TY - JOUR
T1 - Managing student digital distractions and hyperconnectivity
T2 - communication strategies and challenges for professorial authority
AU - Cheong, Pauline
AU - Shuter, Robert
AU - Suwinyattichaiporn, Tara
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2016 National Communication Association.
PY - 2016/7/2
Y1 - 2016/7/2
N2 - Recent debates on the use of technology in classrooms have highlighted the significance of regulating students’ off-task and multitasking behaviors facilitated by digital media. This paper investigates the communication practices that constitute professorial authority to manage college students’ digital distractions in classrooms. Findings from interviews with American professors illustrate how they constitute their authority through distinct communication strategies including the enactment of codified rules, strategic redirection, discursive sanctions, and deflection. Furthermore, results highlight the multiple constraints and tensions in instructor communication to manage digital distractions in everyday and routine interventions. Insights generated in this paper contribute to deepening understanding of the (re)construction of contemporary pedagogical authority in times of digital hyperconnectivity, as well as its adaptions and challenges.
AB - Recent debates on the use of technology in classrooms have highlighted the significance of regulating students’ off-task and multitasking behaviors facilitated by digital media. This paper investigates the communication practices that constitute professorial authority to manage college students’ digital distractions in classrooms. Findings from interviews with American professors illustrate how they constitute their authority through distinct communication strategies including the enactment of codified rules, strategic redirection, discursive sanctions, and deflection. Furthermore, results highlight the multiple constraints and tensions in instructor communication to manage digital distractions in everyday and routine interventions. Insights generated in this paper contribute to deepening understanding of the (re)construction of contemporary pedagogical authority in times of digital hyperconnectivity, as well as its adaptions and challenges.
KW - Authority
KW - classroom management
KW - communication
KW - digital distractions
KW - hyperconnectivity
KW - multitasking
KW - technology
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84975827971&partnerID=8YFLogxK
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U2 - 10.1080/03634523.2016.1159317
DO - 10.1080/03634523.2016.1159317
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84975827971
SN - 0363-4523
VL - 65
SP - 272
EP - 289
JO - Communication Education
JF - Communication Education
IS - 3
ER -