Disability Futures

The issue of student laptop use in the classroom continues to be hotly debated, including among philosophy instructors. Some philosophers justify a ban on laptop use in their classrooms by appealing to studies that seem to show that laptop use during lectures and seminars lowers the overall performance of students. Other philosophers recognize the importance of laptops for many disabled students and allow exceptions to their bans for these students.

My recent post, “Laptops and the Accessible Classroom,” drew attention to concerns about the accessibility of one’s classroom and pedagogical practices that should be included in discussions about student use of laptops, as well as to the difference between the institution of accessible learning environments and the reproduction of learning environments in which disabled students and faculty are treated as "exceptions," accommodated within an otherwise inaccessible learning situation. In particular, the Digital Pedagogy Lab article from which I quoted in my post noted that research shows that nondisabled students hold negative perceptions of disabled students who are granted exceptions to classroom bans on laptops.