Laptops

http://www.powertolearn.com/articles/teaching_with_technology/article.shtml?ID=85

About two years ago, a university in the northeast required every student to purchase a laptop for class. The problem was that many classes ended up not using the laptops. Now, laptops are quite pricey today. To make every student purchase one for their classes and then end up not using them for what they were purchased for is quite unfair. Yet again, many students use their laptops for other purposes. The dean of this university was questioned about this requirement. He envisioned that by purchasing the laptops, the students would get digital learning. The problem is that the faculty isn't using them in their curriculum. I believe that a laptop is a very big necessity in college. It is a portable way of keeping up with the world. But to make it a requirement for classes is unnecessary. Pretty much every course in college has a syllabus and the professor tends to put it online rather than hand it out on paper. This saves a lot of money in buying paper, it saves a lot of time, and it is less likely to lose it if it is saved onto a computer. If the dean of the university really wants to implement the use of laptops in classes, he must speak to the faculty and have them change their way of teaching. Many professors may not like this but in order to further students' knowledge in technology use, they must change their ways.