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57 J. Legal Educ. 477 (2007)
Banning Laptops in the Classroom: Is It Worth the Hassles

handle is hein.journals/jled57 and id is 485 raw text is: Banning Laptops in the Classroom: Is it Worth the Hassles? Kevin Yamamoto Introduction Can you repeat the question please? This phrase is uttered by more and more law students around the country.' Why is this happening? Is it a new phrase like the lingo used in an Instant Message? I and others believe its per- vasiveness is due primarily to the proliferation of laptops in the classroom. The use of laptops is linked not only to poor classroom discussion but also to decreased bar passage rates across the country?2 If laptops are causing new problems, or exacerbating old ones, a simple answer is to ban laptops from the classroom. I tried this solution for the first time in my Federal Income Tax class in 20oo6. This article describes my expe- rience and provides scientific studies to support my decision. Federal Income Taxation is a required second-year course at South Texas College of Law. I banned laptop use in the classroom to see the effects on classroom discus- sion, students' performance when called upon, and their proficiency with the material on the final. Overall, I was very pleased with the results. I am writing this paper as a guide for those who are considering banning laptops and to provide additional reasons and encouragement to those who have already done so. For those who are considering it, I offer my experiences in implementing the ban, which for the most part went very well. I give my impressions of the class in general and how teaching was different with no laptops in the room. I refer to significant cognitive learning research studies that support, at the minimum, heavy restrictions on students' laptop use in class or even an outright ban. Many professors intuitively believe that laptop use should be restricted, and I hope to provide them with evidence that will encourage them to restrict laptop use in their classrooms. Kevin Yamamoto is a professor of law at the South Texas College of Law, Houston, Texas. I. See, e.g., David Cole, Laptops vs. Learning, Wash. Post, Apr. 7, 2007, at A13 (a Georgetown University law professor reporting that this is the most common response to his questions). 2. See Lorenzo A. Trujillo, The Relationship between Law School and the Bar Exam: A Look at Assessment and Student Success, 78 U. Colo. L. Rev. 69, 73 (2007) (noting that the introduction of laptops in the classroom coincides with the national decline in bar passage rates). Joumal of Legal Education, Volume 57, Number 4 (December 2007)

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