(Sonni Wise is a student intern at The Xplanation, writing a regular column on education and working behind the scenes in our research department)
It is no surprise that students today are unlike any other group of students of the past; they are more technological aware and in many ways exposed to more diversity than previous generations. So what does it mean in a classroom setting when students have access to the latest phones, computers, and other gadgets?
On a side note (but related note I promise!), one of my aunts is a dentist. She cleans teeth, drills and every other scary and fascinating things dentist do (for an insight of the life of a future dentist, check out this video):
Over Thanksgiving my aunt told my family that she recently had to put up a sign that reads: “NO TEXTING WHILE IN THE DENTIST CHAIR”. Said sign went into effect after teens and young adults would come into her office and hold texting conversations while she attempted to work on their pearly whites. The head bobbing got to be too much; hence the sign.
If young people will do this in a dentist chair, the shock factor of students’ texting in class is relatively low. The difference between the dentist chair and a classroom is many students feel like it is their professors job to entertain them; their professors are not doing the same service as the dentist. Students will not accidently have their tooth drilled in the wrong place if they are texting in class but they may get kicked out or even fail; but this does not stop students from texting. I have a few friends who believe if they fail a class– it’s not their fault; it’s the instructors. The thought behind this is that if the class was more interesting, the student would not have to text to past time.
This idea is in some-way even supported by the xplanation’s very own Rob Reynolds, “Ultimately, the issue is one of engagement. We will either engage students or they will engage themselves.”
In an AP story released a couple of days ago, Michael Rubinkam discusses a survey issued by Tindell and Bohlander where 269 students were survey. They found that almost all of the students felt it was their right to be able to text in class. The first line of the news article linked texting in the classroom with boring (droning) professors.
Is it professors fault for being ‘boring’ when students a)text and b)perhaps as a result do not do as well on tests and papers, or is the blame on the student? Honestly, it would be a shame to blame the student Maybe the issue is not with the students but with how learning is being formatted in the classroom. It would be great if the structure of the classroom was evolving as quickly as technology.
This is happening in some classrooms according to Rubinkam, “Some high school and college teachers have sought to adapt text messaging to classroom use, texting assignments; asking questions of the class and having students respond via text, with the results shown on a large screen; and allowing students to text questions or comments during class.” Texting when visiting the dentist can be scary, but texting and learning in class is a possibility.