop to ensure compatibility with your school's network.

My experience with laptops
I half-jokingly tell people that I could not have gone to law school as little as 10 years ago. My handwriting is embarrassingly reminiscent of a third grader's which probably would have cost me a few points each exam. The backspace is the most worn-out key on my keyboard. I frequently see something written and decide to erase and say it in a way I deem better, which would translate into an exam full of scribbles and erasing in the handwritten exam realm. Not to mention, I was a terrible note-taker before law school when I started taking notes on a laptop. A laptop was a must for me.

My Thoughts on Banning of Laptops
Some people think the banning of laptops in the classroom is not a big deal. It would be a big deal to me if it occurred at my school. The policy is overbearing and hurts students' note taking abilities. As mentioned before, I am a pretty poor hand-written note taker. I know that I take much more organized notes that can be converted to an outline later with a laptop.

Further, I would fear taking a class in which the professor has banned laptops because it is almost like the professor saying "I cannot make the material interesting enough to keep students' attention." Admittedly, the internet can be a distraction in class. But students do not go into a class hoping to play internet poker for 50 minutes. A professor having that much of a problem keeping students' attention so as that professor must completely ban a potential distraction may be as much a reflection on the professor as it is on his/her students. So if I know a professor has this policy, I'm going to avoid that professor's class if at all possible.

An Alternative to Banning Laptops?
As far as the "students taking every word down/not really listening" problem supposedly caused by laptops, there may be a better alternative to banning the laptops that are so crucial to many students' ability to take notes. Imagine a professor recording every lecture or a review of the important points of that lecture and posting that recording to a website for students to access. If students know a lecture or review of that lecture is available, the students could concentrate less on taking such extensive notes and more on engaging in class discussion with the idea that the student will listen to the recording and fill in the blanks in the student's notes. Is the answer to this problem of taking overly extensive notes professor podcasting? This is one of the benefits hoped for in CALI's Legal Education Podcasting Project: www.classcaster.org/

Note: This blog post was not written during class time.

Links:
Laptop Article

Classcaster Home

**However, do not do what I did and buy a cheap laptop without an extended warranty. I bought the cheapest Dell model going into the first year without the extended warranty. Right before exams in first semester as a 2L I had to pay for a complete replacement...another cheap Dell model (this time I bought the three year warranty).