This is an oft discussed topic on teknoids, so it is interesting to see that are larger issues here than whether or not a CivPro lecture is interesting enough to keep students from bidding on eBay during class.
Laptops in classrooms not working out as hoped
Some professors have responded to the prevalence of networked computers in class by changing their teaching styles. The University of Houston’s Prof. Adams, for instance, now peppers his lectures with enough questions to reduce students’ Web surfing. When he is discussing a particularly complex subject, he says, he tells students to close their laptops.