Have you ever been caught texting, chatting or sleeping during class? Well, stop.
Professors say that disrupting the classroom environment is costing everyone valuable classroom time.
"Somebody is paying for you to be here," said J.R. Lawson, assistant professor in the history department.
"Students need to understand that you really have to follow the rules to get the most out of your educational experience."
"It's really hard to give a lecture when you have students texting on the phone or coming in late to class," said Matthew Cook, English and history assistant professor.
"It disrupts the flow of the presentation and sometimes it is hard to get back into the groove of the lesson — everyone in the classroom has to pay the price for that."
Studies show that new forms of communication, such as texting, are making it harder and harder for students to stay focused.
Professors say they are dealing with everything from disrespect, to tardiness, to intoxication and badgering.
Cell phone conversations and texting during lecture has become second nature to many students.
"Cell phones are a big problem," said Cook.
In his first semester at NCCU, Cook said he had a student take a call in his world societies class. After a moment of awkwardness the student walked out and continued with his call.
"We all understand that it is important to be in touch with people," said Cook. "But unless it is an emergency, it can wait."
After class, the student told Cook that he had the right to take a call whenever he wanted to because he pays for the professor to be there and the professor will work around his time.
"Just because you pay tuition," said Cook, "doesn't give you the right to disrupt the learning process for everyone else."
Many professors say they don't even allow laptops during lectures, saying that laptops are just another way for students not to pay attention.
"I love to incorporate technology into the lecture," said Cook.
"But if a student pulls out a laptop to take notes, I ask them to put it away because I find that they are usually surfing the Web and on Facebook."
For many instructors, prevention is the key to dealing with problems.
"We go over the syllabus to ensure that students understand what is required of them," said Lawson.
"There should be no surprises when they get in trouble."
"The syllabus is like a contract," said Cook.
"With it you are protecting faculty and students because everyone knows what they are held accountable for."
According to Lawson it's important to remember that you are not the only person in the classroom.
"There are other people trying to learn and are disrupted by all the chatting, eating, and coming in late," said Lawson.
Eleanor Harrington-Austin, associate professor of English, said she has dealt with more than her share of disruption in the classroom.
"I have worked in both a high school and university setting," said Harrington- Austin.
"I have dealt with everything from students throwing pencils to stalking me around campus."
Though Harrington-Austin says that disruption is less severe in a university setting, she still finds that some students simply don't respect the rules.
"No matter what you say, you are going to get someone chatting here and someone texting there," said Austin.
"It's petty disrespect is all it is."
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