I was reading this article: Attention, Students: Put Your Laptops Away

https://www.npr.org/2016/04/17/474525392/attention-students-put-your-laptops-away?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=socialflow&fbclid=IwAR30wdyJACMIL_K1daR1FVpv1M8AlUsPrhgtmsfiJPw2oFUo11g_jjgBwdI. I will like to know yhour opinion about using laptops during listening to a teacher. Do you think is a benefit or a distraction?

I think it's a distraction. Students in our high school classes are often clicking off to sites that have nothing to do with the lesson. To make matters worse, some are playing games. When trying to play games even more attention is lost to the teacher than mindlessly reading or looking at pictures on social media.

I read the article and I do agree with it. I am a pen/highlighter and paper type of person. I even had classes where my notes were grades. It was to my benefit that I didn't mind writing them and then typing them neatly for the teacher. This helped me to study and incorporate review of information.

I definitely see it as a distraction. Especially at the middle school level. Physical-mental connection created when the brain tells the hand what to write is important. When taking notes by long-hand the students must be attentive and processing the information in order to decide what they should or shouldn't write down. As a paper/pen person I've tried to take notes on a lap top and have not been successful. I think there is another component and that is seeing what you have written. We tend to change handwriting when something is important or needs to be emphasized and thus it is right in front of us. Yes it can be done digitally, but it requires additional key strokes or looking at the tool bar, selecting, changing, etc. I don't think this has to be limited to note taking. Many people I know have said something as simple as a to-do list doesn't get done when it's not written down.

I am that child that was always doing two things at once. When I was and am forced to give my attention to the speaker, my mind wanders on its own. I am visual so as I look away and around the room, I build a memory of the words and instructions. I know that all kids are not like me, but I understood those that were when I was in the classroom.