And about the cellphones in class...

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Do not talk on them while your instructors are speaking! I cannot believe that this girl was actually having a conversation on her phone while the instructor was lecturing! I just cant believe it. And there were at least 5 instances of very loud ringers.

(Yea, it's called vibrate!)

I tell ya, some people are so inconsiderate.

Specializes in Urgent Care.

Funny thing happened... we are supposed to have our phones off, and a fellow classmates phone went off during lecture. The teacher walked over and answered it! She said " Hi, I'm sorry but so and so is busy in school right now, she'll have to call you back". The girls was so embarrassed, and it was done lightly in fun. Since then no one has forgotten to shut their phone off.:lol2:

Specializes in ER.

Wow! The girl that had a conversation on her phone during class wouldn't have made it through my LPN program! She would have been dismissed from the entire program the minute my instructor noticed...no questions asked. We weren't allowed to have our phones on at all. That included vibrating. And my teacher could hear a flea fart. Trust me, if your phone vibrated during her lecture, it would only do it once. We were told to leave the school's number with loved ones...if there was an emergency we could be contacted via the office.

I think this was an excellent policy. It taught me how to be a professional. I would never, ever, ever talk on my cell in front of a patient or interrupt pt care to take a personal call, unless it really is a life threatening emergency. I've seen nurses talk on the phone in front of patients (and even have one MD that does it). I think it is terribly rude and unprofessional.

There is a BIG problem in my class with text messaging through lecture. It's very distracting.

I will admit that I have my phone on the desk or in my pocket on vibrate through all my classes, but the reason I do it is because if something happens to one of my kids while I'm at school, I need to be the one to go get them. My husband can't, so I'm the one their schools will contact if they are sick or hurt. I have talked to every single instructor I've had so far about the situation, and they are all perfectly comfortable with my having the phone on and available. There's just no way that I would leave them without either my husband or myself immediately accessible, just in case.

If a cell phone goes off in class we are told to leave and not come back for the rest of class. If it happens during a test the same rule applies. No one's phone has rung in any of my classes in a year.

Some people ask questions that the answer may be obvious to you. You learn by asking questions. I don't think there are any stupid questions. An idea may be difficult for you to grasp but easy for others. You may not know who the Chancellor of Germany is but another may think gee, who doesn't know that?

Specializes in Oncology, Med-Surg, Nursery.

We were told on the first day of class by our course coordinator that if our cell phone went off in class and interrupted lecture that the instructor lecturing had the option of taking the phone or asking the student to leave class. It has happened several times and so far, noone has done anything about it. Now me? I turn mine off during class.

However, we had an instructor TALK ON HER CELL PHONE in the patient's room a couple weeks ago at clinical while my classmate was trying to hang an IVPB. So I mean you know....what does that say to a group of students? Though I know we all know better than to do that. It wasn't an emergency call either, btw. It was just a casual call from a friend of her's.

So far my program (whole school in fact) has the harshest policy regarding cell phones (and I love it).

The policy is this: If your phone goes off during class, you are asked to leave the class immediately and not come back until the next class meets. If your phone goes off during an exam, you will get a zero on that exam and be asked to leave. If you are caught sending a text message in the nursing program, they will assume you are cheating and you will be out of the program. In fact, on test days, hats aren't allowed to be worn because in the past someone had written notes on the bill of their baseball cap. Also, on test days we cannot have our backpacks/purses next to our desks, they are to be parked at the front of the room and you can collect them when you are finished with the test and leave the room.

I personally love my programs policy on cell phones. And as far as instructors having their cell phones on or going off in class or clinical, yeah that can be annoying but for all I know they are exchanging important information between the other instructors. That's their business and it's not my place (as a student) to enforce rules, it's my job to follow them.

With that being said, one thing that bugs me about the cell phone policy is that they threaten to confiscate the phone for the rest of the semester if the phone rings during class. Obviously they can not do this, as it is illegal for anyone to take away your personal property. I'm sure it's just a scare tactic, but it kind of assumes that we're still in grade school where the teacher took away toys and gave them back at the end of the semester. But still, I'm glad it scares people into making sure their cell's are OFF.

If you are having a family crisis, tell the instructor before class starts, arrange to have your phone on vibrate and leave the class immediately when it goes off. Most instructors will be understanding if it's an emergency. Otherwise, the program director should be in charge of taking calls for students in the event of a situation that demands swift attention.

I wish more people had a concept of cell phone politeness. If I'm in front of a cashier at the grocery store and am on the phone, I put the caller on hold and finish my business. Nobody should have to wait until I take care of my call in order for them to do their business.

Regarding "stupid questions", I'm grateful when a student asks something that might on the surface be common knowledge because it allows the instructor to elaborate on the issue. I've heard funny questions in class, but never stupid ones. Even the one that someone might have considered stupid (the one time my class mate asked about bacterial viruses), it gave the instructor pause for a moment and then she clarified that it's either a bacteria OR a virus, not both. I'm sure 99% of us knew that, but aside from the girl who asked that question, there could have been one other person who had forgotten the material in microbiology and was wondering about the same thing.

This chick in my psychology class plays her ipod in class and believe me it is so loud until I find myself bobbing my head to that crap. She has been warned over and over and she still does it. How rude!!

Specializes in ALS, LTC, Home Health.

This is also a pet peeve of mine. We were told first day to have all cell phones off. But most if not all my classmates leave them on. Most on vibrate but everyday someone forgets and the phone goes off right in the middle of a lecture. So far no repercussions. There is a land line phone in the room. If you need someone to be able to contact you have them call the school and then the class can be called and you can be informed. I think the best solution for cell phones in class is for the school to install cell phone blockers in all the rooms. That way the phone will not get service and all the texting and ringing phones would stop. Me personally my cell stays at home. I do not carry it with me. If someone needs to reach me they can call the school and I will get the message.

As for stupid questions there are NO stupid questions. The only real stupid question is the one that is not asked.

We're not supposed to bring cell phones in the building--but our teachers do allow it, as long as they're off. A couple have rang in class but no disciplinary actions were taken. I do take mine in, turn it off as I get out of my vehicle, and leave it in a pocket in my bag.

I do get quite annoyed at teachers taking calls in class though--I am paying good money for that hour of lecture! If they can take calls, I should be able to as well!

My professors confiscates any cell phone that makes a noise, any noise, even the vibrating noise during lecture and we have to pay them 25 dollars for them to return our phone. The money goes into our class fund. So far I think we have had three incidents.

On test days we can not bring anything but a calculator, pencils and our car keys. No purses, no cell phones, no nothing on your person. No hats, bandanas etc either.

Most people in my program are pretty polite as far as phones go - once or twice a month someone's rings, and they get embarrassed and turn it off. Two of our instructors have had theirs go off too, and they apologize and turn the ringer off. Funny thing - whenever someone's vibrates, it interrupts the instructor's microphone system, they must be on the same frequency or something. That's annoying, but what can you do. Now, in my English class last spring (only 18 students, very obvious), people would text throug the entire class period, and a couple answered phone calls while our professor was teaching. I was amazed how rude they were. Nursing students are more subtle - I usually sit in the 3rd row, and I think it's funny watching the kids who come in a half hour early to get front row seats sit and surf the internet all through lecture. They aren't bothring anyone, but I think it's weird.

Specializes in Med/Surg, ICU, ER, Peds ER-CPEN.

school policy for us is OFF not vibrate, not silent but OFF, if you have a situation where you may need to take an emergency call then you have to get the teacher's permission to put it to vibrate and they hang on to the phone during class, if you phone goes off you get counted absent for that day and have to make up those lecture hours in whatever way the director deems necessary, which is usually done with clinical hours

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