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Prof. Broad’s policy on cell phones and other technology in the classroom

They say driving while distracted is as dangerous as driving drunk. Learning and community can likewise be casualties of digital technology.

Every person in every classroom is responsible for promoting the learning in that classroom. Fulfilling that responsibility requires that you silence, stow, and ignore various kinds of technology, including cell phones, e-mail, Facebook, Youtube, Twitter, etc. By disconnecting from these technologies, you strengthen your connection to the people in the room.

Please silence or turn off your cell phone and put it out of sight before you enter any classroom (and any other professional setting). Exercise discipline and self-restraint. Neither send nor receive messages or calls during class unless there is a serious emergency. 

Unless you talk with me (Prof. Broad) first about how it will help you accomplish your work during our class, you should NEVER use any of the following during class: social media (including Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc.), Youtube, e-mail, text messaging, online chat, games, or any of a hundred other entertaining but irrelevant technological distractions. 

Failing to follow these guidelines for protecting learning and community from the damage of distractions from mobile technologies will bring two kinds of response from the professor:

  1. (The first time) A friendly reminder to silence, stow, and ignore irrelevant technologies, and then
  2. (Every time thereafter) Lowering your class participation grade.

On rare occasions, mobile technology may prove helpful to one of our learning activities. Check with the professor before using such technologies for these legitimate learning purposes.

If you have a genuine emergency ongoing and you talk with me about it in advance, we can agree for you to be able to receive emergency calls during class.  To avoid interrupting our class, you would need to take your emergency call outside of the classroom. 

Thank you in advance for understanding and meeting your responsibilities to connect to our class by disconnecting from your phone and from the internet.

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