Life skills and career tips for Canada's lawyers in training
Issue link: https://digital.canadianlawyermag.com/i/50904
PowerPoint outlines of their lectures be- forehand, which allowed students to ex- pand upon key points without worrying about getting down the basics. Being able to run a quick internet search for an unfamiliar term used by a prof also helped. "It helped you to stay on top of things. And if you didn't un- derstand something, you got all of the information down and you can learn it after," says Arnal. "Whereas, if I was writing it, I don't know if I would get enough information down to be able to look it up and understand it later." Stéphane Émard-Chabot, the former assistant dean of the University of Ot- tawa Faculty of Law's Common Law Section who teaches commercial and municipal law, says virtually all law stu- dents now use laptops during class. He says the percentage remains lower in undergrad classes, where most students still take notes with pen and paper. Émard-Chabot says laptop use isn't new — he estimates about two-thirds of the students he taught seven years ago used them, but nearly all use them now. He says when his students began us- ing laptops in class, distractions ranged from solitaire to movies. But when wire- less arrived at the school three years ago, a whole new set of potential distractions popped up. "We had not announced yet that the wireless system was on, but the day I walked into the class — literally, I knew that day that the wireless was working; you could tell. And so people are surfing, people are on MSN, people are e-mailing, people are doing all of that. I guess they are taking notes, of course," he adds with a chuckle. Some of the more bizarre things he's Hang Your Hat Here… We are looking for students with diverse backgrounds, eclectic interests and entrepreneurial spirits to hang their many hats near ours. Be a part of one of the most dynamic legal practices in Canada. Contact our Assistant Director of Student Programs, Leigh-Ann McGowan at lamcgowan@casselsbrock.com or visit our student website at www.casselsbrock.com. seen law students use their laptops for during class include one student watch- ing a movie ("a newer version of King Kong," he says). A complaint was also filed after a student was found viewing pornography in class. University of Manitoba Faculty of Law professor Anne McGillivray says it's clear many students are distracted by laptops. You'd think law students would know enough to turn the volume off when playing a video game in class, but she says several times game sounds have popped up during a lecture. While Ottawa U has no formal policy on the use of laptops, Émard-Chabot says professors will intervene if stu- dents complain that another student's use is distracting. "In those cases, we will have a talk and say, 'What you do with your own time in your own space is your issue, but you don't have the right to prevent others from enjoying their educational experience,'" he says. Incidents have been rare, so the school has chosen to deal with issues on a case- by-case basis rather than create a for- mal policy on in-class laptop use, says Émard-Chabot. McGillivray says she would consider © 2008 Cassels Brock & Blackwell LLP. Cassels Brock and the CB logo are registered trade-marks of Cassels Brock & Blackwell LLP. All rights reserved. 10 S EPTEMBER 2008 C ANADIAN Lawy er 4STUDENTS banning laptops from a class if they proved too problematic. She notes that one of her colleagues conducted a "swoop" during a lecture by forc- ing students to raise their hands while he walked around the classroom to see what was on their screens, "which I thought showed a lot of nerve, but I don't think I'd ever would have done it," she says. Émard-Chabot says laptops also have forced professors to adapt their