Are cell phones really the distraction responsible for disengaging your students?
Most students have cell phones aka mobile devices and many of them are glued to them all day and night. Educators often view this as a major problem or distraction in their classrooms and I used to agree however in recent discussions while listening to an Instructor complain about the use of cell phones in their class it got me thinking. Is it really worth the energy it takes to police students utilizing their mobile devices? Hardly, in fact it’s a battle you will never win. I would rather have the opportunity to engage students as opposed to getting angry at ones who aren’t interested in the subject matter or to avoid getting “caught†spend 20 minute sessions in the bathroom so they don’t get yelled at. The fact of the matter is most people are not going to learn by simply sitting there listening anyway. They are going for their phones because they are genuinely BORED! In fact I would use this as a method of gauging myself in how interesting my presentation is. Think about it, your student playing on their phones are actually sending you a message and you don’t like it. This brings up a great opportunity for instructors to reflect on themselves and their methods of engagement. We use assessment methods on students all of the time and realistically students are assessing us as well. Often the simple things are missed in a classroom setting right from the beginning and I will give some examples from my experience.
I recently attended a class at a local community college and was enthusiastic about taking this class which was around marketing for your business. Unfortunately I immediately knew that the class was going to be death by PowerPoint and debated pretending I had an emergency and leaving. I can read, so do yourself a favor and just email me the slides and I’ll spare myself thanks but of course I did not. I sat through the whole thing, click by click, bullet by bullet. I looked at my phone at least 30 times and even sent a few texts, read and responded to a few emails and maybe checked facebook. I may have even yawned out loud! Guess what? I was BORED! Just like your student who is looking at their cell phone that you are about to yell at. Teachers need to switch things up in the classroom every day.
Some things that seem to work magnificently in connecting with your students: Greeting students ie handshake or fist bump for germaphobes before class starts and taking the time to let them know you are actually a human being too. Being prepared in advance, not opening a lesson for the first time in front of a class or fumbling through trying to download a PowerPoint etc. Start the class on time, don’t wait for stragglers. Some teachers take so long to get whatever it is they are going to muddle through started that it’s like watching the Walking Dead for the first 45 minutes waiting for the good part (so annoying). I guess if you aren’t a fan you won’t get the reference. Put the basics up on the board including an inspirational quote and give the early birds something to ponder. Let students know what to expect and what they are going to learn. The first 5 minutes should get the students energized about the topic not prepared for their nap. Objectives should be clearly defined, the students need to know what they are going to learn, why it’s important, how it will affect them in their future working career, safety precautions, tangible skills and always relate to industry expectations. Expand on topics and engage the students in a thought provoking way. Some simple suggestions to use in the classroom are asking questions like, Why do you think this is important? How do you think this would impact the customer, patient etc? What are some safety precautions and PPE that should be considered? The goal here is to get the students thinking and talking rather than just sitting in their chair pretending to be listening. Another simple engagement technique is to layout 4 thought provoking questions relevant to the topic and break the students into groups so their butt’s don’t fall asleep. Then have them spend 10 minutes or so discussing the answers to your questions. This gives them the ability to really talk about the subject matter and become familiar with it and guess what? If they want to use their phones to look things up, that’s OK! Now you can dig deeper for more elaboration and discussion. Games are a huge hit with students and there are apps for that!
The point is it’s not the phones or iPads that are distracting them, they’re just human and doing what society does these days. You can classify generations but we all fall into the same category of human beings. Use these devices as tools to be engaging and I believe you will find that most people will forget they even have a phone. Don’t forget the hook, aka wrap up and just like the Walking Dead, give them a taste of what the next episode is about. Fist bumps are OK on the way out the door too!
-Wendell Soucy
