With laptops becoming increasingly more popular in class, some students and faculty disagree over just how effective they are for academic purposes. The University has no official policy restricting laptops from the classroom. Joseph Oliver Boyd-Barrett, a professor in the department of journalism, said he prefers students not use them during class. ‘My policy is to say to students that I do not want to see laptops in class, unless I specifically request it for some kind of assignment or research exercise,’ Boyd-Barrett said. ‘This is because experience and my colleagues’ experience suggests that for a lot of the time, open laptops are being used for purposes unrelated to classes.’ Dennis Parish, a law instructor at the University of Toledo who also teaches sport and recreational law here, said laptops in his class do not bother him. In his juvenile law class at Toledo, Parish estimated 25 or 26 of 28 students use laptops to take notes. ‘I am just used to seeing them,’ Parish said. ‘I do not think they are necessarily a distraction. It is no different than students looking down and taking notes all the time.’ He did, however, agree with Boyd-Barrett that students using them for means outside of academics are cause for concern. ‘The biggest concern most professors have is whether [students] are on the Internet doing other things while they are in class,’ Parish said. ‘I know [at] some schools this is turned off so Internet service is not available during the time of class.’ Sophomore Chelsea Scott does not use her laptop in class, but said they can be a distraction to students. ‘I think they are more of a distraction to most people,’ Scott said. ‘That’s why I don’t use mine, I know I would be less likely to pay attention and take good notes.’ Ray Schneider, an associate professor in the school of human movement, sport and leisure studies, has seen an increase in the number of students utilizing laptops in class. ‘It is a lot easier, especially if we are doing a lot on Blackboard and the notes are there,’ Schneider said. ‘I have not noticed people [doing other things on their laptops] as a big problem.’ In relation to laptops potentially being a distraction to students, Schneider said he gives the student the benefit of the doubt. ‘Most students that use their laptops have explained they prefer to take notes on it. This allows me to say, ‘Please make sure you are doing things related to class,” Schneider said.