Tomorrow's Professor, the excellent mailing list  sponsored by the Stanford University Center for Teaching and Learning  considers this week a variety of learning activities that can be done with laptops in the classroom. The post excerpts Chapter 1: "Laptops in the Class: What Are They Good For? What Can You Do with Them?" from Barbara E. Weaver and Linda B. Nilson's New Directions for Teaching and Learning no. 101: Enhancing Learning with Laptops in the Classroom (John Wiley & Sons, 2005). The authors state "The real question requires more elaboration: What can we do with laptops in class that (1) has genuine learning value for students (is interactive, participatory, experiential, or hands-on) and (2) cannot be done as well or at all without a laptop, at least not in class? In fact, many of the laptop activities suggested here could be done as homework on any kind of Internet linked computer. So why not just assign computer activities to be done out of class and forget about laptops?" They answer their question with 8 solid suggestions for types of activities that effectively use laptops in the classroom.