Department of Learning Technology

Faculty Focus posted an interesting article earlier in the month on cell phone policies . A survey of faculty was conducted to see what they did related to the use of cell phones and other student devices in the classroom, and their responses were then grouped into broad categories. By far, the largest number of policies were classified as "prohibition policies" where the instructor banned the use of any sort of student device for any reason. Faculty responses ran the gamut from those who permitted devices for class-related activities only, those who left the decision up to the student, those who found novel ways to encourage non-use, and those who had no policies whatsoever. Discussions like this are interesting and often founded on research showing that people are unable to multi-task effectively, and therefore see student devices as a potential distraction to learning. This article asked many relevant questions as to the effectiveness of various policies, as well as whet...