<p>I'm looking for a list or the type official rules/policies professors (or even school wide) are making on cell phone use for students in class. I thought about asking in the student section, but figured I'd keep the old man stuff over here. I can find scattered posts in individual threads, but I like to collect a handful of them in one place.</p>
<p>I know there are some professors on the forum and pretty sure enough parents who have heard from their children of published guidelines to get a feel for it.</p>
<p>My wife is a professor at the local CC and has just about had it with the kids who constantly text in class, answer phone calls during class, ringtones going off regularly and even have a conversation without even bothering to step outside. She's tried the nice professor routine laying out general adult etiquette rules at the beginning of semesters/syllabus -- use vibrate, only answer for emergency, and walk outside to talk. She's hesistant to ban them completely since there are a number of students with kids and it's not really possible to go completely blind in a 3-4 hours class. Not surprisingly (to me anyway) it's the 17-19yo non parents who seem to be oblivious to the whole concept of proper use of such devices. Now it's time to make some more official guidelines with the actual consequences defined so there is no ambiguity.</p>
<p>I've given her my take on what to do, but my advice is tantamount to the Nuclear Option my professors in the dark ages would have taken including liberal use of in class stocks, a hammer, and automatic zeros for anyone who would allow their phone to ring even once. I always wanted to drop a few of those things in a vat of Sulfuric just to prove a point, but I'm not well known for tolerance for disrespectful student behavior. I have dreams of confiscating them and using them for expriments -- how high will an Iphone bounce if dropped off a 8 story window onto a concrete sidewalk "Can you really still hear me now"
"Is there an App to hear a cell phone screams when it knows it's falling and if it senses impending death? (Smart Phone my ***)"</p>
<p>I reached my breaking point on cell phones in class during winter quarter last year and since then I have completely BANNED them from my class. I, too, teach at a community college and roughly 1/2 of my students are parents, so this was a big consideration for me. I simply told the students that I should never see a cell phone out in the classroom but that they were welcome to leave the room and take an important call or text message in the foyer. I also explained that they would never see me answer a phone call or text during class, even though I also have kids. I included the new “rules”, in my syllabus, with my Dean’s blessing. During the 2nd 1/2 of class time on the first day of the quarter, a student (19 yo w/ no kids) sitting in the back row of the classroom had her cell phone out (albeit under the table). I stopped class and asked her what it was about “NEVER” that she didn’t understand. Student left class, never to return, but I didn’t see another phone that whole quarter and it was wonderful. I wish I had done it sooner.</p>
<p>My kids (27 and 22) and I keep telling hubby to throw them out of class. His rules are in his syllabus - crystal clear. But no, he keeps warning and warning and stopping class to do so. We tell him he is interrupting the class for the rest who are following the rules. Throw the others out! But he doesn’t. He may be afraid the administration will not back him up.</p>
<p>D was in a class when a fellow student’s phone rang. The professor answered it and told them not to call during class again. No one’s phone ever rang during that class again. She had another professor who, if you were caught texting, would take the phone and read the text messages out loud. Now THAT could be interesting!</p>
<p>I too set rules that are similar to scubasue’s, and they have helped tremendously. I don’t allow use of phones during class, and students are asked to step outside if they have an urgent call. I also ask students to talk to me if they feel they need an exception from my rules (e.g., students who are on-call and need to monitor pages for patient care-related matters). I teach primarily grad students, and in a previous semester, I could swear that some students never looked up from their blackberries or phones. It was maddening.</p>
<p>Most of my professors ‘respectfully ask’ that we refrain from phone calls and ringtones in class, and of course, in large lecture halls, it never really works out.</p>
<p>I had a professor who confiscated a phone of a girl who had the guts to have a chat on her phone in the front row of lecture. After that, people saw the prof was serious about the ‘no phone calls’ rule and honestly, I felt like class was more productive.</p>
<p>This is a problem in DW’s lectures also. She deals with it the same way she deals with absenteeism … EVERY lecture has test question on material not covered in the textbook. She doesn’t prohibit students from receiving calls, but like Psi, no phone use is permitted in class. Get caught surreptitiously using your phone in class and you’re out. That said, it helps that DW teaches at a private college where failures are expensive (financially).</p>
<p>These must be the same students who will later end up in the workplace, not understanding that they can’t be on their cell phone all during the workday. Just last week, we had to take disciplinary action against a young woman who’s a compulsive texter. Unfortunately, since the discipline, she’s replaced texting with facebook. Maybe it’s that they don’t understand the concept of giving undivided attention to something, and being unplugged is just foreign to them.</p>
<p>At the Harvard stats course I took one summer, there was a couple of people who had their cell phones ring loudly sometime during the two weeks. The Prof calmly instructed one of the TFs to walk right up, confiscate the offending students’ cellphones, and kept them till the end of the 2 hour lecture. </p>
<p>That and angry stares from other students including myself were probably factors contributing to no more further offensive cellphone behavior for the rest of the summer session. </p>
<p>Never understood how people could be so inconsiderate and obtuse about the need to set the cell to vibrate or better yet, SHUT THE PHONE OFF ALTOGETHER. Wasn’t helped by the fact the offending students tend to select the most obnoxious ringtones set at the loudest volumes possible. </p>
<p>If I was the Prof and had a free hand, I’d reserve syllabus rights to confiscate the phone and give the student a warning on the first offense. Subsequent offenses would trigger negative class participation grades for disruption of class and the possibility the cell phone may be tossed out of the classroom. Accommodations, of course, will be made for those who are on-call and/or have family obligations. </p>
<p>However, my experience accords with other commenters that the ones who are most disruptive with their cell phones tend to be traditional 18-22 year old self-absorbed students with none of those job/family obligations.</p>
<p>My classes tend to be pretty small and more discussion oriented, so I can make eye contact with each student and I know their names. I have no problem calling a student out and telling them when they are texting that I consider their behavior rude and they likely do not want their professor thinking they are being rude. However, the vast majority do not do so. I do however, make them turn off their phones during tests.</p>
<p>I have one caveat to the no-phone policy (which I completely understand). In reaction to the many tragic on-campus shootings, our school has implemented a crisis text messaging strategy. If there is a threat on campus, students and faculty will receive a text. Since I do not bring my phone to class, it is somewhat reassuring that students have theirs. I’ve also borrowed them once in a while when the technology was not working in the classroom so I could call computer services.</p>
<p>I teach at a cc, but rarely have this as an issue. Most of my classes have a sophomore level prereq, so that helps somewhat. Here’s my syllabus policy below which is standard for my department. One of my colleagues has enforced the failing the test part of it multiple times this semester.</p>
<p>CELL PHONE USAGE POLICY
Students who use a cell phone in any way during class will be given a verbal warning for the first instance during the semester.* For the second and any subsequent occurrences, the student will receive a 15 point penalty on the next exam.* Anyone caught using or receiving calls on a cell phone during an exam will automatically earn a grade of zero on that exam.* Cell phone usage includes both outgoing and incoming calls as well as both incoming and outgoing texting and any internet usage on the device.* Exceptions to this policy may be permitted for emergency use that is preauthorized by the instructor.</p>
<p>I’ve seen people (well, one person) texting during a test. Personally I would definitely draw a line there since it is too possible that they’re cheating, but in general I don’t see a big issue if someone sends a text in class as long as it’s not a distraction. Maybe rude, but I don’t see how it’s any worse than sleeping in class or anything. The point at which it becomes a problem in my eyes is when it becomes a distraction. </p>
<p>I had one professor who took cell phones and handed it to the next person who answered a question in the class. At the end of the class that person would just give it back to the person who it was taken from. Beyond that I’ve never had a professor or instructor (out of about 2 dozen) have any issue with phones.</p>
<p>What has been getting my goat this year is the students who have their laptops out and who are actually using facebook or instant messaging during class. This behavior often seems to engage the students sitting next to them which is worse than a student texting.</p>
<p>My daughter has a number of professors who have strict no electronics policies in class (this means no cell phones or laptops during class). The policy is noted in both the course syllabus and course description.</p>
<p>I think my favorite story is of a professor who gets one of his grad students to sit in lecture the first day. About 3/4 of the way through lecture, the student’s phone goes off, the professor takes it out of his hands, and chucks it against the wall as hard as he can. My friends said nobody ever talked on the phone in their class. ;)</p>
<p>I teach at a community college as well. My policy, which is stated in my syllabus is if I see a cell phone, I kick you out of class for the day, you get counted absent, and you get zeroes for any work. If I catch you a second time, you are referred to the assistant vice president who handles classroom problems and are not allowed back in my class until after that meeting, which can take two weeks. I have not had to kick anyone out twice.</p>
<p>The faster I kick out the first person to use a phone, the fewer temptations there are. Phones are terribly distracting. I used to make comments about whatever they were playing with under their desks needed to stop, which I know was very vulgar. The higher the stakes, the less students want to mess with you.</p>
<p>I have children and I do not bring my phone to class.</p>
<p>MD Mom, if a student lives off-campus, is it realistic for the person not to carry a phone at all? You probably have an office where you leave your phone or else have a landline. Students do not.</p>
<p>Although I agree that using a phone during class should not be allowed, a student shouldn’t get in trouble if he/she accidentally forgot to turn off the phone, and it rings in class, but the student immediately reaches for the phone to shut it off.</p>
<p>I disagree. A cellphone ringing in class is very disruptive to the instructor and other students…especially considering how loud most students set their ringtones IME. It certainly was quite disruptive in that 200-300 person stats class held in a large lecture hall at Harvard’s science center. </p>
<p>Is it too much to ask students to set their phones on vibrate or for them to shut it off altogether right before entering the class? Are students/people this lacking in common sense and basic courtesy?</p>
<p>Actually read my second paragraph: Although I agree that using a phone during class should not be allowed, a student shouldn’t get in trouble if he/she accidentally forgot to turn off the phone, and it rings in class, but the student immediately reaches for the phone to shut it off.</p>
<p>I think one warning for accidentally forgetting to turn off the phone is reasonable. If it happens again, the student has failed to take reasonable precautions.</p>