Karina Gonzalez
A vexing problem associated with text messaging on cell phones during class has become a full-blown crisis without a curable solution on two fronts, according to Pierce College faculty.Each semester for the past three or four years, Ken Windrum, professor of cinema, says there are about one or two students in each of his classes who need constant reminders not to check for messages or type on their cell phones during movie screenings.”In lectures, they’re less noticeable. However, when the room goes dark and the movie begins, students are more inclined to reach for their phones,” Windrum said. He doesn’t appreciate the “constant electronic bombardments” that are disrupting his class. Although the rules are clearly stated in the class syllabus (“no using of cell phones or text-messaging in class”), students don’t seem to heed the warnings seriously. The same problem seems to plague Vincent Brook, also a professor of cinema, who said, “It’s become progressively worse.” A couple of semesters ago, Brook started a docking students a point each time they were caught using their phones during class.Both Windrum and Brook surmise that some students are “addicted” to their phones, yet they are still searching for ways to modify this problem before it escalates.A greater concern deals with the fact that perhaps some students are cheating via text messaging.”The [Los Angeles Community College District] Academic Senate has guidelines,” said Tom Rosdahl, Pierce academic senate president and automotive professor. “A lot of it has to do with integrity and cheating. Some folks look at text messaging, possibly, as cheating.”That belief has also been shared on the national scale. For example, a Feb. 5 article in the USC Times News & Headlines titled, “What’s inside that bottle? Seminar keys in on student cheating tricks,” says that about 60 faculty members were given a lesson on how to catch students cheating. Text messaging in class brought unwanted attention to 12 University of Maryland students in 2003. Their story was covered in a Jan. 31, 2003, article on thebatt.com, the Web site of Texas A&M’s independent student paper, titled, “University of Maryland students admit to using cell phones to cheat on exam.”The problem is not only regional, but global. The previous year, at one of the most renowned universities in Japan, Hitotsubashi University, 26 students were accused of similar misconduct, according to thebatt.com.David Follosco, dean of student services at Pierce, said no one has been sent to his office for any behavior relating to text messaging. However, if a student was sent to his office, the likely consequences are a warning, probation and/or suspension (that is, if they haven’t been caught cheating).Whether students are disrupting the class or cheating via text messaging with their cell phones, so far there is no clear solution to this electronic ailment.