Cuesta College, San Luis Obispo, CA
Charlene deGuzman and Miles Crawford
http://youtu.be/OINa46HeWg8
After showing a short movie depicting the pervasiveness of smartphone use at the start of the semester, students in introductory astronomy students at Cuesta College were asked a subjective question regarding their attitudes towards texting and social networking smartphone use in class. This is part of a think-pair-share activity using flashcards to answer syllabus quiz questions.
Texting/social networking is acceptable behavior in class.
(A) Strongly disagree.
(B) Disagree.
(C) Neutral.
(D) Agree.
(E) Strongly agree.
Student responses (pre-discussion)
Astronomy 210
Section 30674 (SLO campus)
(A) : 1 student
(B) : 3 students
(C) : 29 students
(D) : 3 students
(E) : 0 students
Astronomy 210
Section 30676 (NC campus)
(A) : 0 students
(B) : 8 students
(C) : 13 students
(D) : 4 students
(E) : 0 students
Students were then asked to share their answers and discuss with each other the reasoning behind their choices, and to vote again.
Student responses (post-discussion)
Astronomy 210
Section 30674 (SLO campus)
(A) : 3 students
(B) : 3 students
(C) : 32 students
(D) : 3 students
(E) : 0 students
Astronomy 210
Section 30676 (NC campus)
(A) : 0 students
(B) : 8 students
(C) : 15 students
(D) : 4 students
(E) : 0 students
Students were asked to share their responses during the following whole-class discussion. Most responses were along the lines of texting/social networking being "distracting," "inappropriate," and "disrespectful," but some students remarked that emergency contact purposes (or similar circumstances) or looking up information pertinent to lecture might be considered acceptable uses of smartphones. While indiscriminate use of smartphones during instruction would be detrimental to learning, the social norm seems to be that they would be tolerated as long as smartphone use was not disruptive to other students.
These responses and student opinions were then used to set the policy, via consensus, regarding texting and social networking during class time.
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