Is there texting in this class?

When I read articles like the one Margaret Soltan linked to about texting in class, I can't help but be thankful that I once took—and took to heart what I learned in—a course on feminist pedagogy. I'm not going to address whether I consider circling up my students a challenge to patriarchal devaluations of "space" and "emptiness" as indicative of the "lack" and "void" of femaleness, because there's too much psychoanalytic clutter in both the theories of how repression works and how it can be resisted; instead, I'll focus on the simple fact that a modified circle presents more opportunities to hold students accountable for their classroom behavior. I write "modified" because the visual nature of my material requires regular use of a projection system, meaning my students arrange themselves in a horseshoe and I move between the lectern at the left heel and an adjacent desk.

Point being, there are very few moments when everyone, myself included, can't see what everyone else in the class is doing. Of course, I teach a small writing class in which such mutual surveillance of the sort is possible, whereas the classes in which texting has become a problem are more likely to be like those of

Laurence Thomas, a popular philosophy professor whose courses have waiting lists, [who] walked out on his class of nearly 400 students last week when he caught a couple of students fiddling with their phones instead of paying attention to him.

It's impossible to police 400 students, and I admire the fact that Dr. Thomas is not only paying attention, but that he cares enough to walk out of his class. I have a feeling the same can't be said of those who teach, for example, similarly large "lectures" consisting of canned PowerPoints from textbook companies. The students have no incentive not to text, because the material on the screen is identical to the material in their outrageously expensive textbooks. No synergy happens in that room—the material is not re-purposed by an expert in ways that illuminate confusing passages in the book—it is simply repeated in a bullet format that oversimplifies the material's complexity. But I'm here to talk about how to discourage students from texting in class, not complain about the cookie-cutter education so many students are receiving.

I'm not sure it works in larger classes, but in my horseshoe of a classroom, all it takes to discourage texting is to ask them to do a little visualization:

Imagine that you are in a room full of people, each and every one of whom can see you. Picture yourself slipping your hands beneath your desk and placing them between your legs. Now, as your hands start to dance and your arms and shoulders gently flex, I want you to look at your face, the way your eyes shift from your crotch and then up, to your left and your right, then back to your crotch. I want you to focus on that shifty look, that look that says, "I'm doing something I shouldn't be doing, in a place where doing so is inappropriate." Look around the room, now, and ask yourself: "What exactly do you think your classmates thought you were doing there?"

Everyone giggles without needing to hear the punchline, but here's the best part of it: the first time someone in the room tries to text, their classmates giggle again; and again; and again; and again. The punchline becomes a good-natured, self-policing policy—so much so that I once had a student come up to me before class and ask to be allowed to keep his self-phone on, as he was expecting an important text from a family member. As with cheating, I can't be 100 percent positive that no texting occurs during my class, but at the very least I've created an environment that's hostile to the practice.

By walking out, Dr. Thomas did the same, which is why I'm tipping my hat to him here.

Comments

[Ahistoricality]

With all due respect to your praxis, which is sound, the idea that a 400 person lecture has some sort of "intellectual energy" which is degraded by 1-2% of the class texting is well into prima donna territory. "he cares" is a pretty weak case given that he's trying to teach philosophy by dramatic monologue.

[Clio]

I'm confused. If people use a cellphone in class, they are obviously waiting time, but if students use paper or their computer, they are obviously paying attention? I've frequently used a cellphone to take notes, if my computer was in the shop or accidentally forgotten.

How about you let your students use whatever technology is easiest for them, and encourage attention in other ways - such as a backchannel, polling programs, and asking students to write a two-minute response to a question and pass them to the aisle?

It is fine to point out to your student that maintaining eye contact in class is professional etiquette, but indirectly accusing students of public masturbation because they do not use the technology of your choice is not courteous either. It would be better to risk letting students "get away" with texting, especially when it really comes down to a personal pet peeve.

[tomemos]

Clio, no one's accusing anyone of masturbating--get a sense of humor--but I'm happy to accuse you of being obtuse. You're not confused, you're just disingenuously ignoring the obvious: pen and paper are great at note-taking and not so great at distraction, whereas a phone is abysmal at note-taking but just phenomenal at providing distractions. (A computer is between those poles; I don't allow them in my seminars, which aren't note-intensive anyway.)

[Vance Maverick]

self-phone

Nice -- very Yglesias, and keeps the association with self-abuse working.

[Mary Stack]

I wonder if you heard about the professor who yelled at a student for yawning? While texting, or talking is a voluntary action, yawning is not. I thought it was bad form on his part because the student could easily have a sleep disorder, or a myriad of other reasons to involuntary react, and none of them having to do with boredom

[Martin Wisse]

That Thomas fella comes across as a dick more than a hero, but than i'm suspicious of superstar lecturers with waiting lists for 400 member classes anyway. If a few people are texting and you notice, instead of ruining the lesson for all 400 people by walking out, why not warn or eject the miscreants?

[Anon.]

The idea that every second of a two-hour lecture is important or worth listening to is absolutely ludicrous. When the lecturer is answering the same question for the third time in a row because some moron isn't getting it, you bet your ass I'm going to use my phone or computer.

[nutellaontoast]

"But I'm here to talk about how to discourage students from texting in class, not complain about the cookie-cutter education so many students are receiving."

I think they're pretty related. Students would engage a lot more if they weren't forced to pay through the nose for an environment that does nothing to foster learning. I tell everyone I can that doing two years at a community college is the best thing educationally, since your first two years at a "real" school will be spent entirely in gigantic, useless classrooms.

Fighting cell phone use in class is a laudable goal, but if that prof really wanted to be a hero, he'd fight gigantic lecture classes that help no one.

[tomemos]

Anon, every second of a two-hour movie isn't essential either, but I hope you don't text in movie theaters. Not because it's disrespectful to the cast and crew, but because it's distracting to the other people in the theater. I've sat in lecture halls and seen how what's going on on one computer screen draws the attention of those sitting nearby, causes them to go to the same website, etc.

[Auguste]

I wonder if you heard about the professor who yelled at a student for yawning? While texting, or talking is a voluntary action, yawning is not.

Not only that, it has less than nothing to do with boredom. Unless the professor is talking so endlessly that he or she is sucking all the oxygen out of the room.

[Emarsh]

I have had a problem this semester with students talking in the back of my small classroom. This is fairly uncommon, so I wasn't quite ready for it. I did the same thing you do, by rearranging the tables so everyone can see everyone else, and it stopped immediately. They were suddenly accountable to their peers (and me) and had nowhere to hide. The day I first did this was the most productive day of that class. As far as texting is concerned, I don't really care about that, so long as they are not making noise or distracting others. I figure they will get out of the class what they put in. I did notice, though, that texting halted as well, although I said nothing about it.

[优文网]

The idea that every second of a two-hour lecture is important or worth listening to is absolutely ludicrous. When the lecturer is answering the same question for the third time in a row because some moron isn't getting it, you bet your ass I'm going to use my phone or computer.