<p>Having gone to school in the dark ages where we called our parents collect once a week from pay phones (asking for ourselves, so they knew to call us back) … What is the accepted cell phone etiquette these days? Is it expected that cell phones will be totally turned off in the classroom? (I would think so, but what do I know - and I bet a lot of people just put them on silent versus turning them off)</p>
<p>Pizzagirl, I dont think my D;s college has an actual cell phone policy but we have asked what she does. You are right that she puts it on vibrate but she explained that the college has an emergency response system that text messages all students in case of an emergency. It has happened once, not during class but like she said it works and at times may be the only form of communication in an emergency. All this new technology makes me feel so old. I wrote computer programs on punch cards when I was in college. I had bought the first scientific calculator available in North America and paid $200 for it, today I can buy one that does 10 times for $19.99. She jockingly asked me how we used to communicate with each other and I have come close to saying by carrier pidgeon Lol 
Lord I feel old</p>
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And sometimes there’s no interaction to be learned from and you already know the lecture content.</p>
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To be honest, I don’t care about other students’ opinions in say elementary statistics or symbolic logic. The point of the class is to learn how to solve problems. Points of view occasionally come up in the finer points of logic, but for an intro class they tend to be neither here nor there. And in those classes, I can’t help other students without interrupting or talking over the Professor, which seems to me to be far more disrespectful. In short, my presence in the room really has no effect on any of the other students.</p>
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<p>Phones should be on silent. People sometimes send text messages surreptitiously but it’s frowned up officially. Taking and making phone calls in class is not remotely acceptable, but if you have to go outside to take a call it’s generally understood.</p>
<p>Please stop feeding the ■■■■■.</p>
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There are plenty of things that may not be available from most online colleges.</p>
<p>Also, one might be able to succeed without attendance in one course but not in another.
That situation is not analogous at all. If the mechanic doesn’t do your brakes properly, that would be comparable to a student not attending class and then flunking. If the student is succeeding without attendance, it’s a totally different situation.
I can’t imagine why a parent would pay a large sum of money for their child to attend school if said child refuses to grant access to grades after the parent asks (referring to the kid you overheard, not you). Seriously, if parents who care can’t convince their kids to grant access that certainly isn’t the college’s fault.
Right, because students who have no interest in classroom participation will magically become involved and active participants in the learning environment when they are forced to attend :rolleyes:
One of the few things we all have the freedom to dispense as we see fit is our respect. But saying that profs have the right to disrespect students who don’t show up to class is different from saying that profs should punish students who don’t show up to class via grades.
LOL 
At least at public universities, this is pretty much true.</p>
<p>I guess I would say that if the students don’t need to go to class, they are taking the wrong classes.</p>
<p>^ I agree. I believe “Meglomania in the Modern World” is available at most centers of higher learning.</p>
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<p>To a certain extent I agree, but it can be hard to avoid if a class is a pre-req or is necessary for other requirements.</p>
<p>I had an 100 level computer graphics art classes that was a pre-req for another art course (a 300 or 400 level digital photography course) and had to take them both the same semester due to scheduling (my photo prof waived the pre-req for taking the first course ahead of time but I still had to take it to qualify for my minor). The pre-req course was extremely simple for me (as I am a web designer on the side and had been doing graphic related things for years at that point) and I could have probably done all the required work that it took the rest of the class all semester to do in 3 or 4 class periods. It met twice a week 8 am to 10:30 am. We had two small projects that were done in each class each day and you could leave when you were done. I worked out with my prof that I only had to come from 9:30 to 10:30 because I could do the required work in that period of time… and even then I finished early most of the times. If I came in at 8 I’d be done by 9 and leave… and then I’d have to come all the way back for my 11:00 class so it worked much easier doing it that way.</p>
<p>Also, in my digital photo class, we were allowed to work from home certain nights if we had the software to do so. that one was a tuesday thursday 630-9pm course so I spent quite a few nights working on projects from my bed room as opposed to in the class room.</p>
<p>i took a required for my major computer networking course with a friend of mine who was already a cisco certified network person… he had to take the course as a pre-req for an advanced networking course as part of his major… he could have taught that class. He only came to class one day a week (if that) and also on test taking/returning days. He got 100’s on everything across the board. Prof didn’t take attendance but you could tell he wasn’t happy with him cutting class left and right and still getting 100’s. i also took required database course (this is the inner nerd in me coming out) and a required web development course as part of my major even though I had been working with that stuff for years. I could have just shown up on test days and aced them. I attended each class because our prof took attendance (same prof for both classes) and had graded homework assignments due every couple of weeks. My prof actually told the class if they needed help with their assignments they should study with me because I was a pro at it. He even e-mailed me outside of class and got me hooked up with a web design job with an associate of his. Sometimes it pays (literally) to come to class even though you know what you are doing. :)</p>
<p>fendergirl - Why didn’t you just tell the Professor “Look, you have nothing to teach me in this class, so I’m not attending. And don’t even THINK about giving me less than an ‘A’ … because obviously I know more than any student in here!” </p>
<p>Right … because you’re a better person than that.</p>
<p>newhope, I did have to laugh in my DB course… our prof was like “I just got assigned this project for the school and I’m trying to figure out how to get it to blah blah blah blah… if anyone has any ideas that could help me out just let me know.” the whole class was throwing idea after idea out and he kept shooting them down saying why they wouldn’t work. I wasn’t sure if he was sincerely asking the class for help or if he was just trying to prove a point so I didn’t say anything… but after class I e-mailed him with detailed directions on how to do what he wanted to do and told him to get in touch if he needed any other help. That was when he e-mailed me back with a job offer, lol.</p>
<p>If the college is making students take classes that cover material they already know, it’s the college who has a problem. They are wasting the customer’s money, whoever the customer might be.</p>
<p>That’s just how it goes sometimes. I’ve attended training on the same exact thing at work at least four times over the past 6 years… and yet I have co-workers who have still not attended that training.</p>
<p>Oh DARN, I missed that training AGAIN? What was I thinking??? Well maybe next year … or perhaps in 2013.</p>
<p>Lol… I have a virtual training tomorrow afternoon… I don’t know why people would want to miss training… it’s like getting paid to sit there and listen as opposed to actually having to do your normal job!!</p>