Have you ever thought of an influence that the laptops and cell phones are having on the productivity of the students’ performance? With the decreasing price of various portable computing appliances, such as laptops and cellphones, and the extensive accessibility of wireless connection to the cyberspace, the mentioned devices are more commonly discovering their paths into school classrooms and obtaining more and more popularity (Should schools allow cell phones, 2014).
The author of the article wants to draw the attention to the existing problem of the using of the electronic devices in classes and their impact on the efficiency of the classwork of the students. Almost every student that possesses a personal computer or a working cell phone during class uses it for non-academic purposes; as a result, the author has difficulties with concentrating on the main points of the educator. The question of the academic enthusiasm of the students and the problem of impossible teamwork of the classmates arise (Ramage, 2015). The diverting nature of personal computers and cell phones is destructively distressing teaching space surroundings; therefore, the author proposes an effective measure that will prevent the abstractness of the students. The author believes that a campus-wide ban on personal computers and smartphones will be more efficient that various others forms of restriction; improve the learning and training environment of the schoolroom, and in a long perspective, increase the academic enactment of existing users of personal computers and smartphones in class.
The audience of the article is the Faculty Senate. The source of the essay is the personal observations of the author and the results from the previous forms of restriction of personal computers and smartphones in class. The purpose of the essay is to suggest a fresh perspective on the existing problem from a student that is suffering from the excessive use of laptops and cellphones in classrooms from the academic point of view.
The objectivity of the writer is confirmed by the accessory to the students that are currently gaining knowledge in the classroom (Fried, 2008). The author uses ethos of the essay by showing his credibility to the reader and the close relationship with the subject. The ethos highlights the individual opinion of the author more than the genuine content of his dispute.
The author applies the statistics in order to support his arguments: “an informal survey by a Georgetown University law professor who bans laptops in his classroom indicated that 70% of his students welcomed the ban” (Cole, 2008, para. 2). Moreover, the author uses the investigation that was conducted by the researchers from Stanford University and reveals the connection between multitasking and the academic success (Ophir, Nass, & Wagner, 2009); and a study by Benbunan-Fich and Truman (2009), which revealed the percentage of non-academic use of the personal devices in class.
The emotion manipulation of the author lies in the designation of the impossibility of successful study in an environment where the electronic devices are widely used. The tone of the paper is critical, however, informal. Therefore, the language choice is not fully appropriate for the formal appeal to the administration, even though the author makes an effort of implementing the compound words and turns of phrase.
A campus-wide prohibition personal computers and smartphones would most likely assist in establishing more constructive and unified classroom atmosphere; moreover, it would deliver an absolution for students from the countless interruptions that they are facing in the modern technical era.
Works Cited
Berbunan-Fich, R., & Truman, G. (2009). Multitasking with laptops during meetings. Communications of the ACM, 52(2), 139-141.
Cole, D. (2008). Why I ban laptops in my classroom. Web.
Fried, C. B. (2008). In-class laptop use and its effects on student learning. Computers and Education, 50(1), 906-914.
Ophir, E., Nass, C., & Wagner, A. D. (2009). Cognitive control in media multitaskers. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 106(37), 583-587.
Ramage, J. B. (2015). The Allyn & Bacon guide to writing. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Pearson Education, Inc.
Should schools allow cell phones? (2014). Web.