Professors banning in-class laptop use

I certainly hope this is not the start of a trend in higher education. Here we are talking up all the virtues of DAISY texts - one of the most important being the ability of the student electronically flip pages and bookmark items right alongside their less impaired classmates. What happens if some professor gets on his high horse and refuses to allow laptops into his classroom? It's easy enough to institute an accommodation allow such - but where do you draw the line between what the student can and cannot access on their PC should push come to shove?

I may be borrowing trouble (as my Gramma would say), but this may be a case where preparation is better than reaction. By giving this some thought ahead of time and discussing it with the appropriate campus entities (such as the academic Deans or Provost) DSS may avert a mid-semester issue that could distract a student from doing what they are supposed to be doing - learning in the classroom. I'd been interested in a poll of faculty on this topic. I'd put money on most of those against laptops in the classroom are of an older demographic with such attitudes waning as the average age gets younger.

Institutional attitudes towards technology are also important - one could assume that those institutions promoting institutional wi-fi and pushing educational web 2.0 would have more contemporary attitudes towards computer use by students in the classroom. I do find it interesting that most of the upheaval to date seems to be taking place in law schools. I know from experience at my home institution that LAW is a different experience for both students and faculty - but one would think that programs training future lawyers to use all resources available - and with examples such as the recent Google and Yahoo! court cases defining internet law - that law schools would embrace rather than reject student computer use in the classroom. makes me wonder what we are teaching our future legal eagles.