University professor William Rowe was like any other student in his 375-person class when, a few years ago, he invited a guest speaker to one of his freshman-level geography classes. He found an open seat in back of the classroom and sat down to listen to the 30-minute presentation.While taking in the lecture, Rowe saw most of his students paying attention. Some were even taking notes on their laptop computers. But one student’s activity on a laptop immediately caught his eye.”One guy was perusing pornography, which was causing a bit of a disturbance around him,” Rowe said.Professors around campus are dealing more these days with the distractions laptops cause in classrooms. The result is a trend of more restrictions on laptop use. The problem raises many issues, including how far restrictions should go and students’ thoughts about some of the rules.Erin Phillips has been on campus for two years and has never used a laptop in class to take notes. The accounting sophomore said computers easily distract her during lectures.”When people are checking Facebook or chatting with friends, it could be a little more interesting than what’s going on with class,” she said.Students like Phillips say they appreciate professors’ growing bans on laptops. Some regulations range from no-tolerance policies to requiring laptop users sit in the first few rows of a class.The University has no campus-wide regulation on laptop usage in classrooms.Tracy Rizzuto, assistant psychology professor, recently instituted a “laptops in first row” rule. She’s been teaching at the University for four years.”I don’t have an attendance policy — I don’t require people to come. But if they’re one of those people who are surfing the Internet or doing distracting things while taking notes, I want to be able to keep an eye on that behavior,” she said. “It’s easier to monitor what people are doing on their laptops if they’re sitting in the front row.”Rizzuto said she mainly notices freshmen using laptops for things other than taking notes.  “Freshman-level courses probably should take a harder line in discouraging multi-tasking until students really have the responsibility to use those tools correctly,” she said.Meanwhile, college campuses across the country are becoming more Internet-friendly.Campus Computing Project, which studies information technology’s role in U.S. colleges and universities, reported nearly 67 percent of college classrooms have Wi-Fi access. That number is up from about 60 percent in 2007 and much higher than the 2004 rate of 31 percent.More Wi-Fi has given students more ways to ignore lectures in favor of reading the news or playing games online. That increase is also forcing professors to make some changes.Jonathon Morgan, a communication studies junior, said he sometimes browses the Internet on his laptop in class, but said he pays attention most of the time.  “I’ve never had a problem with it, but I’ve noticed not everybody is taking notes,” he said.LSU has 1,500 wireless access points on campus, meaning nearly every classroom provides a wireless signal.In his department, Rowe said graduate assistants who teach large lecture classes are noticing more laptop problems, especially since most classrooms have Wi-Fi.Rowe pointed out many professors will have to teach entry-level courses next fall for the first time in a few years because of budget restrictions. The return to a large lecture format will likely cause professors to implement some laptop restrictions, he said.”This is going to be something of a rude awakening to some of them,” Rowe said. “They’re not used to this idea of 300 people and have 10 percent who think what you’re saying just isn’t worth their time.”Julie Greathouse, elementary education freshman, takes notes on her laptop in every class. She uses her professors’ PowerPoint presentations during lecture to follow along, adding notes at relevant points.”I’m pretty focused,” she said.Greathouse’s strategy is one Diane Mohler, a learning strategies consultant at the University’s Center for Academic Success, recommends to students to balance note-taking and laptop usage. Mohler meets with students during semesters to give note-taking and studying advice. She said she usually tells students that laptop usage is different for everyone.”My ideal would be to use the laptop to get all the information the professor gives you — Power Point, whatever — to give you a framework and a location to put everything,” she said. “If you feel that you’re distracted in a classroom, then print it off and leave the laptop aside.”Mohler said the University has no plans of implementing a blanket rule and believes that’s the right idea. She said the issue is based totally on students.—-Contact Kyle Whitfield at [email protected]