GGobi data visualization system.

Judy Brown mentioned this app for data visualization. I haven't had a chance to look at it yet, but I should this summer.

More professors ban laptops in class - Tech News & Reviews - MSNBC.com

One of the popular sentiments from laptop proponents for the reason faculty prohibit laptops regards students checking the validity of the lecture while in the class. This possibility pulls at the seams of the classroom environment. Having taught college chemistry, I I know I would have been shaken if a student began correcting me in class on things that are not readily apparent as typos and algebraic mistakes in formulas. However, it just as important for those errors to be caught before they spend too much time in students ears or get hastily entered into notebooks (if not more important). I agree that the classroom environment today is and should be much more interactive and students must take that into account so they do not blindly take word for word down without experiencing the other elements of instruction. How can we let students who prefer to take notes on laptop and/or avail themselves of supplementary material to do so while inhibiting students who gamble and check email online? The answer is that we can't without going through some Herculean effort, and only to have students later find a way around that measure. I think an effective educator must have his or her right to choose the teaching and learning environment, including prohibiting laptops. Yet, I would also hope that as long as the educator is only threatened but not distracted by laptop users, s/he should permit the technology and use other measures to inhibit "off task" behavior from both the laptop user and the crossword addict.