If you have ever been in a class room in which one student brought a laptop computer and the other students did not, you are no doubt aware that such a student is a trailblazer in some schools. While a lot of schools do not have any particular rules which would ban bringing in your laptop, there is a sort of generalized stigma against doing things of that nature. After all, it could be used for all different kinds of shady activities, and it could also become a serious distraction. Thereis just something about any kind of unusual technology, after all. Anything which is not an established part of the norm is always going to have to go through a period in which it is not going to be very appreciated or respected, so that it must earn its place among the already naturalized parts of the area. In a school, that would be things like pencils and papers.
When it comes to bringing in a laptop to a classroom setting, there are going to need to be a couple of additional rules for its operation. For one thing, the sound is to be turned off. Even listening to music through a set of earphones is a disruption that most teachers should not tolerate. Also, there should be no games loaded up during class time. If they want to play before school, after school or during lunch, that’s fine, but the lessons they are supposed to be learning should trump everything else.
For another thing, the laptop itself needs to be used strictly as a tool, instead of as a status symbol or a conversation piece. If a group of students have never seen one of their fellows bring in a laptop before, they are naturally going to have a few questions about it, or at least take notice of the unusual “Mary’s little lamb” type of presence. While it is fine to notice things like this, the teacher does need to make sure that no tool, no matter how interesting, should ever take over the class or the discussion.