By the professor's rule, students in the English classes of Dr. Mark Bauerlein at Emory University must take notes by hand. Laptops must be turned off, he says, to ensure students focus on what's happening in the room, rather than on what's floating around cyberspace. In an age of instant communication via computers, cell phones and personal digital assistants, particularly among members of the millennial generation, Bauerlein contends slowing down learning on campus is "good for their mental equipment." Bauerlein, an English professor at Emory, is a leading campus critic of the overuse of technology--particularly for social networking and research--and says it hampers the intellectual growth and emotional maturity of college students of traditional age. He lays out his argument in a provocatively titled book, published last year, The Dumbest Generation: How the Digital Age Stupefies Young Americans and Jeopardizes Our Future (Or, Don't Trust Anyone Under 30). The book, and an article also published last year in The Atlantic magazine, "Is Google Making Us Stupid?" marked a shift in the critique of information technology to its intellectual implications. Neither criticism, however, has slowed campus use of information technology as a tool to increase learning efficiency, enrich course content, expand access to classes and promote communication between classmates and with their instructors. Academic immersion into technology continues apace because it has shaped the learning styles of today's students and has become fundamental to employers' expectations in the workplace, says Dr. Julie K. Little, director of teaching, learning and professional development for EDUCAUSE, a nonprofit that promotes "the intelligent use" of information technology in higher education. Jarret Cummings, an EDUCAUSE spokesman, pointed to what he called a balanced view of technology in the organization's 2005 book, Educating the Net Generation. A chapter co-authored by Central Florida's Moskal credits the generation for its diversity and team orientation but also finds fault in "a comparative lack of critical thinking skills." The co-authors do not, however, attribute that shortcoming to technology or any of its particular uses. According to Michigan State University Dr. Yong Zhao, whether people like it or not, the new technology is defining new skills and market demands for them.