• ISSN: 2148-2225 (online)

Ulaştırma ve Lojistik Kongreleri

alphanumeric journal

The Journal of Operations Research, Statistics, Econometrics and Management Information Systems

Mobile Phones as Distracting Tools In The Classroom: College Students Perspective

Naciye Güliz Uğur

Tuğba Koç


Abstract

There are more than six billion users of cell phones worldwide. The need for people to connect with others frequently is apparent in our society. People use mobile phones everywhere and every time, to call and text friends, surf the web, visit social sites and attach themselves to their communication devices at all times. As the use of mobile phones has proliferated in academic settings in recent years, new challenges are faced by institutions of higher education and their faculties. Research indicates that increasing use of mobile phones by the students in the classroom causes a big distraction, although all of the college students have their own mobile phones and all of them regularly bring their devices to courses.The prevalence and inconvenient usage of mobile phones in colleges has prompted college administrators to create policies to manage mobile phone use during the school day. Also there is a lot of support for mobile phones to be banned from colleges, but such rules are not accepted or enforced in universities. Actually, college students must have the ability to consider the advantages and disadvantages of their behaviors. This study enlightens the situation about use and abuse of cell phones during courses. This paper presents the result of a study conducted on 300 college students from faculty of business administration at Sakarya University to gain a better understanding of the frequency and manner of cell phone use in college classrooms. Focusing on the use of text messaging during courses, students reported on their own and others’ use of cell phones. The current research reveals that minority of the students use their smartphones during class time to enhance learning, such as using their smartphones as computers to look up relevant information pertaining to the lesson, as cameras to take pictures of information on the blackboard or screen, as calculators, and so forth. However, majority of the students use their smartphones during class time for personal use not related to learning. One of the most striking result of this study shows that majority of the students distract their classmates and they will continue to behave this way, unless the administrators take precautions.

Keywords: Abuse of Mobile Phones, Misuse of Mobile Phones, Mobile Phone Use in Class, Phubbing

Jel Classification: M54

Sınıf İçerisinde Dikkat Dağıtma Aracı Olarak Cep Telefonları: Üniversite Öğrencilerinin Bakış Açısı

Öz

Dünya çapında 6 milyonu aşkın cep telefonu kullanıcısı bulunmaktadır. İnsanların sıkça birbirleriyle iletişim kurma ihtiyacı duyduğu gözlenmektedir. İnsanlar her zaman ve her yerde, arama yapmak, mesajlaşmak, internette dolaşmak, sosyal paylaşım sitelerini takip etmek amacıyla cep telefonu kullanmakta ve iletişim cihazları ile bütünleşik halde yaşamaktadır. Son yıllarda cep telefonlarının eğitim ortamlarında hızla çoğalmasıyla beraber yükseköğrenim kurumlarını ve fakülteleri zorlu bir durumla karşı karşıya bırakmıştır. Bu araştırmada, üniversite öğrencilerin sınıflarda cep telefonu kullanmasının dikkati büyük oranda dağıttığının, buna rağmen öğrencilerin tamamının cep telefonuna sahip olduğunun ve hepsinin cihazlarını ders esnasında da yanlarında taşıdığının altı çizilmektedir. Cep telefonlarının yaygın ve uygunsuz kullanımı, yöneticileri bu konuda bir takım kurallar koymaya mecbur bırakmakta, ancak uygulanan kurallar üniversite yönetimi tarafından kabul edilmemekte veya mecbur tutulmamaktadır. Her ne kadar öğrencilerin ders esnasında telefon kullanmanın avantajlarını ve dezavantajlarını bilmeleri gerekiyor olsa da, bu çalışmanın asıl amacı öğrencilerin bu konudaki düşüncelerini açığa çıkartmaktır. Bu makalede, üniversite dersliklerine cep telefonu kullanım sıklığı ve alışkanlığının değerlendirilmesi amacıyla, Sakarya Üniversitesi İşletme Fakültesinde öğrenim görmekte olan 300 üniversite öğrencisi ile yapılan araştırmanın sonuçlarına yer verilmiştir. Ağırlıklı olarak ders esnasında mesajlaşmanın konu edinildiği çalışmada öğrenciler kendilerinin ve sınıf arkadaşlarının kullanımına ilişkin bilgi vermişlerdir. Çalışmanın sonuçlarına göre akıllı telefonların ders esnasında en fazla kullanılma sebebi dersle ilgisi olmayan kişisel sebepler olarak ön plana çıkarken; azınlık bir öğrenci topluluğu dersle ilgili bilgilere erişmek veya tahtadaki ders notlarının resmini çekmek ya da hesap makinesi kullanarak dersteki öğrenme verimini arttırmak amacıyla da telefonlarından yararlandıklarını belirtmişlerdir. Çalışmanın en çarpıcı sonuçlarından birisine göre; öğrencilerin büyük bir çoğunluğu ders esnasında arkadaşlarını telefon kullanarak rahatsız ettiklerini kabul etmiş ve gerekli tedbirler alınmadığı takdirde bu şekilde davranma niyetini açıkça ortaya koymuştur.

Anahtar Kelimeler: Cep Telefonlarının Kötüye Kullanımı, Cep Telefonlarının Suistimali, Sınıfta Cep Telefonu Kullanımı

Suggested citation

Uğur, N. G. & Koç, T. (). Mobile Phones as Distracting Tools In The Classroom: College Students Perspective. Alphanumeric Journal, 3(2), 57-64. http://dx.doi.org/10.17093/aj.2015.3.2.5000145549

bibtex

References

  • Babbie, E. (2001). The Practice of Social Research: 9th Edition. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Thomson
  • Barks, A., Searight, H., & Ratwik, S. (2011). Effects of Text Messaging on Academic Performance. Journal of Pedagogy and Psychology "Signum Temporis", 4(1), 4-9.
  • Bayless, M. L., Clipson, T., & Wilson, A. (2013). Faculty Perceptions and Policies of Students’ Use of Personal Technology in the Classroom. Journal of Research in Business Information Systems, 119.
  • Belwal, R., Belwal, S., (2009). Mobile Phone Usage Behavior of University Students in Oman. NISS '09 Proceedings of the 2009 International Conference on New Trends in Information and Service Science. IEEE Computer Society, pp. 954-962.
  • Braguglia, K. H. (2008). Cellular telephone use: A survey of college business students. Journal of College Teaching & Learning 5: 55–61.
  • Burns, S. M., & Lohenry, K. (2010). Cellular phone use in class: Implications for teaching and learning: A pilot study. College Student Journal, 44(3), 805-810.
  • Campbell, S. (2004, November). Normative mobile phone use in public settings. Annual Meeting of the National Communication Association. Chicago, IL.
  • Campbell, S. (2006). Perceptions of Mobile Phones in College Classrooms: Ringing, Cheating, and Classroom Policies. Communication Education, 55(3), 280-294.
  • Campbell, S., & Russo, T. (2003). The social construction of mobile telephony: An application of the social influence model to perceptions and uses of mobile phones within personal communication networks. Communication Monographs(70), 317-334.
  • Clayson, D.E., & Haley, D.A. (2012). An introduction to multitasking and texting: Prevalence and impact on grades and GPA in marketing classes. Journal of Marketing Education, 35(1), 26–40.
  • Dzubak, C. M. (2012). Does multitasking interfere with learning?. The Journal of the Association for the Tutoring Profession. Retrieved Jan 3, 2015, from http://www.myatp.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/Synergy-Vol-5- Dzubak.pdf
  • Elgan, M. (2010). Here Comes the New Cell Phone Etiquette. www.computerworld.com: http://www.computerworld.com/article/2522809/mobile-wireless/here-comes-the-new-cell-phone-etiquette.html adresinden alındı
  • End, C. M., Worthman, S., Mathews, M. B., & Wetterau, K. (2010). Costly cell phones: The impact of cell phone rings on academic performance. Teaching of Psychology, 37, 55–57.
  • Fischer, G., & Konomi, S. (2005). Innovative Media in Support of Distributed Intelligence and Lifelong Learning. Third IEEE International Workshop on Wireless and Mobile Technologies in Education (WMTE, 2005). Japan.
  • Foerde K., & Knowlton B.J., & Poldrack R.A. (2006). Modulation of competing memory systems by distraction. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 103: 11778–11783.
  • Froese, A. D., Carpenter, C. N., Inman, D. A., Schooley, J. R., Barnes, R. B., Brecht, P. W., & Chacon, J. D. (2012). Effects of Classroom Cell Phone Use on Expected and Actual Learning. College Student Journal, 46(2), 323-332.
  • Gilroy, M. (2004). Invasion of the classroom cell phones. Education Digest, 69(6), 56-60.
  • GSMA Intelligence. Definitİve data and analysis for the mobile industry. Retrieved Dec 10, 2014, from https://gsmaintelligence.com/
  • ITU. (2002). World communication indicators database (6th ed.).
  • Jacobsen, W., & Forste, R. (2011). The wired generation: Academic and social outcomes ofelectronic media use among university student. Cyberpsychology, Behavior, & Social Networking, 14(5), 275-280.
  • Jenkins, R. (2011). The Rules About Classroom Rules. The Chronicle of Higher Education. Retrieved Feb 21, 2015, from http://chronicle.com/article/The-Rules-About-Classroom/130048/
  • Katz, J. (2005). Mobile phones in educational settings. K. Nyiri içinde, A sense of place: The gobal and the local in mobile communication (s. 305-317). Vienna: Passagen.
  • Ling, R. (1997). ‘‘One can talk about common manners!’’: The use of mobile telephones in inappropriate situations. Stockholm: Telia.
  • Ling, R. (2002). The social juxtaposition of mobile telephone conversations in public spaces. Conference on Social Consequences of Mobile Telephones. Chunchon.
  • Massimini, M., and Peterson, M. (2009). Information and communication technology: Affects on U.S. college students. Cyberpsychology: Journal of Psychosocial Research on Cyberspace, 3(3), 1-15.
  • McCoy, B., "Digital Distractions in the Classroom: Student Classroom Use of Digital Devices for Non-Class Related Purposes" (2013). Faculty Publications, College of Journalism & Mass Communications. Paper 71.
  • Mifsud, L. (2003). Learning ‘‘2go’’: Pedagogical challenges to mobile learning technology in education. K. Nyiri içinde, Mobile learning: Essays on philosophy, psychology, and education (s. 165-173). Vienna: Passagen.
  • Milrad, M. (2003). Mobile learning: Challenges, perspectives, and reality. K. Nyiri içinde, Mobile learning: Essays on philosophy, psychology, and education (s. 151-164). Vienna: Passagen.
  • Murtagh, G. (2002). Wireless world: Social and interactional aspects of the mobile age . B. Brown, N. Green, & R. Harper içinde, Seeing the ‘‘rules’’: Preliminary observations of action, interaction and mobile phone use (s. 81-91). London: Springer.
  • Nyiri, K. (2002). Towards a philosophy of M-learning. Proceedings of the IEEE Computer Society: Wireless and Mobile Technologies in Education (WMTE, 2002), (s. 121-124). Sweden.
  • Ophir, E., & Nass, C., & Wagner, Anthony D., & Posner, Michael I. (2009). Cognitive Control in Media Multitaskers. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 106 (37) 15583-15587.
  • Rice, R., & Katz, J. (2003). Mobile discourtesy: National survey results on episodes of convergent public and private spheres. Mobile democracy: Essays on society, self and politics, Vienna: Passagen Verlag.
  • Rosenfeld, B., & O'Connor-Petruso, S. (2010). Rude- ness in the classroom: A survey of college students’ perceptions of inappropriate use of technology. 33rd Proceedings of the Association for Educational Communications and Technology: On the Practice of Educational Communications and Technology, 2, s. 263-266. USA.
  • Shrivastava, A., & Shrivastava, M. (2014). Classroom Distraction Due to Mobile Phones Usage by Students: College Teachers’ Perceptions. International Journal of Computer and Information Technology, 3(3), 638-642.
  • Synnott, C.K. (2013). Smartphones in the Classroom: University Faculty Members’ Experiences. Journal of Higher Education Management, 28(1), 119-130.
  • Thomas, J. (2009) Chronic Media Multi-tasking Makes it Harder to Focus. U.S. News and World Report. Retrieved Jan 3, 2015, from, http://health.usnews.com/health-news/family-health/brain-and-behavior/articles/2009/08/24/chronic-media-multi-tasking-makes-it-harder-to
  • Tindell, D., & Bohlender, R. (2010). The use and abuse of cell phones and text messaging in the classroom: A survey of college students. Wilkes University News Archives.
  • Tindell, D., & Bohlander, R. (2012). The use and abuse of cell phones and text messaging in the classroom: a survey of college students. College Teaching, 60(1), 1-9.
  • Wei, F. F., & Wang, Y. K., (2010). Students’ Silent Messages: Can Teacher Verbal and Nonverbal Immediacy Moderate Student Use of Text Messaging in Class? Communication Education. Vol. 59 Issue 4, p475-496.
  • Wei, F. F., & Wang, Y. K., & Klausner, M. (2012). Rethinking College Students' Self- Regulation and Sustained Attention: Does Text Messaging During Class Influence Cognitive Learning? Communication Education. Vol. 61 Issue 3, p185-204.
  • Wireless Intelligence. Wireless Intelligence: Market data and analysis on the global wireless industry. Retrieved Oct 18, 2014, from https://www.wirelessintelligence.com/Index.aspx
  • Young, J. (2006). Students passing notes in class via text message. Retrieved Jan 3, 2015, from, http://www.chronicle.com

Volume 3, Issue 2, 2015

2015.03.02.MIS.01

alphanumeric journal

Volume 3, Issue 2, 2015

Pages 57-64

Received: Oct. 1, 2015

Accepted: Dec. 26, 2015

Published: Dec. 31, 2015

Full Text [503.1 KB]

2015 Uğur, NG., Koç, T.

This is an Open Access article, licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.

Creative Commons Attribution licence

scan QR code to access this article from your mobile device

Contact Us

Faculty of Transportation and Logistics, Istanbul University
Beyazit Campus 34452 Fatih/Istanbul/TURKEY

Bahadır Fatih Yıldırım, Ph.D.
editor@alphanumericjournal.com
+ 90 (212) 440 00 00 - 13219

alphanumeric journal

alphanumeric journal has been publishing as "International Peer-Reviewed Journal" every six months since 2013. alphanumeric serves as a vehicle for researchers and practitioners in the field of quantitative methods, and is enabling a process of sharing in all fields related to the operations research, statistics, econometrics and management informations systems in order to enhance the quality on a globe scale.