Cottage Grove student presents research at seventh annual Celebration of Scholars event

2017 May 2

Carthage College held the seventh annual Celebration of Scholars event on Friday, April 28, 2017. Celebration of Scholars is a poster exhibition that features original research, scholarship, and creative work completed by Carthage students.

Logen Bartz of Cottage Grove presented "Perceptions and Policies Surrounding Cell Phone Use in the College Classroom" at the event.

This is the project's abstract:

"A review of the literature concerning cell phone use in college classrooms revealed significant gaps and biases in the existing body of research. Particularly evident was a lack of research concerning perceptions of cell phone use and research describing effective cell phone policies and usage. To address these gaps, we conducted a perceptions survey of student and faculty at Carthage and conducted a content analysis of course syllabi cell phone policies. The survey of students (n=94) showed a wide range in amount of cell phone use during class periods, as well as a wide variety of perceptions related to the acceptability of use. The survey of faculty (n=38) showed similar understandings of student use in the classroom, but largely negative perceptions of phone use. The syllabi (n=374) were coded on 6 cell phone policy variables (existence, location, inclusion of rationale, inclusion of penalties, length, and provisions for acceptable use). 48.1% of the syllabi reviewed contained a written cell phone policy. Analysis of the syllabi revealed little uniformity among cell phone policies, with policies varying most dramatically by instructor, discipline, and course level. Only 34.4% of policies contained provisions for acceptable cell phone use.Our project contributes to building an understanding of cell phone policies and may assist faculty in making decisions about cell phone usage in the classroom."