As students head off to college with cell phones in hand, universities are wrestling with the issue of how to cope with high-tech temptations in the classroom, reports the Tennessean. Some teachers ban cell phones and laptops on sight. Others figure: If you can’t beat ’em, join ’em. At Middle Tennessee State University, history professor Janice Leone usually starts the semester with a word about cell phones—and that word is usually “no.” “They’re used to looking at it constantly. I’ve seen students actually text without looking, with their hands in their pockets,” said Leone, who sees the devices as more of a distraction than a temptation to cheat. “I have colleagues who tell their students, ‘If I see a cell phone, I’ll dock you 10 points.’ Others will say, ‘If I see a cell phone during a test, I’m assuming you’re cheating.'” MTSU, which has the largest undergraduate student population in the state, sees about 150 or so cases of academic misconduct each year, said assistant dean of student life Laura Sosh-Lightsy. About 10 to 20 of them will involve cheating with the help of a cell phone…
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Facebook post gets teen expelled
Taylor Cummings was a popular basketball star on the verge of graduating from one of Nashville’s most prestigious high schools until a post on the social networking site Facebook got him expelled, reports the Tennessean. After weeks butting heads with his coaches, Taylor, 17, logged on to the site from home on Jan. 3. He typed his frustrations for the online world to see: “I’ma kill em all. I’ma bust this [expletive] up from the inside like nobody’s ever done before.” Taylor said the threat wasn’t real, but school officials said they can’t take any chances. The case highlights the boundaries between socializing in person at school and online at home. It also calls into question the latitude school officials have in disciplining students for their conduct online. Since the suicide of a Missouri teenager who was harassed online in 2006, school officials nationwide have become sensitive to cyber threats. Taylor’s father said the language his son used was inappropriate and banned him from posting on Facebook. But Harrison Cummings said Taylor shouldn’t have been expelled from Martin Luther King Jr. Magnet School, where he was just one semester away from graduating. He has no history of school violence and has never been in a fight or suspended before this incident, documents related to his expulsion show…
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