Competing With Distractions in the Classroom

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Potential distractions in the classroom:

Students doing crossword puzzles; reading the newspaper; sleeping; playing with electronic toys; students arriving to class late; lack of focus at the beginning of class; especially attractive students; social cliques; leaving early; doolding; ringing cell phones, pagers, and computers

Some strategies

A) overarching principles:

• engage students / use active learning
• decrease student anonymity / spend time building community and trust
• apply situational awareness / use context
• create shared understanding / clarify expectations about class and learning
• be flexible, responsive / gather feedback from learners
• create a constructive classroom environment
• Recognize there will always be some distractions in the classroom
• Any engagement activity and/or management technique needs to fit the instructors personality and approach to teaching and learning. They must also fit the context of the situation.

B) What to do with distracters:

• Determine if the distraction is actually detracting from learning from both the instructor and student perspectives
• Don't take distracting behaviors personally
• At beginning of the term, set tone; be consistent with how you deal with distracters throughout the semester
• Include constructive civility guidelines on your syllabus (see resources below)
• Set clear classroom routines to begin the period, to engage students attention; use sponge or ice breaker activities (see below)
• Use Classroom Assessment Techniques (CATS) to assess student engagement and understanding (for example, find out if students are lost)
• Chunk lectures (15-20 minutes at a stretch max)
• Spend time building community
• Follow up with comments or dialog with individual students who are distracting
• Post/make announcements to help reduce distractors
  • Example: Please place cell phones and pagers on vibrate (or turn off) and mute computer sound

C) Classroom Examples

• Open the semester with a short survey and/or discussion on what detracts from learning in the classroom
• Place a reminder about distracters on first slide of presentation and/or on entrances to classroom
• Conduct a focus activity (ice breaker, sponge activity) to gather classes attention
• with students flesh out assumptions and expectations about learning and behavior in your class

to use at the beginning of class

• decreasing anonymity / build community:
  • in groups of 4-8, have students introduce themselves and find one similarity or difference common to all of them. That is shared with the class.
  • use pairwork, small group interaction, and collaborative learning

D) What makes something a distraction?

• Who is it impacting, and how?

For examples: Many students believe multi-tasking is good, so that checking their email during class may be perceived as efficient. Many people doodle to keep their mind active for listening to a presentation.

Resources

Reducing Incivility in the University/College Classroom, Patrick J. Morrissette. This paper identifies factors contributing to uncivil interactions between students and faculty and provides practical strategies designed to avoid or diffuse student-faculty conflicts. http://www.ucalgary.ca/~iejll/volume5/morrissette.html

Classroom Civility from UCSC. Ways to promote civility in the classroom. http://ic.ucsc.edu/CTE/teaching/tips-civility.html

The change-up: a good pitch to have in your teaching repertoire by Bill McAllister, University of Virginia. Some quick classroom activities to keep students engaged in learning. http://trc.virginia.edu/Publications/Teaching_Concerns/Fall_1997/TC_Fall_1997_Change-Up.htm

Preparing an effective syllabus: current best practices by Slattery and Carlson. College Teaching: Fall 2005. Syllabi can be useful in engaging students and creating a, effective, positive classroom atmosphere. [1]

On the same wave-length? Clarifying course expecatations and goals Clarifying expectations and goals can help prevent disengagement. http://trc.virginia.edu/Publications/Teaching_Concerns/Fall_1999/TC_Fall_1999_Barnett.htm

[2]Angelo, T. A., & Cross, K. P. (1993). Classroom Assessment Techniques: A Handbook for College Teachers, 2nd ed.

McKeachie, W. J., & Svinicki, M. (?2006?) McKeachie's Teaching Tips: Strategies, Research, and Theory for College and University Teachers, 12th ed.

Knaack, L. 14 Good Ideas from Liesel knaack for using laptops in the classroom