I’d actually rather students pull out an iPod when they’ve finished and turned in their tests rather than their course textbook and notes - provided they keep the volume down.

Books and notes make far too tempting a target for the wandering eyes of other students who’ve not yet finished the test.

Add to that the fact that at the time, there wasn’t a whole lot to find on the Internet - unless you were looking for quotes from every Monty Python skit ever performed . If you could even get access. That required that you could prove to some system administrator that you were fluent in Monty Python - at which point you were awarded an account with access to USENET news. There, you were only allowed to post articles if they contained some reference to Monty Python.

ahh, the old days!

not to cheat, mind you, but just to get started.

I encourage my students to use the search engines - but not to get carried away with everything you find on them. I also remind them that I, too, can use search engines and if they submit work that’s copied-and-pasted off of Wikipedia or some other site, I’ll notice.

Whatever happened to paying attention during class? Hey Kelsey, how about cracking open a book to read after your test, you know, the heavy thing made out of paper with words in it.

I can guarantee it, some parent will fight this, saying “my son/daughter studies while listening to music, so they should be able to take the test with the music, too” or “my kid has ADD and the music relaxes them.” They’ll even get a quack doctor to sign off on this.

Just wait, someones civil rights are being violated here, Jesse Jackson and “Sideshow” Sharpton will come storming in. Unless these kids are white, of course.

not to cheat, mind you, but just to get started.

i can google a few lyrics from a song to know exactly who sang it within seconds.