op-ed Wireless classrooms - necessarily a good thing?

Author: Kate Lupo

Students are thrilled that the campus is on the cusp of becoming completely wireless. What a relief that we can bring our laptops wherever we want and still be able to type up school work and, of course, occasionally check our Facebook, e-mail and most recently, the addictive Web site MiddleburyConfessional.com. As Middlebury enters into the new wireless age, laptops have come out of hiding - they are everywhere. And while it is great to have access to the Internet on all corners of campus, there is a domain where laptops have become overly abundant and overly annoying. That domain is the classroom.

As an Art History major, I spend a lot of time in the Johnson Arts building. Two of my classes happen to be in the big lecture hall Johnson 304. Johnson, a 1970s concrete building with a whole lot of funky character, has been blissfully without wireless until this year. Since the advent of wireless, laptops have popped up in lectures as never before. The incessant noise of typing fingers becomes a muffled symphony of clicking that pervades every class period.

Now, I know that there are students who honestly do need a laptop in class. I can completely understand and am not criticizing those who use their laptops responsibly for taking notes and only taking notes. My issue is with those students who incessantly check their e-mail and other Web sites. This past week alone, in class I have seen a person purchase a dress off of Forever21.com, edit their Facebook profile, browse Middlebury Confessional for 15 minutes straight, check PerezHilton.com and watch a music video … the list goes on. While typing away, this student completely missed one of the most intriguing parts of the lecture, which involved a discussion of really important and beautiful Georgia O'Keefe and Jackson Pollock paintings on the PowerPoint screen at the front of the classroom.

As I watch these students gleefully detach themselves from lecture and retreat into their own Internet world, I get very depressed not only for myself (distracted by their bright computer screens) but also for the laptop-dependent student in front of me. I am sad that they do not have the respect for their poor professor, who is working so hard to teach the material. I am sad that they are not engaged in learning. And most importantly, I am sad that because of this new electronic barrier between teacher and student, Midd-kids are not participating in discussions. How can we possibly learn if we are not engaged and not able to articulate ideas and generate interesting conversations? I am not saying that laptops are solely responsible for the increasingly poor public-speaking skills of Middlebury students, but they are certainly contributing. By taking your laptop to class to check your e-mail and superfluous Web sites, you are creating a barrier between yourself, your teacher and your fellow students. You are distracting yourself from actually learning, which is what you came to Middlebury to do.

I am writing this article to make people aware that while I, too, am happy that there is finally wireless Internet at Middlebury, we as students need to use this privilege responsibly We cannot deny that the Internet has become an integral part of our lives, but I think it is really important that we avoid using this technology to disconnect ourselves from the true learning experience that comes from careful listening and discussion within the classroom.

Kate Lupo '10 is from Weston, Conn.