I haven't had a strong policy. I've just asked that students turn them off.
Then I learned that one of my colleagues starts everybody off with 2 extra credit points. If their phone goes off in class, he deducts 2 points from the offender... and 2 points for every incident thereafter. At the beginning of this term, I told my students of my colleague's policy and asked if they would like that implemented for their class. The overwhelming response was, "YES!" When asked, "Why?" students provided ~many~ strongly-voiced reasons. That was good for their fellow students to hear. I added that I was aware that things do come up, e.g., family member on a death-watch, an EMT on call, etc. "If that is true for you, place your phone on 'buzz' and sit near the door. If you do not have a buzz feature, please let the class know before class begins that you're expecting an important call. It's less annoying if we know that it isn't just a friend calling to chat or your partner asking you to pick up milk on your way home." The result? Most everybody checks to make sure their phones are off before class starts. =) To those students who leave their phones on so their kids have continous access to them, okay, but they might want to make sure that the kids know when mom or dad is in class and only call them if it is truly an emergency. Otherwise, it's going to hurt mom's/dad's grade. -- Sue Frantz Highline Community College Psychology Des Moines, WA 206.878.3710 x3404 [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://flightline.highline.ctc.edu/sfrantz/ > -----Original Message----- > From: Claudia Stanny [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] > Sent: Wednesday, January 30, 2002 7:00 AM > To: Teaching in the Psychological Sciences > Subject: RE: cell phones & pagers > > > I've begun to include the following paragraph on the syllabus > of all of my > classes: > > > Classroom courtesy is essential. Students who attend class > are motivated to > learn and are annoyed when other students engage in > disruptive behavior. Cell > phones, beepers, chatting with friends, rattling newspapers > and cracking food > wrappers, and similar behaviors are annoying and distracting to other > students. Please respect the right of each student to hear > the lecture and > participate in class discussion. Turn off all cell phones > and beepers during > class (or put them on �buzz� and sit near the door if you > cannot protect your > time and must be available to the outside world during > class). If you must > respond to a call or feel the need to converse with a > classmate, please leave > the room so that your activities will not disrupt class or > interfere with the > attention of other students. --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
