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New to Teaching at Yale Use of Electronic Devices in Class

Use of Electronic Devices in Class

Course Planning
The presence and use of electronic devices in the
Managing the undergraduate classroom creates strong opinions as
Classroom well as confusion among instructors. Policies vary
as to allowing students to use mobile phones,
Strategies for
tablets and/or laptops, and eBooks during class.
Teaching
These devices may hinder or support the learning
Instructional
environment, depending on course context and
Tools how classroom policies are written.

How Students A body of literature in psychology research

Learn suggests that the use of electronic devices in class
can lead to a distracting learning environment.
Feedback on
While much of the research has relied on self-
Student Learning
report, Ravizza et al. (2016) measured the actual
Feedback on
duration of student Internet use in class using

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Teaching laptops, student motivation, achievement in class,

and intelligence. They found that students who
Diversity and used laptops in class for nonacademic reasons had
Inclusion
poorer class performance, as indicated by their final
grade. These students spent most of their in-class
Teaching
Resources for
web time on social media, e-mail clients, and
Disciplines and shopping websites. Researchers also found that
Professional although students accurately self-reported their
Schools internet use in class and predicted its impact
(whether negative or positive) on their learning,
New to this did not change their class behaviors. Student
Teaching at Yale intelligence as measured by ACT score, interest in
Yale Policies, the material, and motivation to learn did not
Practices, and account for these findings. Outcomes of cell phone
Teaching studies echoed these results in the context of
Culture multitasking (Junco, 2012).

Shopping
Pedagogically, however, there is also value to using
Period
electronic devices in class. Small studies indicate
Use of improvements to active learning and student
Electronic engagement with content through the use of
Devices in Twitter (which requires personal devices for
Class students), especially when that use was continued
outside the classroom (Chawinga 2017, Al-Bahrani,
Additional
et. al 2015, and Jaquemin, et. al 2014). Tablets and
Links
laptops can also enable the use of eBooks, and are
sometimes essential to maintaining accessibility
Resources at Yale standards. Ultimately, instructors can consider
major research findings, their own philosophy on
Education
the issue, the goals of their instruction, and the
Research
goals and needs of their students as they craft
policies and strategies to maximize student
Program

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Evaluation engagement.

Teaching Online
Examples
at Yale
If instructors choose to introduce electronic devices
WR Instructor in class, several strategies can reduce the forms of
Resources distraction identified in recent research:

“Considering
Targeted Electronic Activities - As explored
Teaching &
Learning” Notes
below, inviting students to utilize their devices
by Dr. Niemi for specific learning activities involving polls,
notetaking, Twitter, or collaboration can
Teaching channel the desire to engage with devices,
Excellence at Yale recognize the realities in students’ social lives,
and teach how those realities can enable more
effective learning practices. 

Integrating o� Polling So�ware - Online

programs such as Poll Everywhere allow
instructors to ask questions as a formative
assessment to monitor student learning.
Students can quickly respond to polls using
their mobile phones.  

Student Notetaking - Some students may

desire to take notes on their laptops or other
devices. Research suggests that writing notes
out by hand is more effective than by computer
(Mueller & Oppenheimer, 2014); however,
collaborative or shared notetaking strategies
may be easier with electronic devices. 

Student Research - For courses in which

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students must find primary or secondary

sources, access to online library databases and
other resources is often imperative.  

Student Collaboration - A variety of tools can

be used for collaboration in the classroom. For
example, a Google Doc is a web-based tool that
can be edited by all students at the same time,
making it appealing for group work. 

Implementation o� Active Learning Exercises -

Active learning exercises may require students
to access online websites and tools to perform
group activities like concept mapping, surveys,
or class-time research.

Recommendations
Course Syllabi Policies - In general, clear
guidelines can be given on the syllabus as to
whether students are permitted to use
electronic devices in the class. Syllabus
language and classroom policy language can be
easily adapted and modeled. The instructor
should announce any policies on the first day of
class, and may need to revisit them as needed
during the semester.   

“Leave it in the Bag” (Every or Most Classes)-

As Straumsheim (2016) suggests, if an
instructor does not want their students to use
their mobile phones during class, they can
verbally indicate this at the beginning of class

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and demonstrate by holding their cell phone

up, turning it off or silencing, and putting it
away. The instructor can also give time for
students to follow the same actions. Impact on
participation or attendance may be considered
for policy violations.

Put Away Devices (After Use in Class) - If an

instructor permits students to use technology
for a particular academic activity, at the
conclusion of the lesson, the instructor can
explicitly state that it is now time for the
students to log off or put devices away, and give
time for students to do so. Impact on
participation or attendance may be considered
for policy violations.

Active Learning Exercises  - As an evidence-

based strategy, instructors should consider
implementing the active engagement of
students in class. Students are less likely to
access social media, e-mail, etc. on their devices
when they are more engaged in class and
motivated to participate.  

Instructor Walks Around the Classroom - In

general, instructors who are physically able can
walk around during class. This can be
particularly powerful during group or pair
work when an instructor is able to discuss
topics 1:1 with students and/or pose questions.
These interactions can encourage student
attentiveness in class while discouraging

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improper device use.

Notetaking - Practices like collaborative note

taking on a Google doc or concept mapping in
MindMeister can encourage focused use of
electronic devices, and instructors can set clear
expectations that students take active notes in
class. When laptops are not permitted in class,
instructors can reiterate to students how
research has shown that note taking by hand
proves more effective than by laptop computer
(Mueller and Oppenheimer, 2014).

Accessibility Awareness - Instructors should

provide clear spoken and syllabus language
welcoming students to share their accessibility
concerns, and provide dynamic electronic
policies to support students who are print-
disabled.

References
Al-Bahrani, A., and Patel, D. (2015). Incorporating
Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook in Economics
Classrooms. Journal of Economic Education 46.1:
56-67.

Chawinga, W. (2017). Taking social media to a

university classroom: teaching and learning using
Twitter and blogs. International Journal of
Educational Technology in Higher Education 14.1:
1-19.

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Jacquemin, S., Smelser, L., and Bernot, M. (2014).

Twitter in the Higher Education Classroom: A
Student and Faculty Assessment of Use and
Perception. Journal of College Science Teaching
43.6: 22-27. 

Junco R. (2012). In-class multitasking and

academic performance. Computers in Human
Behavior 28(6): 2236-2243.

Mueller PA & Oppenheimer DM. (2014). The Pen

is Mightier Than the Keyboard: Advantages of
Longhand Over Laptop Note Taking. Psychological
Science 25(6):1159-1168.

Ravizza SM, Uitvlugt MG, Fenn KM. (2016).

Logged in and Zoned Out: How Laptop Internet
Use Relates to Classroom Learning. Psychological
Science, 1-10.

Straumsheim C. (2016). Leave it in the Bag. Inside

Higher Education.

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Feedback on Student Consultations,

Learning Observations, and Services

Strategies and tools for The Center for Teaching and

supporting student learning in the Learning routinely assists
classroom members of the Yale community
with individual instructional
consultations and classroom
observations.

Podcasting

A podcast (online audio recording) can help

you communicate ideas, interviews and other
content in an effective, readily accessible way.
Podcasts are easy to record and can be
downloaded to a mobile device such as
smartphone or computer for convenient access
any time.

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