From Digital Distraction to Digital Motivation

The presence of technology on college campuses has increased rapidly in recent years. Students come to the classroom with a variety of technological devices including smart phones, tablets, or laptops and use them during academic activity. For this reason, there are many researchers who, in recent times, have been interested in the problems derived from digital distraction in higher education. In many cases, researchers have conducted studies and surveys to obtain first-hand information from the protagonists, that is, from university professors and students. Despite the efforts, there are many questions that still remain unanswered. The authors are aware of the enormous challenge that the use of technology poses in the university classrooms and want to delve into the causes and consequences of student digital distraction and the strategies that can be used by instructors to curb student digital distraction without deteriorating student-instructor rapport in the context of higher education.

How Reflective Practice Informs Blended and Online Language Instruction

This chapter discusses how reflection is essential to informing instruction. The authors reflect on the community-building strategies implemented through an onboarding process prior to the start of the semester that ensures connection and engagement among students who are physically separated. This process opens a line of communication between students and instructors providing essential feedback to identify and address needs as well as build a trusting and open relationship for student-instructor engagement. The authors discuss how throughout the course, student reflection on their learning enabled them to recognize achievements, identify issues, and shape instructional practices. These reflections are an integral part of the interweaving of asynchronous and synchronous sessions based on four different learning models. All learning models included clear scaffolding for maximum benefit regardless of learning environments. The ongoing adjustments based on reflection proved worthy as student communication skills remained equal to those of pre-pandemic learning.

Understanding and Reacting to the Digital Distraction Phenomenon in College Classrooms

Student use of digital devices for non-class purposes has become ubiquitous in college classrooms across the globe—a phenomenon commonly referred to as digital distraction. The purpose of the chapter is to provide readers with an overview of the prevalence of student digital distraction in college classrooms, an understanding of the factors that contribute to student digital distraction, and a summary of the outcomes experienced by students who succumb to digital distraction during class. The reviewed research indicates that mobile phones and laptop computers are the devices used most for off-task purposes during class. Environmental and person-centered factors appear especially consequential for the motivational interference potential of mobile devices in college classrooms. Unfortunately, student digital distraction has deleterious effects on student learning and the quality of student-instructor rapport in college classrooms. The chapter concludes with descriptions of five strategies college instructors can use to curb student digital distraction in their classrooms.

Engaging with linguistic justice through objectives-based learning and independent research

How can we foster the learner investment required for difficult, reflexive discussions about linguistic justice? We address this question through our efforts as instructors in a general education course on language in the US. To help students reflect on their own positionality within systems of oppression, we nurtured student-instructor relationships where students felt respected, valued, and capable of success using objectives-based assessment strategies and structured independent research projects. Students’ positive feedback and focus on LEARNING over simply earning a grade demonstrate the efficacy of our approach.