Article - "If you Text in Class, This Prof Will Leave"

[feministyogini]

This just came through one of my teaching departments.

If You Text in Class, This Prof Will Leave
http://insidehighered.com/news/2008/04/02/texting

Some professors threaten to confiscate students’ cell phones if they go off during class. Laurence Thomas has his own

Comments

[aileen8aalien]

I put a "No Electronic Devices" policy in my syllabus every semester. And it works. The students respect it if it's discussed the first day of class. Occasionally a cell phone ringer may go off (6 times a semester at most) but the texting ceases.

I struggle with the no laptop stance because I like to do multi=media lectures and I think some students learn better if they can participate, but in the end, the lure of Facebook and Myspace proved too strong and I've had to ban all laptops, too.

[feministyogini]

did you receive much negative response to the laptop ban?

[anjibobanji]

I am a TA for a 400 person lecture where the professor banned laptops. One student is taking notes for a special needs student and that one person, introduced to the class during lecture, has permission to use her laptop.

We'll see how enforcing it goes but so far people are not saying anything.

[qkellie]

I allow laptops for adaptive reasons as well, but I feel there is no other legitimate need right in the middle of class to have a laptop out.

[skirmishgirl]

Without touching the race issue included in this (I just don't have that much energy today) I will say this

[feministyogini]

My tutorials are about the same size.
What do you say to students who are texting? Do you go for sarcasm or serious stern-nes?

[indigodreamer]

In my English classes, which are also approximately 25 students each, I tell them that they will incur one-half of an absence if I have to ask them to stop text messaging (or sleeping, reading the newspaper, etc.). I don't ask them to leave (largely for the reasons cited by the professor in the article), and in fact I encourage them to stay as long as they aren't being disruptive. But they know that texting will put them at risk for an absence, and I'm fairly strict on the attendance policy, so it becomes their job to police themselves. This allows me to be more matter-of-fact about it than sarcastic or stern. Usually I make eye contact or say the student's name, raise an eyebrow, and then make a note. They rarely ever do it again.

[skirmishgirl]

It depends on the student. If they're snotty, I go for stern. If they're one of my genial students who just has a case of the dumb that day, I go with sarcasm mixed with teasing. Either way works.

I also usually ask what's so important. Amazingly, sometimes they tell me!

[wildflowerfever]

Why didn't he just kick the texting student out?

[feministyogini]

In the article he says that the student may refuse to leave and then it becomes a power struggle.

[feministyogini]

I think very few students would challenge the professor. But it happened to a colleague of mine and she had to call security. It backfired on her because our dept chair didn't support her.

[nesf]

Unless the behaviour is disrupting the class (ie a phone ringing, talking etc) I don't see why you'd walk out of a class for someone not paying attention/whatever. It is disrespectful but I don't see it as being worth making a fuss over if it's not affecting the lecture for everyone else.

I've read books (relevant to the lecture kind of books) in lectures and never seen a problem with it though you could construe it as being disrespectful to the lecturer because I wasn't giving them my undivided attention (but to my mind this works both ways, you'll get my attention if what you're saying requires it not simply because you're lecturing)*.

*here I'm talking about classes where the material is covered very slowly or simply.

[feministyogini]

It's true, I was guilty of doing other things during lecture (like reading material for another class) as an undergraduae. Somehow when I'm on the other side of the lectern, it's really annoying and disrespectful :)

[nesf]

Meh, I normally end up doing it economics class and I can get away with it by describing it as utility maximising behaviour for someone who likes the subject. ;)

[lexically]

I do think students ought to respect their professors and pay attention in class, but on the other hand if 399 students are behaving and 1 is being an ass then I'm not sure walking out on the 399 is the right way to go.

[feministyogini]

The up-side to that is that students will police each other because they don't want to "lose out".

[lexically]

To some extent they may, but I don't feel I have the right (or perhaps just the chutzpah) to tell someone to stop texting. I will occasionally look over my shoulder and shush or glare at someone who is talking during a lecture, but that doesn't always work and that's as far as I'm willing to take it. I couldn't imagine telling them to stop surfing facebook or reading material unrelated to the course.

[feministyogini]

I agree, I'm not quite sure how to do it. I have asked someone to put their phone away while texting but it became awkward because she didn't do it right away. You know the have-to-finish-this thing? So then I think I asked her again but then the vibe of the tutorial got weird (with 22 students, it's hard to call one person out and not have the tone of the day shift - I've only done it when absolutely necessary).