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Mobile phones, for instance, are considered distracting because of problems with ringing during class, cheating, or multitasking,1 and the camera that comes with many phones can raise privacy issues as well. Similar complaints might also be made about laptops in the classroom.

a whole spectrum of methods for dealing with such distractions, ranging from technical control to pedagogical innovation. In this article, I discuss these methods with a special emphasis on engaging students to minimize the negative effects of distraction by laptop computers or other wireless devices.

laptops and smart phones do not cause more distraction than windows through which students look at birds and flowers, “yet you don’t seal the windows just because of that

Whose fault is it if distracting activities are going on in the classroom? What caused the distractions other than the availability of technology? Will alternative distractions occur if the technological tools are removed? Without implying that students are always right, I would say that the issue gives educators a reason to reflect on their own teaching or, rather, the instructional process as a whole.

Another method for engaging students is to deconstruct a traditional, 50-minute lecture by breaking it up, re-mixing it, and redistributing it in a variety of formats and settings.