Texting Off-Topic During Class
I am just starting a small project focusing on students sending and receiving off-topic text messages during class. This came about in part because of the series of posts on the Cognitive Design Blog about the topic.
MSNBC posted the results of recent 269 student survey that had some interesting findings:
- 90% of the students text during class
- 50% claim it is easy to do
- 10% do it during exams
- 3% use texting to cheat
Some professors have instituted a no-texting policy resulting in a “zero” if caught. At least one professor leaves the room when he detects texting. In another approach instructors ask students to bring phones and use them as a polling technology during the lecture. The resulting text messages are displayed on a screen and used to faciltate discussion. This may or may not minimize off-topic texting by the same student group.
There is an important related issue. Working adults frequently text, email or IM during business meetings.
How can we use cognitive design to approach texting off-topic during class?
