U of Chicago law school bans laptops from classes amid AI backlash

(the-independent.com)

27 points | by smurda 6 hours ago ago

12 comments

  • RandomRandy an hour ago

    I can understand banning laptops during exams, but why would you ban them in class? I was at a big university with pretty much all my classes having more than 100 students, so most of my lectures consisted of the prof presenting slides with little to no interaction from students. The only advantage of having a laptop was that you could annotate the slides easier

  • baggachipz 5 hours ago

    Seems a little drastic; couldn't they simply block domains and forbid vpns? Throwing the baby out with the bathwater seems counter-productive when a laptop is so essential for modern classes (far as I can see, I went to school in the pre-laptop era).

    • xnyan 5 hours ago

      You can only do that if the school completely controls the laptop. You have to have the professor be able to verify that the student was using an approved laptop each class period. Seems like a nonstarter to me.

      • 2 hours ago
        [deleted]
    • stephenbez 5 hours ago

      Students would just connect to their own hotspot and not have any restrictions.

      • baggachipz 3 hours ago

        Fair point. The ban makes sense.

    • shimman 5 hours ago

      Laptops aren't essential for modern classes, laptops (in the true consumer sense of the world) have barely been a thing that students can easily afford for barely 20 years (more like 15 if we're being honest here).

      SV is going to learn that society is allowed to reject technology and the sun will still rise tomorrow.

      • TheCycoONE 3 hours ago

        About 20 years ago I learned if I took my laptop to class and typed my notes I didn't retain nearly as well as if I took a pen and notebook.

        I was in computer science in Canada and probably 5-10% of people brought laptops to class as far as I recall. A few people had to use the labs, but most students had their own computer or laptop at that time.

      • nisegami 3 hours ago

        >SV is going to learn that society is allowed to reject technology and the sun will still rise tomorrow.

        The sun may still rise, but the stock market may not.

        • shimman 2 hours ago

          Good thing the vast majority of Americans do not prosper if American corporations do. Hence the need for redistributive efforts to improve the material lives of all Americans.

      • greenhat76 2 hours ago

        Silicon Valley is indeed, disconnected from the reality of the world.

    • 4 hours ago
      [deleted]