Using laptops duringlectures

redvelvet

I'm an arts student. Is it common for people to use laptops during lectures? I just thought it would be much handier than printing loads of pages.

Conor108

Yeah. Most people just have the lolz on facebook though. It's more fun than notes

**Timbuk2**

What subjects are you doing?

It depends on the lecturer. I do a lot of maths/stats subjects and the lecturers for those do not like people on their laptops, at all! Whereas I sat in on a geography of cities lecture because my friend was going to it, and tonnes of people were on laptops!

Personally, what works best for me is printing out the notes in advance, and writing in any extra bits during the lecture. Then put them in a folder, and study out of the folder for the exams. It's just too tempting to go on facebook, or some other website, and not pay attention to the lecture while sitting in during the lecture.

redvelvet

**Timbuk2** wrote: »

What subjects are you doing?

Well see I'm doing sociology, and I got an email from the lecturer telling me to bring in the notes he posted on Blackboard on Monday. I saved it on my laptop. 11 pages long!! So I thought maybe I can just have my laptop open instead of printing 11 pages.

How much do they charge for printing btw?

**Timbuk2**

Well it depends on the lecturer, all they'll do is tell you to get off your laptop if they don't want you on them, otherwise they'll pass no remarks!

Printing in UCD costs (or used to, it may have increased) 5c per page for black and white A4 printing. Often people print 6 powerpoint slides a page to minimise printing costs, or 2 PDF pages per sheet (you can set this in Powerpoint and Adobe Acrobat respectively).

It might be cheaper to print at home and bring it in. But whatever works out best for you, I just prefer having actual notes in front of me. Its great at exam time as you dont need a laptop at all, just study from your folder! Keeps you away from distracting yourself by LOLing and ROFLing at facebook instead of studying, and also it's hard to get a laptop space in the library near exam time, whereas getting a non-laptop space (no plug, just a desk) is easy!

unknown13

redvelvet wrote: »

I'm an arts student. Is it common for people to use laptops during lectures? I just thought it would be much handier than printing loads of pages.

If you don't have a laptop in Arts it would be a serious struggle. Loads in Arts have laptops and use them regularly, very common in Theatre L to see a lots of people using laptops.

kebn

The reason lecturers tell you to print out the notes is so you can make your own notes in addition to the slides, rather than just attempting to rewrite the slides themselves (in which case you're not really paying that much attention). You could edit the slides on the laptop, but you need to be damn fast at it to do it well.

Another reason is that in engineering (dunno about other courses), a lot of the lecturers give "skeleton notes" where half of the information is missing and you need to fill in the blanks by going to lectures. I hate this system but it can work extremely well for some subjects.

Having a laptop is handy in college but you definitely don't need one, especially in lectures. Where they come in handy is assignments, lab reports and essays, but then again you could use one of the ample computer labs in UCD to do those. They also come in handy if (when) you've forgotten to print out tutorial or lab handouts.

So to answer your question, yes it's common (mainly in first year) in most courses, but I wouldn't recommend using them in lectures myself. You'll know better when you settle in though, don't worry about it and feel free to ignore me!

work.inprocess

redvelvet wrote: »

I'm an arts student. Is it common for people to use laptops during lectures? I just thought it would be much handier than printing loads of pages.

I did a French elective last year and the lecturer didn't let us use laptops, usually most of them will though.

parker kent

unknown13 wrote: »

If you don't have a laptop in Arts it would be a serious struggle. Loads in Arts have laptops and use them regularly, very common in Theatre L to see a lots of people using laptops.

I didn't have a laptop and I got a 1.1 in Arts. I just used computer rooms and my brothers PC. I then got a laptop for my Masters and the temptation to tune out in lectures and go online is too much at times.

Whatever about having a laptop for writing essays, I wouldn't really advise using them in lectures. Just print out the notes beforehand if you can and hand-write notes in class.

bnt

You'll find that the benches in the Arts lecture theatres are very skinny, and a big laptop just doesn't feel safe on them. If it's necessary to use one in lectures, I recommend something smaller, such as a netbook or MacBook Air. You still have the UCD PCs for any "heavy lifting". You need to think about noise too - a loud keyboard will get you moaned at.

blondielocks

It really depends on your lecturers. Jonathon Turner for Geography doesn't really like students to use them, if they must, it has to be down the front. However Joseph Brady is very pro laptops. Truth be told, you just go on facebook and everyone behind you will sit looking at you on facebook, if you turn around its a load of people staring at your laptop! Good old fashioned pen and paper is easier to carry around with you anyway.

Victoria.

I love having my laptop for when I'm hanging around to mess on or to do assignments but I rarely use it in a lecture unless I'm just checking something quickly.

It really is so distracting though looking at a sea of laptops on facebook/youtube in lectures so if you're using one, at least be looking at the lecture slides on blackboard.

Sad Professor

In two years, I've only ever had one lecturer who didn't allow laptops. I rarely use mine in lectures anyway. I take handwritten notes and type up the important stuff later, which I find to be a good way to revise.

Sam the Sham

One lecturer lets people use laptops but switches off the router. Solves the facebook/youtube problem.

Red Alert

Didn't know they could switch it off - whereabouts is it?

Sam the Sham

Red Alert wrote: »

Didn't know they could switch it off - whereabouts is it?

This was in Theatre R. Router is on the wall. He had to stand on a chair to get to the switch. Very poor mobile reception in those theatres so once the router is off, you can be sure nobody could access the interwebs. Has a way of concentrating the mind...

Of course, I could never see the point of attending a lecture if all you intended to do was look at facebook the entire time. . .

Davidius

Sam the Sham wrote: »

Of course, I could never see the point of attending a lecture if all you intended to do was look at facebook the entire time. . .

Because it means you get to say the lecturer was bad when you fail.