Professor Destroys Students Laptop with LN2

all i have to say is THANK YOU Americans with Disabilities Act
couldnt pull that crap with me i need my laptop to take notes
 
I work with LN2 frequently. If it was my laptop he destroyed, I would have grabbed that super fashionable phone on his hip as well as his watch and performed the freeze and smash and see how funny he thought that would be. What a jerk! That and I think I would take some LN2 and toss it on his prius windshield. Nice!
 
My convertible tablet PC is a TRUE notebook that can be written on with a pen. As Arcygenical says if student is paying to learn then he or she should be allowed to use whatever tools are at their disposal.

Now if we're talking about a test or something of that nature that's different. But for general class participation my tablet is a LEGITIMATE education tool that's as useful, even more useful then pen and paper.
 
Whitedog said:
I work with LN2 frequently. If it was my laptop he destroyed, I would have grabbed that super fashionable phone on his hip as well as his watch and performed the freeze and smash and see how funny he thought that would be. What a jerk! That and I think I would take some LN2 and toss it on his prius windshield. Nice!
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:D !
 
elektronisch said:
I'd love to see a professor, especially one of his stature, attempt this on any property of mine. I'd stick his face in the LN2 then smash it with my fist.

What a waste of resources.
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Yeah I always like how tough pussies like you talk behind a keyboard as well. Truth is youd have probably started crying like a little bitch.
 
demingo said:
I'm not sure when or if you went to college, but as of about 10 years ago, laptops are standard in most classrooms. Students take notes on them consistantly, some professors even require them.
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I have three university degrees (2 postgraduate). Computers may be necessary, but if the prof say "no", it means "no". And I never used computers for notetaking (most recent degree was 2002).
 
My anecdotal experience shows that most students that bring laptops to class end up messing around on them; they end up being a distraction for the student using them, and possibly whoever is sitting behind them as well.
 
I call Shens....

You just happen to have a bottle of liquid nitrogen waiting outside the door?

It was a put on to make a point, prolly a bricked lappy donated for the cause.

If it were a real persons lappy, that person would have been freakin out as the NO2 was being poured.
 
MONSOON said:
Yeah I always like how tough pussies like you talk behind a keyboard as well. Truth is youd have probably started crying like a little bitch.
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When my property is about to become a frozen popsicle, bet your balls I'd do it. Don't think the internet nerd won't do it? Try me.

It's always fun and games, until someone on a power trip just smashed a $1000 piece of property. Personally, I'd probably grab the container and throw it at him. If anyone asks, self defense.
 
Achron said:
No, they're not. People don't pay attention, they're writing emails and checking Facebook.

This is from Engadget:

"...and while it seems that the whole stunt was premeditated, most students acknowledged that his point was driven home. In short, he took a defunct machine, submerged in liquid nitrogen, and proceeded to make the following statement:

"This is just liquid nitrogen, so it alone won't hurt the computer. But this will."
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Then that is their choice. If they want to screw off and fail, more power to them. I am paying tuition I will take notes on whatever I damn well feel like. This is college, not kindergarten.

drako said:
I love how most here are coming to the defense of laptops in the classroom. Fact is, 90% of the time they aren't used to take notes, they are used to surf the net or play games. Which is fine... but then don't come to class! Don't be an idiot and come in, not pay attention, and distract other people. It's the fact that people can't use them intelligently which is why some professors have these policies.
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I love statistics that are pulled out of people's ass, care to back those numbers up with real data? No? I didn't think so.

Arcygenical said:
I don't care what 99.9% of students are doing in the college classroom: IF I take better notes on a laptop. I will be using my laptop. I'm paying tuition - and I will learn in the way that suits my style best.

In-fact, I'm HAPPY everyone else is wasting time on facebook - it means I'll be more competitive when I graduate, compared to the rest of my class.

Academia needs to learn that college is PAST the "We need to hold your hand" phase of development. College should separate the boys from the men. Step up to the plate - and do your own work, of your own volition. College is for ADULTS. Let the 20 year old children fail - and this country will be better for it. (Oh no, professor and university standing is too important than that - you're sellouts - as an industry).
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This. Now we all realize the students laptop part was just sensationalism. But the reality is, draconian rules like this have zero place on a modern college campus.
 
I think laptops should be allowed in class. Teachers and professors should get in the habit of walking up and down the aisles randomly and often when lecturing to reduce student's willingness to risk goofing off if the teachers or professor saw their screen. When caught, the students should be ridiculed for not paying attention, sometimes including being told to leave the classroom if they're unwilling to participate.
 
As someone working as a professional in the field of education, I can say that this professor's attitude is typical of the old regime of cranky old bats who refuse to embrace change because it's their way or the highway. I welcome students to pick a learning style that suits them best and to use all the tools they have available. In fact, the first day of class I show my students how to download my lecture slides with the web campus tool, how to use zotero and onenote. All of my lecture notes and slides are available the day before so they don't have to furiously type or write all the material in class: They can follow along online and focus on listening to the discussion around the points in my presentation.

That said, I know who takes notes and who is on facebook. If you think your professor doesn't know... well, you are either ignorant or naive. I don't hold anyone's hand after the first week. Do your work, engage in discussion and come to my office hours if you need help and I will give you the benefit of the doubt. Go ahead and sit in the back and play on facebook just don't come to me the last week of school and complain that your parents will kick you out or cut you off or you will be off the team or lose your scholarship or whatever. I don't care: It's not my problem.
 
Achron said:
No, they're not. People don't pay attention, they're writing emails and checking Facebook.
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Yes, they (rules outlawing laptops in class) most certainly are (dumb).

Better that they have the distraction and learn to avoid it to get their shit done. How many folks in a science class are going to have jobs where they don't have a computer with internet access on their desk?
 
Dekoth said:
I love statistics that are pulled out of people's ass, care to back those numbers up with real data? No? I didn't think so.
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You must love making assumptions too. I TA undergraduate classes, sit in the back of the classroom and constant see about that percentage of students with laptops NOT taking notes but rather just doing random useless things to occupy their time.

And I'm not speaking as somebody who is better than everybody else. If I had a laptop with me and I wasn't interested in the material, I'd probably be doing the same thing. I'm just trying to give you some perspective on why some professors choose to do this. People bitch too much these days. You are taking their class, which they are spending their time teaching. You follow their rules. Suck it up. If you don't like the policy, don't take the class. And if you go to a research university then the tuition argument doesn't hold water, because your money doesn't go towards their salary anyway. (this is not directed to you specifically Dekoth, just a general comment)
 
linuxdude9 said:
My anecdotal experience shows that most students that bring laptops to class end up messing around on them; they end up being a distraction for the student using them, and possibly whoever is sitting behind them as well.
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These are college students. They're maybe 3-4 years from working. My anecdotal information indicates that they will, almost without exception, have a job that requires them to use a computer. Either you can avoid the distraction or you can't. If the point of college is to train you for a job, seems to me that you might as well see if they can avoid fucking around on their laptop and get something done.

At some point, you have to treat adults like adults.
 
auspexd said:
As someone working as a professional in the field of education, I can say that this professor's attitude is typical of the old regime of cranky old bats who refuse to embrace change because it's their way or the highway. I welcome students to pick a learning style that suits them best and to use all the tools they have available. In fact, the first day of class I show my students how to download my lecture slides with the web campus tool, how to use zotero and onenote. All of my lecture notes and slides are available the day before so they don't have to furiously type or write all the material in class: They can follow along online and focus on listening to the discussion around the points in my presentation.

That said, I know who takes notes and who is on facebook. If you think your professor doesn't know... well, you are either ignorant or naive. I don't hold anyone's hand after the first week. Do your work, engage in discussion and come to my office hours if you need help and I will give you the benefit of the doubt. Go ahead and sit in the back and play on facebook just don't come to me the last week of school and complain that your parents will kick you out or cut you off or you will be off the team or lose your scholarship or whatever. I don't care: It's not my problem.
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I agree with this post entirely and it's how I approach the class I teach as part of my TA assignment. But some people definitely work differently. In my experience, it's mainly the folks who teach big lecture type classes that tend to have the no-electronics policies. Most of my smaller classes, the prof couldn't care less. Sink or swim... it's the student's call.
 
Why was the student who brought it not just going up there and taking it back and leaving the room??
 
Then that is their choice. If they want to screw off and fail, more power to them. I am paying tuition I will take notes on whatever I damn well feel like. This is college, not kindergarten.
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I find paper and pen to be still much better than a laptop. I type about 5 times faster than I write by hand, but OneNote is still too awkward to use, especially with anatomy diagrams and flow charts of physiological processes to draw and write out. And everything else plain sucks.
 
It was fake as hell, If that would have been my property I would of chin check his ass so quick, People honestly think that a person would allow anyone to destroy their property like that.
 
In college the shop head grabbed a students cell phone, which rang about three times while he was doing a demo, and put it through the band saw.
It was a rather effective deterrent.
 
I would buy a laptop and add ADP (Accidental Damage Protection) just so I could send it in like that
 
drako said:
You must love making assumptions too. I TA undergraduate classes, sit in the back of the classroom and constant see about that percentage of students with laptops NOT taking notes but rather just doing random useless things to occupy their time.

And I'm not speaking as somebody who is better than everybody else. If I had a laptop with me and I wasn't interested in the material, I'd probably be doing the same thing. I'm just trying to give you some perspective on why some professors choose to do this. People bitch too much these days. You are taking their class, which they are spending their time teaching. You follow their rules. Suck it up. If you don't like the policy, don't take the class. And if you go to a research university then the tuition argument doesn't hold water, because your money doesn't go towards their salary anyway. (this is not directed to you specifically Dekoth, just a general comment)
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Your personal experience != Study data.

The main point is, as several have mentioned in this thread; Rules like this have no place in the modern classroom. These are supposed to be adults training to be in the job world. If they can't pay attention and end up failing a few times, that is their problem not the professors.
 
auspexd said:
As someone working as a professional in the field of education, I can say that this professor's attitude is typical of the old regime of cranky old bats who refuse to embrace change because it's their way or the highway. I welcome students to pick a learning style that suits them best and to use all the tools they have available. In fact, the first day of class I show my students how to download my lecture slides with the web campus tool, how to use zotero and onenote. All of my lecture notes and slides are available the day before so they don't have to furiously type or write all the material in class: They can follow along online and focus on listening to the discussion around the points in my presentation.

That said, I know who takes notes and who is on facebook. If you think your professor doesn't know... well, you are either ignorant or naive. I don't hold anyone's hand after the first week. Do your work, engage in discussion and come to my office hours if you need help and I will give you the benefit of the doubt. Go ahead and sit in the back and play on facebook just don't come to me the last week of school and complain that your parents will kick you out or cut you off or you will be off the team or lose your scholarship or whatever. I don't care: It's not my problem.
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My professor is like that, to a point. He doesn't do a lot of hand-holding, however he does give people chances to learn and if they mess up they get some chance to redeem themselves. However, if you don't pay attention in class it isn't his problem. He records his lectures and puts them online as well. Though, I have to say, my classmates are all pretty attentive. I'd say maybe 90% of the class of nearly 50 have laptops. When the teacher talks 100% of them either put them away or use them to take notes. If he realizes someone is goofing off or not listening he'll call on them to answer a question and make sure they start paying attention.
 
Mr. Pedantic said:
I find paper and pen to be still much better than a laptop. I type about 5 times faster than I write by hand, but OneNote is still too awkward to use, especially with anatomy diagrams and flow charts of physiological processes to draw and write out. And everything else plain sucks.
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If you use a Tablet PC, Onenote is excellent for drawing pretty much anything.
 
Achron said:
No, they're not. People don't pay attention, they're writing emails and checking Facebook.
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Speak for yourself. At my school laptops are widespread and highly useful for taking notes fast/keeping them better organized (onenote). In fact, the school policy is that laptops are allowed because of this productivity increase. While some backwards teachers try to ban them because they are "disruptive", any student who wants to fight it will win.

This is the digital age, academics should facilitate the use of technology because in 10 years you aren't going to see business leaders depending on their pencil and notebook.
 
Clearly staged or it would be a news article about how a teacher got fired for destroying a student's laptop.

That and the video description on Youtube says it was staged.
 
Yes, I'm a grad student in the sciences at a large university and dewars full of LN2 are not uncommon. Safety ProTip: Don't fill a thermos with LN2, seal it and then walk away. A labmate learned that the hard way (no one was hurt).
 
I've always thought about it like this:

You pay money to go to school. What you choose to do with school is your own business. You get out of school exactly what you put in. If you work hard and study, and use the school's resources, you'll make it just fine. If you choose to skip class every week, party your brain out, and probably wind up with a random baby mama, then that's all on you.

Sure you'll have great professors, and then you'll have sucky professors that make you create a 100+ page paper of how you went about creating a website for a client as well as pages upon pages of code and error checking and stability testing. But hey, that's some darn good experience even if it's the largest pain in the ass I've ever come across.

There's plenty of ways to have a great time and get good grades, just sad how many people I saw throwing their money and at the end of the semester see them bomb and have to spend more money to make it up.
 
I use my laptop for notes in 100% of my class. I also sometimes have to have it in order to do work-related stuff in class. Do I get distracted sometimes? Sure. But I can tell you with 100% certainty that my ADD is such that I'm MUCH worse off trying to take notes by hand than trying to use a laptop. With a laptop, I multi-task at times and always end up with great notes, even if I am distracted. Taking notes by hand, I just zone out or get too focused on what is going on in the classroom, and take shitty notes. Or I just draw, which is especially pointless when I suck at drawing.
 
The graduate program I just completed had a totally opposite bent as this professor. You were required to have a laptop from Day 0 (entrance & placement exam). During lectures, the non-teaching staff would walk the auditorium aisles and ride you if you didn't have a laptop out taking notes or if your laptop was open to anything besides Word, OpenOffice, or Pages. And, just to drive a point home, the guest lecturers would provide you with one set of notes prior to the term and talk about something completely different; both were tested, so your notes had better be thorough. End of term exam? You guessed it, computer-based too. I love modern, forward-thinking programs.
 
DudeItsMe said:
I use my laptop for notes in 100% of my class. I also sometimes have to have it in order to do work-related stuff in class. Do I get distracted sometimes? Sure. But I can tell you with 100% certainty that my ADD is such that I'm MUCH worse off trying to take notes by hand than trying to use a laptop. With a laptop, I multi-task at times and always end up with great notes, even if I am distracted. Taking notes by hand, I just zone out or get too focused on what is going on in the classroom, and take shitty notes. Or I just draw, which is especially pointless when I suck at drawing.
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This.

I've found that my middle school students function much better when completing a couple tasks at once. For the most part they tend to finish more quickly and have a better final product than when they have to monotask. I'm lucky in that aspect, since what I teach (band) requires ridiculous amounts of multitasking.
 
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