Mobile devices can be a distraction in the classroom.
Teachers know it and studies have shown that gadgets not only distract users but also peers sitting nearby.
But there are some on campus who are starting to understand it’s all about how
the devices are being used.
“We are trying to figure out the place of mobile
devices all across campus,” Christopher Clark, assistant director of the Kaneb
Center for Teaching and Learning, Notre Dame University, South Bend, IN, told Campus Technology.
“Faculty have to realize the world is changing and people are using mobile
devices in new settings. I dislike banning technology from the classroom altogether.
Laptops are not banned in the real world, so I think we are in some sense doing
a disservice to students by not teaching them their proper use.”
What’s needed is education and clear guidelines,
according to Clark. Students need to understand appropriate behavior concerning
the use of laptops and smartphones in class and faculty members should be
willing to tell students when it becomes annoying.
“What we are seeing is more syllabus inserts that
address how mobile technology will be used in the class—with a clear
pedagogical rationale,” said Matt Kaplan, managing director of the Center for
Research on Learning and Teaching (CRLT), University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.
CRLT research has found that while mobile devices in
the classroom can be disruptive, students also report a higher level of
attentiveness, engagement, and learning with professors who integrate laptops
into their teaching. Michigan professors have seen an increase in communication
with students, who use their laptops for collaborative
writing and peer review through the use of Google Docs.
While education and guidelines from instructors help,
institutions may need to step in.
“It may be time to have the discussion about whether
there should be a blanket policy,” said Bethany Wilcox, a graduate student from
the University of Colorado, Boulder, who has studied the impact of cellphone
use during class on final grades. “We may have hit the point where the university
has to address that question.”
