texting in class
 

I haven't taught college in a couple of years and I never taught the huge classes so this hasn't affected me but do y'all know...how has texting affected the big classes? Are there students who sit there texting for half the class? And how on earth is cheating by cell phone controlled?

I've never cheated via text message...let alone cheated at all. But, I did have to take a sociology class my (1st) senior year that was more than 100 freshmen and me.

I was notorious for sitting in class and texting my sister. "I'm bored. Text with me."

I got a C in the class. I could have done much better but I just didn't care. And that professor kept making references to being a freshman and how this was supposed to be the best incoming class in years. I almost raised my hand and said something, but I didn't.

Get off my lawn.

I am fortunate in that my classes are small. That said, texting is a problem. I've told my students that in a class of 20 OF COURSE I am going to see them texting so stop it. For testing, they have to leave everything but a pen and a blue book in their backpacks, against the wall.

That.

Also, I've been in law school for the past three years, since the advent of text messaging, and it hasn't changed a darn thing.

I haven't been in school for awhile, but even then, cell phones were completely outlawed by all my professors. My classes varied in size, most of the upper level classes were smaller (30ish students) but the other classes were bigger.

It was easier for the profs to make sure students didn't use their cell phones during classes/tests that had a small amount of students. For the larger classes, the prof & the TAs would walk around to make sure.

As far as texting during class, that's just plain rude. I would hope students have more common sense & manners than to do that. Then again, I know it is probably very common.

If its a large class, pretty much everyone texts.. either that or they're on Facebook on their laptops.

ETA: During testing, TAs walk around making sure students are not cheating or on their cell phones.

Yeah, a lot of people in my classes text. It's pretty obvious, but the teachers don't say anything. In the big lecture class I have, I know people are on Facebook and such on their laptops. I seriously haven't had a test in class for a lonnnng time. It's weird, but I keep getting take-home midterms instead. Just lots of essays.

I agree with everyone above. I text no matter what the class size, unless I'm in the first row or two. I mean, I don't sit there and whip my phone out to start conversations, but if I think of something I need to ask/tell someone, or if someone asks me a question, I'll write back. I don't sit there and have whole conversations though.

As for texting during tests, I don't think that's a problem. Maybe, I've just never noticed it because I'm usually so focused on the test that I don't see it, but I've never seen someone text during a test. Even in tests in a big lecture hall, there are TAs walking around, so I think people just don't do it.

I think it is pretty common, as is facebooking. I do, however, think it is unbelievably disrespectful when people sit back in full view of the professor and sit there texting for the full 50 minutes, but I have never really had a professor say anything. The policy for tests in every class I've ever taken has been phone=F, as in if the prof sees your phone at all, that is grounds for failure. If you're not going to pay attention in class, then why come?

When I taught college level courses, the tests were organized in such a way that texting was literally impossible to do if one had not read the assigned material.

As far as cheating goes, I have not seen a lot of that, I've seen plagiarism, but not outright embolden cheating. Not saying that it does not occur, because it probably does, but saying that texting cheat sheets, et al. are not a wise thing these days... I can see why some kids do it though, some courses are really tough and the importance placed on getting a stellar GPA is important.

I'll be honest, I text during class. I mean I don't text non-stop, but if someone does text me, I'll text them back, just not religiously. It's very hard for me to ignore my phone altogether.

I've never seen someone cheat via text though. I definitely think that would be too hard. Our professors and TAs walk the class during tests.

I have never done it, and find it to be pretty rude to the professor, those around you, and yourself since you're paying and not paying attention. I'm capable of going an hour without being in contact with people.

I've never done it, I never will. I've been considering doing a little work next semester as an adjunct at a local university. Do undergrad profs usually put up with this? This hasn't happened during my law school experience, so I don't even know how a professor would handle it. On first impression, it seems very rude/disrespectful, but then again, the student paid to be there, so if they want to not pay attention, I don't see a huge problem so long as it's not a disruption.

One of my professors had a pretty novel idea when it came to texting/surfing the internet on laptops -- she made us sign a contract subject to sanctions under the school's honor code stating that misuse of technology would mean possible expulsion.

I'm not sure whether it's something I care about or not. The way I look at it is if you're a student and I'm the prof, you paid to be here and if you can multitask, fantastic.

Because the professors hold against you when you dont come and attendance is a part of your grade, maybe?


If I make the effort to get up and come to class Im going to participate. I have txtd in class. I do not text in small classes. I only text in my really large Econ class. The professor isnt the best and I usually am not up front. All of my other classes Im right in front of the teacher.
For some of my classes I find that actually going is not useful to me if I actually do the assigned reading/work. I get incredibly mad when the professor/teacher is of no value and attending class is of no value. For the most part I care about getting an A and at least a B in a class more than anything.
I know of people who cheat via text message. Its not rare. It happens often in large classes. Small classes not at all. I have used the calculator on my cell phone to take a two hour Econ test twice. I wasnt cheating and if I was cheating I wouldnt have been caught. The general rule is that you cant use your celly during a test and if youre caught you'll be asked to put it away.

The main reason that I waited a long time to get a cell phone is because I really dislike that, as these technologies grow, people expect you to be immediately available to them all the time. I find this incredibly annoying. Will the younger generations be able to wait for anything ever? I often tell my daughter that it will not harm anything if she waits 10 minutes to answer a text. I've had to ban texting at the dinner table, while shopping with me.. all kinds of situations. I don't know how to get the point across that IT IS OK TO NOT BE IMMEDIATELY AVAILABLE TO ALL YOUR FRIENDS ALL THE TIME. This includes while interacting with people at work, while in class, while eating a meal with people, etc. I do try to make myself immediately available to my children because of the chance that it could be an emergency, but anybody else? They wait until I'm ready and available to answer.

I've had professors who've called out students in the middle of class for surfing or texting. The students aren't subject to academic sanctions, but they're seriously embarrassed when the whole class is looking at them. Plus, in classes where participation counts, they can pretty much count on losing some points.

I think the bigger issue is people surfing the internet during class. I know some law school professors have banned laptops from their classes, and some schools have shut off wireless internet in certain classrooms.

Texting wasn't really popular until my last year in college. There were a few classes my last semester, I did text in....I couldn't stand the classes or the professors...I didn't learn much outside of the book from those classes.

As for facebooking in class, I didn't bring my laptop to class on purpose. I knew that if I did bring my laptop, I would get too distracted, so I opted for a notebook and a pencil.

Now that I am a teacher (high school), I realize how annoying cell phones can be...my students are not allowed to have their cell phones, but I must catch at least one student a week texting during class or in the hallways...

i text pretty regularly in class, as long as its not a disruption, how am i hurting anyone else?

Ditto.

I stopped texting in class after a teacher filed a complaint against me...and I had never texted in his class before. :confused: I fought it, but I knew all my profs would be watching me after that. Althought the ones I did text in had never caught me (or didn't care), I would probably get double punishment after that stunt. Now, I usually IM or facebook chat. :rolleyes: I've never cheated through text and don't know anyone who has tried.

I remember in 7th grade, kids would do sign language under their desks during multiple choice tests as a way to compare answers from across the room. To the teachers, it just looked like their were flexing their fingers. :rolleyes:

OMG texting in class drives me BATTY! I finished my BA in 2002. That was really the advent of the "everyone and their grandma has a cell phone" phase. Texting wasnt really popular then. Last year, however, I went back to school for nursing, which is another undergrad program. There is this girl that sits next to me, isnt more than 19, that texts through THE ENTIRE CLASS..............every week! It is SOOOOO distracting, as I am actually trying to pay attention and learn! And this isnt some breeze course either! Its Human Anatomy and Physiology 2! No wonder she was whining about how unfairly difficult she thought our first exam was last week in lab.

These kids who have "a hard time" ignoring phone calls, text messages and emails at certain times are going to have a hell of a time once they get into the work force. There will come a time when they should be able to let go of work for the day/vacation/weekend, and they won't be able to do it. They'll always be connected, and therefore their bosses will "expect" them to always respond.

Hijack - I just love that the BIGGEST class I ever took had 30 students. Perks of a small school! My upper level classes had anywhere from 4-25 students.

If you can keep up with the pace of the class I say texting is fine. I'd rather turn my phone off and concentrate on getting the education I'm paying money to get. I didn't have a cell phone in college oddly enough. We text during meetings at work a lot - eek!

Another downside is these kids have a big wake up call in the work force when they want to text all throughout the work day! There are a couple other young teacher I work with at my school, and they always have their cell phones with them! They have even been known the answer texts during class! I always have my cell phone off or on vibrate, and I only answer if it is an emergency...we don't have phones in our rooms so I could understand family emergency, but besides that cell phones shouldn't be visible in the work place IMO.

During tests, I would tell students "anything not pertaining to the test should be put away".

In other words, only pens, pencils, scratch paper, the test paper itself should be on their desks. I might allow a calculator if it was that type of test (Engineering / Econ / Mathematics / CFA exam etc.)

Other than that, nothing else should be out. Zero tolerance during tests.

no one said we ever expected to text all throughout our workday. it's college, lighten up people, besides, some of you people greekchat the whole day at work, give me a break. if i can accomplish my work and text someone all day, then leave me alone.

I find the little clicky clicky key sounds super annoying, and even a vibrating sound in a bag or pocket distracting, as well as in a darkened room for films or presentations, the light from screens really distracting. I just try to sit up front and that usually helps with the visual distractions, the sounds, no so much.

I still don't understand why people can't go an hour without being in touch with others, but I really value quiet and personal time, as well as getting the most out of the money and time I put into school.

But I also don't drive and talk on the phone unless I have on a douchey ear piece.

Texting is a disruption - to the professor if he/she notices it, and to those around you. You may think it is not, and it may be that those around you 1.) think it isn't or 2.) won't say anything. I've known students to complain about a fellow student - but it shouldn't come to that. At any rate, just that fact that it COULD be a disruption should be reason enough not to do it for the hour - hour and a half of your class. Yes , it's "just college", but to some students, college is important, classes are an opportunity to learn, and what the professor is saying is worthy of attention. For example, run-on sentences are not good.:)

I'm a current undergrad, and I cannot stand people who insist on texting in class at ad nauseum. I understand that perhaps in a 300-person lecture freshman requirement class people may send a text or two, but I don't understand people who text all the freaking time.

Some people have gotten really bold, too. There is this girl I know, who, for the record, is not my favorite person in the world, sits right next to me in my favorite 300 level class with my favorite professor. She spends the entire time on her blackberry...and I'm not talking about her hiding it under her desk. I'm talking about her clicking away on the stupid thing with both hands, in plain sight. It's distracting, I really can't stand when she does it, it makes it really hard for me to concentrate. And we sit in the front row, three feet away from the professor. I really don't get people like this, they drive me insane.

My soon to be former coworker does that too, all day long. So, as I'm trying to show her how to do something or explain something to her, she's messing with her blackberry. MAKES ME INSANE and my boss called her out on it during her eval. It didn't change though. Then she doesn't remember what I showed her and screws it up when she has to do it on her own. I'm so glad she's leaving in two months.

I have one professor that saw someone take out their phone during a test. She walked right up to them and told him to pack up. He failed the exam. He said he was just checking the time and she said no exceptions. I told you not to take out your phone. Another professor kicked a girl out of class permanently for texting. She failed the course. The prof (who I was talking with in a more casual setting) said she went to the dean to make sure this girl can't appeal.

I find the whole thing rude. If you can't bother to be there to pay attention, why be there? If your body is there, but not your mind, shouldn't the professor be allowed to mark you absent? That's why they have "participation" points. We actually had this discussion in one of my classes on Wednesday about cell phone etiquette. I guess the prof got sick of the texting, so she worked it into our ethics lecture.

I also find it rude to be at a register or taking up someone else's time with cell phone talking. I will never forget the time I was asking for help at Babies R Us and my phone started ringing. The saleswoman asked if I was going to answer it. She was shocked that I was curtious enough not to answer it while she was helping me.

There is an off button for a reason.

Speaking from the TA perspective, I think some kinds of participation points (in big classes we use clickers- ugh) just encourage people who probably wouldn't come to class and distract others to come. They use their clicker and spend the rest of class texting, answering calls (I've seen this happen on more than one occasion), surfing the net, chatting with friends (most annoying of all), reading the paper so high that it completely obscures their face, and sleeping. As a student I find it distracting, and as a TA and lab instructor I find it disrespectful, especially if the instructor has a policy about keeping cell phones and pda's and whatnot away during class. I was continually surprised at the way I got literally chewed out, argued with, and ignored by the students I asked politely to put their cell phones away or get off the internet when it was a class policy discussed on the first day.

All of my current classes have fewer than 50 students, so it isn't difficult for me to keep an eye on all of them. I'm pretty clear at the beginning of each semester that I'm not to see a cell phone unless there's an emergency (I also specify that I'm to be made aware of any such emergencies prior to class starting).

One of the benefits of small classes is that we all get to know each other fairly well. Since many of my classes revolve around sharing thoughts/feelings about particular subjects (I teach Logic, Ethics and Metaphysics), conversations can occasionally get very personal. I'm fairly sure that students who would ordinarily text in class probably don't because they don't want to disappoint me (or be embarrassed if/when I call them out). They may not feel this way in classes where there is no personal investment (like Geography or Econ, for instance).

During tests, students are allowed to bring only pens/pencils and bluebooks, so texting during tests isn't a problem for me, either.

Cell phones weren't very prevalent when I was a TA, so I didn't have to worry about being on cell-phone-duty during large lectures. That would've sucked - my sympathies to those who have to deal with that now.

I've been known to text in class, such as in my giant lecture class on Ethology. He'd put all of the notes up on the first day, for the whole semester, and tests came straight from there and the book. It was a 3 hour night class, and I only went to see the relevant movies and to talk to the professor. I texted a lot in there, the teacher knew, and used me as an example of turning in a perfect research project.
In another class this semester, there are maybe ten of us students in the class. The teacher knows I text, but I'm also one of the most involved students in class discussions, and talk to her before and after class, so she doesn't mind. I also multitask on my laptop, such as now. I sit in the very back, corner closest to the door in all classes. (Health problems mean I need to leave often, and it's less distracting.)
However, time to leave greekchat to take notes ;)

When I graduated from high school I had a year left for my AA so I got it at the local community college/ 4 year college before I transferred to my university. All my class at the local 4 year school were always less than 40 students, and I always had less than 50 (Sometimes only 20 people) in my upper level classes at the university.

Besides the fact that my professors all had the same policy as above, I would feel guilty if I was texting in their classes!