I am interpreting that your study has found that 10% of students in any given class meeting will do at least one text message during the class, is that the case? I used to tell student to not use their cell phone and that I was *serious* and would take their phones away (did remove them from their hands a time or two during exams). I don't feel that it ever made a dent. Your 10% figure on use in any given class sounds about right compared to my experience.
This semester was the first that I seriously tried to tackle the cell phone/text messaging problem. Because I was teaching a couple of 100 level courses, and the university closely tracks students' progress and success in those classes, I knew I would need to take attendance. So, I tied cell phone use to attendance. The students have a small portion of their grade tied to attendance. Each day they are absent counts against that grade. Furthermore, each 'cell phone incident' is treated as a day absent against that point total. A cell phone incident was defined as 'the instructor sees or hears your phone at all, even if on the floor or visible in your bag. It must be hidden away and set to silent.' I decided to have the same policy in my upper division class and because of that also track attendance which I would normally not do for upper division students. Across all 4 sections I'm teaching, total of about 77 students, I have had a total of 4 instances of cell phone use. The first two happened in the 2nd week of the semester. We know students talk, so doubtless word spread that I meant it. The second two incidents happened over the past couple of weeks, possibly them getting lazy in recalling that the rule is in place, but doubtless the word will spread again when they see the 'cell phone absence' mark go up on Blackboard for them. I have also had a couple of incidents of a phone ringing in someone's bag, which causes giggles and nobody daring to look for their bag. It would have been Clouseau-esq to try to find the violating phone, so I shrugged it off. That has always been fairly rare, so I don't think of it as a big deal. I never confront the student, even if I don't know their name. I note who it is what name they respond to when roll is called the next class.) I just record it in Blackboard. I've never had one come back to complain about the demerit showing up in their grade record. This policy could be a problem at many schools, including ours, that use a text alert system in case of a lock-down or other emergency, you have to assure the students (I put it in the syllabus, also) that you will have your phone in the class in case an emergency message is sent. I take out my phone each class and put it on the desk in plain view. If my phone buzzes/lights up I glance at it to see what the message is. With about 15 class meetings to this point in the semester and 77 students, that is 1155 chances for a texting incident. If I had a 10% rate we would be at 115 incidents, but I've only seen 4. So, I think that either I've got a really good intervention going or students are incredibly clever at hiding their texting in class and I've missed 96% of the incidents. Paul C. Bernhardt Department of Psychology Frostburg State University Frostburg, Maryland -----Original Message----- From: Blaine Peden [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Fri 10/30/2009 6:18 PM To: Teaching in the Psychological Sciences (TIPS) Subject: [tips] Text Messaging in Class Two students completed an observational study of text messaging by college students in several lecture classes. The incidence of text messaging was 10% across smaller to larger enrollment classes. One incidental finding was that most students rather openly engaged in text messaging rather than trying to conceal their activity. To what extent does this description match your experience? If you have tackled this situation, I welcome a copy of your classroom policy. I am also interested in any descriptions about how you have used text messaging to engage students in class. thank you, blaine --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly ([email protected]) --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly ([email protected])
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