Smartphones in the classrooms???

[PapaAzucar]

Easy.
Shoebox. Collect them(turned off) at the beginning of class.

Not so easy in the US where the kids will either lie that they don't have one and will hide it, or they will just boldly refuse.
When one kid does it, the other kids join in.
And when the teacher tries to get the parents' support, the parents jump on the teacher for not allowing their kids to have their phones in case of emergency.
And when the teacher tries to get the administrator's support, the administrator jumps on the teacher for wasting his time knowing that the parents are against it.

It pisses me off big time when students check words on their i - phone dictionaries while I'm trying to elict or explain the meaning of the word.

This is probably the new norm now.
I was attending a graduate class a while back in the US.
All the students were looking at their laptops, and no one or few were looking at the lecturer.
For all the lecturer knows, he could have been talking to a blank wall.
But when I sat in the back of the room where I could see some of the screens, the students were looking up the stuff that the lecturer was talking about.
This is apparently how the newer generations are wired to learn.

[ehophi]

It pisses me off big time when students check words on their i - phone dictionaries while I'm trying to elict or explain the meaning of the word. I teach ielts and and general english and when I see a student checking their phone, I grab a dictionary and plonk it in front of them. In fact, I might start a new policy and banning them from the classroom, unless the student is expecting a very important call.

I tell my students that one advantage of my classes is that they don't need to bring a dictionary anymore. If they're not clear about the meaning of a word or phrase, they just have to raise their hands, and I'll give them the answer in terms that they can understand.

[jimipresley]

Luckily for me, I have power over my uni students, in that I can FAIL them at my whim. I walk around with my class list and if I see someone on their phone, texting shit, I make a mark next to their name. I tut-tut and shake my head. Works like a charm.

[lostinasia]

Luckily for me, I have power over my uni students, in that I can FAIL them at my whim. I walk around with my class list and if I see someone on their phone, texting shit, I make a mark next to their name. I tut-tut and shake my head. Works like a charm.

Ditto. The only issue these days is that smartphones often ARE useful to the students (dictionaries especially, but also Wikipedia and the like): five years ago I could just place a blanket ban on using cellphones at all, but I consider that too heavy-handed now.

[headhonchoII]

Class list, mark to their name ....it really is like teaching elementary school eh.

[Indiana]

We have this jammer at the university I work at...it's a nice idea but not so nice in the case of an emergency or if you need to call the techies in when the Smartboards or air conditioning are out of order. They turn the jammer on intermittently, usually during ceremonies when the bigwigs are here giving a speech or something like that.

[the chief]

We have this jammer at the university I work at...it's a nice idea but not so nice in the case of an emergency or if you need to call the techies in when the Smartboards or air conditioning are out of order. They turn the jammer on intermittently, usually during ceremonies when the bigwigs are here giving a speech or something like that.

What's a Smartboard?

[lostinasia]

What's a Smartboard?

Like a Smartplank but wider.

(I have a vague impression it's like a giant iPad, but I've never used one.)