University of Toronto’s law school to ban laptops in some classes

For years, laptops have been a fixture in university lecture halls. But this fall, some students at University of Toronto’s law school will have to leave the keyboard behind.

The Henry N.R. Jackman Faculty of Law says some professors will choose to make their classroom laptop free. It stresses it is not a blanket ban, since faculty have different teaching styles and use technology in different ways in the classroom.

“Our primary concern here is not that students are distracted by technology, but rather that the very act of type-writing comprehensive notes during class does not allow students to think deeply about the class material or to engage in discussion and argument,” writes Associate Dean Richard Stacey in an email to students which was obtained by CityNews.

The school says research suggests handwriting forces students to slow down, process information and decide what’s most important to write down.

“At the core of our academic mission at Jackman Law is a profound intellectual transformation through which our students learn to think like lawyers, to reason carefully and collectively about and with the law,” explained Dean Christopher Essert in a statement to CityNews.

He adds that faculty members have become increasingly concerned about the use of technology, including sophisticated AI tools during lectures.

“I use my tablet now. But if you type I imagine it would be useful,” said one student who spoke to CityNews about the ban.

“It depends on what you study. We’re in engineering so its a lot of math, its more iPad because you have to draw, but if you take typing notes I could see it would be an issue,” said another student.

“I think it would be nice to have the option,” added another. “Everyone has different learning styles and I think that’s a bit limiting on the learning experience, everyone’s individual learning experience”

The Students’ Law Society has been surveying students about the proposed restrictions. As of Friday evening, the SLS confirmed to CityNews it received 208 responses, close to 30 per cent of the student body. Of those 208, 163 disagreed that the policy will benefit their legal education

“146 of our 208 respondents wrote to us at length, and what came up most often wasn’t handwriting. It was that students aren’t the ones making the call. They’re adults in a professional degree who worked out how they learn a long time ago, and that decision is being made for them now,” the SLS said in a statement to CityNews.

The SLS added accessibility is another major concern for students.

The society plans to continue discussions with the faculty about the policy. Students will find out which courses are going laptop-free when their course outlines are released next month.