Do students only use classrooms during classes over there? I know that we would often set up camp in empty classrooms for study sessions, group meetings, paper research, etc.

Good point. But here there's wireless out in the courtyard and in the cafe. This along with the fact that reserving classroom space is an exercise in dealing with bureaucracy makes recreational classroom use that requires internet access fairly rare.

P.S. I'm writing this comment via wireless access during the first day of Property.

Honestly, wireless is the biggest distraction I've ever had to face in my entire education. Every semester I start out by leaving my wireless card either at home or in my locker while I go to class, but, inevitably, I start to pack it in with my computer "just so I can check email." Then it escalates. Sometimes it's news sites. Other times it's the IM demon. But, by the end of the semester, even if I like the class, I'm surfing the internet for almost the whole of each class period. Even if I'm paying attention, one hand is idly taking me to fark.com or CNN or any of the numerous blawgs I read.

However, for those interminably long classes where the importance comes from the reading and not lecture, wireless can be a blessing. :)

Well, the ass who sat in front of me in Constitutional Law today checked his bank account, checked his stocks, checked his grades, played games, IM'd, checked and wrote e-mail, and read the news. It was distracting and really irritating. And he was in the front freaking row! That takes some nerve. If you're going to goof off the whole time you should at least have the decency to hide in the back of the room.

Or you could pay attention and stop reading off his screen. The presence of a patch of interesting colors in a 1.5 square-foot area shouldn't be that overwhelming.

More than 5 hours away from a decent link and I go into withdrawal. But, there's nothing better than the constant partial attention provided by wireless internet to prepare you for your CrackBerry addicted future.

I can safely say under oath that I have used Westlaw and Lexis for looking up things (cases, statutes, etc.) solely for the purpose of enhancing my educational experience.

That said, there's a lot of non-enhancing stuff going on, too. Although even with IM, a lot of conversations center around the class topic, sort of an undercurrent related to the topic.

If there was one iota or hint of any sorts that the use of IM in the classroom would reduce unnecessary questions, I'd install wireless myself.

Well, I don't necessary think it does that, but when people are asking those questions, I'm paying less attention, so I guess it does sort of accomplish that goal. :)

I vote for wireless everywhere. My school (BU) has it. Granted it's only recently that it's worked reliably, but we missed it when it didn't. For one, rooms are used for multiple purposes (not just lectures). For another, there are legitimate educational reasons for having Internet accessibility during class (the construction of our school means that wireless is the only way to get it): e.g., checking documents on the course website when the professor mentions them, or during OCI having ready access to email for the last minute interviews that could get scheduled, or getting clarifications on what the professor just said via IM (yes, it's happened), etc.

Personal judgment and discretion determine whether wireless access might negatively affect one's academic performance. It doesn't do so automatically.

Now I say all this as someone whose entire laptop has recently gone kaput and has been taking notes by hand all this semester. Clearly I can live without technology, Internet-connected or standalone. But I don't think that evidence of my survival necessitates the conclusion that others should be deliberately deprived of the option.

(And my lack of connectivity is just forcing my classmates to IM me by passing notes on scraps of paper. Clearly the Internet is more discrete, and saves more trees...)

And computer solitaire is more efficient than taking out the deck of bicycle cards each time. I'm still not convinced that any non-entertainment use of wireless occupies anything more than a miniscule portion of total usage.