texting in class

[RaggedyAnn]

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.

[Hopeful_Bubbles]

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.