What College Instructors Can Do About Student Cyber-slacking

Today’s traditional-aged college students are avid users of mobile technology. Commonly referred to as the Net Generation, today’s college students spend several hours each day using their smart phones, iPads, and laptops. Although some scholars initially opined that the Net Generation would grow into technologically savvy digital natives who would leverage their unprecedented access to technology for professional and academic betterment, contemporary research has rejected the digital native myth. Instead, college students frequently use mobile technology for off-task purposes while attending classroom lectures or doing schoolwork outside of class—a phenomenon known as cyber-slacking. This article provides college educators with an overview of the frequency and consequences of cyber-slacking inside and outside the classroom and seven instructional implications for curbing cyber-slacking. Proposed strategies for curbing cyber-slacking include rejecting the digital native myth, adopting and enforcing technology policies, consciousness raising, motivating students to relinquish their devices, incorporating active learning in the classroom, using mobile technology as a teaching tool, teaching students to be self-regulated learners, and motivating students to delay gratification from their mobile devices.     

Politics,knowledge and objectivity in sociology of education: a response to the case for ‘ethical reflexivity’ by Gewirtz and Cribb

The present article examines the relationship between political values and social research, with particular reference to the case for ethical reflexivity in sociology of education put forward by Gewirtz and Cribb. It is argued that their case for such reflexivity is flawed by conceptual imprecision and over‐determination of the links between value commitments, knowledge and the political implications of research. Drawing on a case study of a controversy in sociology of education, combined with a more discriminating conceptual analysis of political values in social research, it is suggested that the Gewirtz–Cribb ‘manifesto’ for routine ethical reflexivity may be inefficient and impractical. An alternative way of thinking about political reflexivity in sociology of education is offered, as are some possible avenues of philosophical resolution between the main protagonists of the longstanding debate on ‘what to do about values’ in sociology of education.     

The sequence of learning cycle activities in high school chemistry

The sequence of the three phases of two high school learning cycles in chemistry was altered in order to: (I ) give insights into the factors which account for the success of the learning cycle, (2) serve as an indirect test of the association between Piaget's theory and the learning cycle, and (3) to compare the learning cycle with traditional instruction. Each of the six sequences (one n o d and five altered) was studied with content and atritudc measures. The outcomes of the study supported the contention that the normal learning cycle sequence is the optimum sequence for achievement of content knowledge.     

Cultural literacy: A positive view

E. D. Hirsch, Jr.'sCultural Literacy attracted much negative criticism by, among others, H. J. Graff, B. Hendley, and H. R. Woodhouse writing inInterchange. In their articles they expressed their disapproval of Hirsch's social views and his list of cultural items which every American should know. According to these critics, Hirsch failed to take account of some very important issues in education, such as the place of form as well as content, or the attention given to actual components of youth and ethnic culture as opposed to the more static and perhaps anachronistic elements of elite culture. These criticisms are examined in the light of the actual situation in the schools rather than from an ideological point of view. Contrary to the opinion held by the critics, it is reasoned that the idea of cultural literacy as well as the list of specific items embodying it may be useful in curriculum planning in general and in setting minimum goals for the education of the disadvantaged in particular.     

The Economics of Filmed Entertainment in the Digital Era

Journal of Cultural Economics -