Please turn on your cell phones before class – part one

18 Feb Please turn on your cell phones before class – part one

It’s a typical weekday. You walk into class a few minutes early and prepare your materials. Students greet you and you briefly review last week’s material (maybe not so briefly depending on the number of blank stares). Suddenly you hear a faint rumble that slowly crescendos to a much louder sound. Yep, that’s right; one of your students forgot to turn off their cell phone. Your options are now to ignore the frantic fumbling as the student rushes to turn it off or to try to reprimand the student. Either way, the class is now disrupted and you spend the next few minutes trying to get back on track.

Cell phones can be an annoyance for those faculty members who prohibit their use in class, but let’s face it, they aren’t going away. A 2010 study conducted by Ball State University found that 99.8% of college students now have a cell phone and an increasing number of them are using smart phones for most of their online communication and computing needs.

Universities are adopting mobile initiatives across the country, many of them sponsored by government grants. While some of these initiatives focus only on providing students access to general university information, others encompass the delivery of actual course content and course related information via a mobile device. In fact, President Obama clearly stated in his latest state of the union address that an expansive Internet infrastructure is vital to our country’s ability to remain economically competitive in the global economy.

Let’s examine these factors. Students are increasingly using their phone devices much like you or I would use our laptops or a home computer. The government and our own educational institutions have placed a greater value on the idea of being connected. The technology is available to allow students to use their mobile devices to easily access course-related material. It appears as though the next frontier, from an educational standpoint, is to allow students to “connect” in traditional classrooms. We stand on an exciting moment in time where faculty can leverage mobile devices to engage students and facilitate the learning process.

Smart phones, similar to other mobile devices (e.g. tablets, notebook computer, netbooks, eReaders, etc.), offer access to a wide variety of tools and services such as Internet, email, cloud computing services, and applications that allow students to access their online classes. If you are interested in incorporating the use of smart phones in your class, here are some tips to consider before you get started:

1. Test your campus WIFI connectivity – Most smart phones are able to access a wireless connection. Make sure that you have a reliable wireless signal from your classroom so that students can access the web for free. Students (particularly those with data restrictions) will be very reluctant to use their own data plans for in-class activities.
2. Establish your classroom rules for phone use – while you want students to use their devices for learning, you may not want them taking calls or posting in-class pictures or video on their Facebook page. Some other rules could include asking students to place their phones on their desk in clear sight and to set them on vibrate. Publish a list of rules on your syllabus and briefly remind them before the activity.
3. Design group activities – While the number of students with smart phones is increasing exponentially, not every student is going to have access to a smart phone in class. Break the class into groups and assign students with smart phones as team leads. That will ensure that each group has internet access to complete the activities you assign.
4. Clarify before class what sites or apps your students need to have downloaded and/or signed up for so that you don’t spend a lot of in-class time setting up the activity. Use free apps or services so students aren’t using any out-of-pocket expenses. Also, let them know if they have to create an account to access a particular site or service so they can set those up before class.

In his book Remix, Lawrence Lessig wrote, “It does no one any good to regulate in ways we know people will not obey.” While the “phone” or “text” function of cell phones may still prove disruptive in a classroom setting, these devices have evolved and are quickly becoming an integral social and professional tool for today’s learner. It will be interesting to see if educators embrace this change or continue to reprimand students who use them in class. I welcome your thoughts.

Image from FlickrCC user Blue Sky Day (on a break)