BY ROBERT TODD
THERE ARE DEFINITELY MIXED VIEWS ON THE VALUE OF LAPTOPS IN THE CLASSROOM.
T
he sounds of ruffling pa- pers and scribbling pens have largely been replaced in Canada's law school lec- ture halls by the tapping on
laptop keyboards. Most students probably can't imagine
how previous generations navigated life in law school without the devices, espe- cially when finals roll around. (It's never been easier to get top-quality lecture notes or to create a first-class exam re- view, thanks to word processors.) But law professors across the country
are wondering if the computers — cou- pled with internet access — are hurting the quality of students' legal education. Kimberly Arnal, a former University
of Manitoba law student now articling at Winnipeg's Deeley Fabbri Sellen, says only two students in her first-year class didn't have laptops. Both of those hold- outs had acquired them by third year, she says. Arnal says she can type on a keyboard
faster than she can write, which means she can take more thorough notes us- ing her laptop. Typing her notes using a word processor — and trading notes with her peers — allowed her to orga- nize her thoughts better, which in the end meant she retained more informa- tion from her classes. Arnal says some profs even provided computer files of
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