Keep your laptop in your bag during class!

Outside, the second spring-like day of the year is in full swing. Inside the Utrecht School of Governance (USBO), the seminar groups in Management Sciences gather in the classroom. At first glance, there is little out of the ordinary here. The discussion is in full swing, just as you would expect of a seminar.

But look more closely, and you’ll see something remarkable.  Apart from the digital board at the front, there are no screens to be seen. Lecturer Stef van der Hoeven explains: “Starting this year, students are no longer expected to work on their laptops for this course.”

A different experience
Fellow lecturer Roos Mulder joins the conversation. She is pleased with the change. “It looks very different. Before, students often hide behind their laptops. Now they interact with the lecturer more.”

Van der Hoeven nods in agreement: “They interact more amongst themselves, too. When they’ve finished an assignment, the room gets noisier rather than quieter.”

One would be mistaken, however, to expect to see no computer on the table. “When we discuss the reading questions, someone in each group takes out their laptop just for a while. It is not necessary for all students to copy out the questions.”

Resisting the temptation
In addition to fostering a more pleasant rapport between lecturers and students, there is another important reason why all lecturers should ban laptops, at least according to Lars Tummers, Professor of Public Management and Behaviour at USBO. In his view, it is also better for absorbing the material and improving academic results.

“Distractions have always existed; back in my day, I used to study the tear-off calendar on the wall. But how can you resist ten thousand computer programmers from Silicon Valley? Perhaps we simply shouldn’t take on that battle.”

In a LinkedIn post with the provocative title "Laptops are great, but not during class", Tummers drew attention last year to a meta-study showing that laptops do not outperform the old-fashioned pen and paper when it comes to taking notes during lectures.

When asked about their experiences with laptop-free teaching, students murmur. “In other courses, we are allowed to use them! That’s just crazy,” says Florijn, nods of agreement all around him.

“When working through the reading questions, it’s sometimes awkward not to have a laptop,” says Casper, in the seminar room next door. “But I actually always did the rest on paper anyway.”

Professor Lars Tummers explains that a laptop ban needs to be properly introduced. “I always post a message on Brightspace in advance and use the first lecture to discuss research that shows that pen and paper work better. That way, I get students on board right from the start.”

Pilot project abandoned
The communication scientist, Daniël Janssen, knows how difficult it can be to keep laptops out of the classroom. Ten years ago, when people were even less critical of digitalisation, he was already working on a pilot project to do just so. 

At the time, DUB interviewed him about the impact of laptops in the classroom. Janssen based his arguments on scientific evidence even then.

The pilot was quickly abandoned due to significant resistance from both students and lecturers, something that still surprises Janssen to this day: “You always hope that research findings will take precedence.”

A constructive discussion
USBO is not new to debating the use of digital resources, says Tom Overmans, the department's Director of Undergraduate Education. “We are constantly evaluating our working and assessment methods. As a scientific institute, we must take scientific findings on this matter very seriously.”

Nevertheless, Overmans does not want to establish a strict ban. “We are a small department, and we talk to each other a lot. It is up to lecturers themselves to decide what to do.” He acknowledges that policy can provide guidance, but, in his view, good governance on this issue requires a proper debate.

Lars Tummers is trying to initiate such a dialogue with his students. When he wrote that post on LinkedIn, his main intention was to get other lecturers thinking, and one question he would like his peers to consider is whether laptops are suitable devices for taking notes during lectures. Based on the scientific study he cited, his answer to that question is a plain and simple "no."

“First off, paper forces you to stay focused on the lecture. Without a laptop, you’re less likely to switch to a completely different task, such as checking your emails,” he begins. “Secondly, writing on paper is slower. That might seem like a disadvantage, but it forces you to process the information better because you can’t type exactly what the lecturer is saying. Instead, you have to choose what to write down.”

Taking a stand
His LinkedIn post has attracted many positive comments, as well as plenty of critical ones. “I’m flabbergasted that such minor differences are being presented as an educational revolution,” one comment reads. Another adds: “The study says nothing about whether or not even better ways to take notes exist.”

These reactions do not surprise Tummers. “I already expected that the differences between laptops and paper would be small. If things are crystal clear, there’s often no need to investigate them in such detail.” Furthermore, he believes it is up to a subsequent study to comment on ideal note-taking methods.

Moreover, as a specialist in behavioural change, Tummers knows the importance of putting forward a provocative proposition to get people thinking. If you want to change behaviour through new knowledge, then you must know how to disseminate that knowledge.

“Talking to people who take a stance is much more interesting than talking to people who say ‘on the one hand this, on the other hand that’. Many scientific studies have been conducted on this. So, it’s a balancing act, like a tightrope. On the one hand, you don’t want to be too rigid; after all, you're a scientist. On the other hand, you also have to dare to take a stand to get the conversation going.”