Colleges Don’t Ban Cell Phones

By Gayle Perez, The Pueblo Chieftain, Colo.

Mar. 26–Cell phones are allowed to be brought into local college classrooms as long as students have respect for their professors and classmates. Pueblo Community College and Colorado State University-Pueblo currently do not have policies regarding cell phone usage in classrooms. Officials from both schools said it’s pretty much up to individual professors to determine whether they will allow cell phones in class. "We don’t have a universitywide policy on such usage. Each faculty member sets their own rules about such things," said CSU-Pueblo Provost Barbara Montgomery. For longtime biology professor Jack Seilheimer, having phones ringing during a lecture was at one time bothersome. Now he tolerates it. "At first it really bothered me but I suppose that was before I was into using technology myself," he said. "I’ve gotten pretty dependent on (cell phones) now and I know there are some students with some of the same considerations that I have." Seilheimer said he asks his students to turn their phones off when they enter class, unless there is a good reason they must have them on. Those reasons can include students who have children or who work and may need to be contacted immediately. Although Seilheimer does not want students to keep their phones on during class, he admits that he doesn’t have a punishment for students who don’t turn their phones off. "When one rings, I just go with the flow," he said. "I have learned to make that technology a part of my world." Tim McGettigan, a professor of sociology at CSU-Pueblo, said for the most part, students are respectful of others and do not keep their phones on during class. "I have not run into serious problems with cell phone abuse in any of my classes," he said. "On most occasions, if they need to take a call, I ask they take their cell phone outside to communicate outside the classroom. After the call, they are welcome to come back in discretely." Both McGettigan and Seilheimer said they do make it a point to let students know that they are not permitted to have cell phones or other electronic devices with them on test days. "I have instructions on the screen when they take a test to remind them that no technology is permitted," Seilheimer said. At PCC, Marjorie Villani, interim executive vice president, said the college does not have a policy regarding cell phones but it does have one that says students cannot disrupt the classroom process. "But our population consists of a wide range of students that not only go to school, but have jobs or have families which might require them to be on call or to view a text message," Villani said. "So the instructors recognize a need for some students to have their phones on during class." Lana Carter, dean of arts and sciences, said that students will cell phones must "have respect for the teaching and learning environment.""Clearly we say that all cell phones and pagers have to be turned off in class or muted. Most instructors say that if a student has an emergency situation or they do get a message, those should be answered in the hallway. The bottom line is that they must have respect for all people." Carter, who also was chairwoman and taught in the social sciences department, said that for the most part, students respect the classroom and consider it a learning environment. "I have had semesters where I had one or two students out of 200 that consistently forgot to turn off their cell phone. Eventually it was a matter of me saying at the beginning of each class to turn off all cell phones," she said. "Rather than make a big issue about it, I’d rather nip it in the bud by giving them reminders." ———— CELL PHONES AS TOOLS Students can use cell phones for educational purposes. Consider the following functions that a cell phone might bring to a school that lacks a wide range of technology tools. * Calculators – Although most schools have them in math class, other classes that don’t have them on hand for students can benefit from number crunching. For example, social studies students studying elections can quickly determine percentages of electoral votes or other scenarios. Science classes can use them to perform calculations related to fieldwork. * Digital cameras – Not all schools or classrooms are outfitted with digital cameras, although many can benefit from them. For example, students can use them to document a variety of things for multimedia presentations or reports. Field trips can be documented and incorporated into digital travelogues. * Internet access – Some phones have wireless Internet access, thus opening up a world of possibilities for class use. Science students might conduct fieldwork and submit their observations or data to either an internal or external data gathering site. * Dictionaries – Students in literature and language arts classes can benefit from being able to quickly query the definition of a word. Additionally, students who are English learners especially can benefit from translation dictionaries which are becoming available on cell phones. -Source: Teaching Today

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