Enough of all this heady stuff! Angry professor smash puny cellphone!!!
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CAC.OPHONY is a weblog on communication-intensive instruction at the college level and its implications for students about to face the challenges of writing and speaking publicly in professional settings. CAC.OPHONY is written and edited by the Fellows of the Bernard L. Schwartz Communication Institute, Baruch College, City University of New York.
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Well done! Do you know what happened afterwards? I’d like to know if there are any consequences to smashing students’ cell phones in class. You know, for future reference…
Hi Mikhail and all,
I saw a blog comment elsewhere a while back, where a college teacher shared his policy on cell phones: if a student’s phone rings during class, the professor gets to answer it. (This prof. created an opposite rule too: if _his_ phone rang, a student could answer it.) He claimed it resulted in a situation where students (and prof.) were very careful, and phones almost never rang. And when it did, a few times, it was amusing for all.
I thought this sounded like it was worth a try, and will probably implement it in my next course.
I confess that my cell phone rang right when I started to make a comment in a graduate class I audited. The professor didn’t smash my phone but he looked like he was thinking about smashing me.
I’m playing this clip over and over again, living vicariously through this outstanding young instructor. Is there any way that I can nominate him for the Teacher of the Year Award?
Sort of makes the point that taking cell calls at an inappropriate time or place pretty much says, “I don’t respect you. You’re not as important as this call.” You never know what the reaction will be. Lost phone? Lost business? Lost relationship? Something to think about.
The thing is, the student didn’t just have a phone that rang. The student answered it and started talking quietly…
I’ve heard from several people that this whole thing was staged. Still inspiring though.
I consider there to be a Four Principles of Communication. One is:
** There is a desire to communicate.
This seems to me to be an example of violation of this principle.
On the other hand, there are three other principles.
** The grammar and syntax of the messages being exchanged are understood.
** The information communicated in the messages is relevant.
** The medium of communication is acceptable.
There is co-responsibility for effective communication. Perhaps, before awarding the Teacher of the Year or smashing a phone, we need to get all the facts and think about them in a sober fashion.
”I have no data yet. It is a capital mistake to theorize before one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit theories, instead of theories to suit facts.”
Sherlock Holmes, A Scandal in Bohemia
Oh yes, and a ps on my comment of yesterday.
I found the teacher in the video absolutely enthralling.
The instructor committed a crime. I find no inspiration in that. To guard against use of electronic devices interfering with the learning environment that instructors are responsible to maintain and to protect the integrity of assessments I offer faculty the following on Electronic Cheating
A recent article in the NY Times draws attention to the problem of the new forms of cheating. It is: Colleges Chase As Cheats Shift To Higher Tech By JONATHAN D. GLATER,NYT,May 18, 2006 There was another that appeared earlier: Students’ New Cell Phones Make High-Tech Cheat Sheets - From Contra Costa Times
In case you did not know it already, faculty need to watch for cell phones and Palm Pilots (or the equivalent) in their classrooms when conducting assessments. Some folks have cell phones that also work as a camera. Such devices can have the entire textbook, a set of cheat sheets, or any number of essays right there with the press of a button! Such devices can send photos of the questions to others outside of the room and await text messaged answers or simply alert others (perhaps in another section of the same class) to what is on the exam.
So what to do?
Some simple ADVICE:
Students entering this college are arriving from high schools in which all surveys indicate there is a high incidence of violations of academic integrity. The culture of high school appears to accept, if not condone, such violations. Despite this most students in this college do not accept that such violations should be accepted as they think it is basically unfair that some students gain advantage over others by their willingness to violate academic integrity in any one of a number of ways. These students, in the majority, work hard to attend college and work hard for their grades and do not want faculty to accept or promote or aid or abet such violations through which others achieve grades that are not earned. Faculty need to be vigilant to guard against condoning such violations directly or indirectly.
Tape players, ipods,mp3 players, cell phones, calculators, pda’s and indeed any electronic devices that carry or store information in any form are capable of being used in a variety of ways that violate academic integrity.
Unless a student is certified by the office for services for students with disabilities to have need of such an electronic device, such devices should not be permitted within the testing or assessment exercise environment. Even if such certification is presented, the assistive device should be checked by the office for services for students with disabilities to insure that it does not also provide for communication of information that would give the user unfair advantage in the assessment exercise: quiz, test, examination, etc..
Students can record and play back chapters of information on their tape players, ipods, mp3 players, pda, calculators and through cell phones. Students can take photos of examination materials and transmit them to others within 15 seconds with only 4 to 6 clicks on their keypads. The exams and quizzes received through cell phone transmission can be downloaded and printed and distributed within minutes and made available to others outside of the assessment room while the assessment is still going on.
What is to be done? It is within the right of the instructor to prohibit from or restrict within the assessment environment such devices. The rules must be made clear and enforced strictly and uniformly. The rules and restrictions should be made known prior to the assessment exercises and presented in the course syllabi at the start of the semester.
What if a student, despite the well expressed and communicated restrictions, brings such a device into the assessment area? The instructor is not permitted to remove personal property from a student. To do so would be a violation of law. Should an instructor learn that a student has such a device in violation of the expressed restriction the instructor may:
1. prohibit the student from participating in the assessment and grade them accordingly. This result should be made known prior to the exercise and presented in the course syllabi at the start of the semester.
2. ask that students place such devices away from their persons in another location within the assessment area. The instructor must make it clear to the student that neither the instructor nor the college takes any responsibility for safeguarding their personal property in that location. This disclaimer should be made known prior to the assessment exercises and presented in the course syllabi at the start of the semester.
What if a student claims that the cell phone is needed because persons dependent on them may be prone to a health or other emergency? Such devices were not available until recently and so to have them present within the assessment area was never a right to which learners were due. If the instructor wants to accommodate a request to have such devices available within the assessment location then the instructor may observe (2) above.
There are issues beyond the moments of assessment and matters of academic integrity that Phil lays out. For instance, if a student these days has a laptop open in class, there’s a good chance that said student has a Word document open to take notes… but there’s an equally good chance that the student has multiple instant message sessions going on at the same time.
Some faculty have put this to use in their classes through “Google jockeying”.
That’s a small sample of faculty, however; most would be quite unhappy if they knew how many of the students sitting in-front of them during their classes were also elsewhere. Of course, this may not be very different from the daydreaming I did in classes when my faculty member was droning on, so it’s incumbent upon faculty to keep it interesting and to keep students engaged. That should be a given, though. The reality is that students have more tools to escape, and a more accessible world vying for their attention.
Chuck Dzubian argued we should coopt these moments and meet students on the playing ground of their own technological savvy, and then draw them into the content of the course. He used the example of the faculty member who encouraged students to let their cell phones ring in class, and then would try to incorporate the caller into class. While I wouldn’t go so far as that, I do feel that faculty–or, faculty who care about reacing their students– need to stay abreast of the devices to which students have access, and need to be savvy enough that they can maintain energy and focus in their class. Phil’s right about laying out the ground rules at the start of the term in as much detail as possible–that’s absolutly imperative. Students should know what’s expected of them, and what will happen when they fail to meet expectations.
But, do we go so far as to not allow laptops to be open in-class? I’m sure they exist now, but are “wireless signal killers” appropriate devices for faculty to bring into class? These issues are far from being fleshed out…
As for use of electronic devices in the classroom during class, my position is this: Pedagogy First!
It is the instructor’s PROFESSIONAL RESPONSIBILITY to
either find a way to involve the electronic devices in the class or a way to stop their interference with the teaching and learning. The environment must be conducive to learning.
Among the options are:
A)not allow laptops to be open in-class
If there is no tie in with the instruction then I think the instructor would be better to prohibit their use than to permit it.
Yes then even “wireless signal killers” may be appropriate devices for installation into every classroom by IT folks and activiated by faculty when needed.
B)Allow laptops and pads etc…
I would provide class notes or lecture outline documents files on a website associated with the class and have the students using laptops download them and fill them in as the class proceeds and then email them to the instructor to indicate that they were tracking the class and taking notes. Assign extra credit for this or fashion some other device to get them involved with the content and the learning activities rather than in distractions of the http://WWW.
BETTER Still is to have all students using laptops in a wireless network and then control their use and permit their use to access the prepared documents that are downloaded during class and used to guide students through the presentation and prompt them to enter notes or to answer questions at particualr points and then at the end the 5 minute summary or comments. Then have them print out or have them emailed.
Give credit in some way for this exercise. The quizes within the class can count or be used as preparation for the official quizes or exams to come later.
C)Allow the devices for classes but not for exams
D) Sometimes allow them and sometimes not-blocking them.
E) variations on A to D
The key point for me is that they are permitted if they are used in some way supporting the teaching and learning.