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Outside of these areas, however, the benefits of 1:1 laptop availability are mixed. Different studies have found changes in math and science test performance that were inconsistent. In general, the authors argue, the benefits of laptops come in cases where the larger educational program has been redesigned to incorporate their unique capabilities,

unless the use of laptops is focused on providing a relevant portion of the lesson plan, they'll (obviously) wind up being irrelevant at best, and a distraction at worst

Of course, given their popularity with college students, laptops are showing up in classrooms where they have nothing to do with lesson plans at all.

That's the theory. The reality is that everything from IM chats to online shopping excursions take place over the in-class ether, distracting everyone involved:

What's to be done?

Our own Jacqui Cheng suggests a variation on this: make all laptop users sit in the back, so that they only distract each other, and let them figure out whether their grades are suffering on their own.