Asking the students to stop using the devices during lectures

[Caracal]

I'm surprised there are so many spacious classrooms. Walking between the students is hardly an option in the places I teach.

I also am basically tied to the podium because I need the computer for slides and material on the LMS.

When you are at the front of the room, you can face all the students. If you are in the middle, you have to be facing away from half the students. Isn't that a problem both in projecting your voice and also maintaining awareness of the whole class?

You aren't lecturing when you're walking around.  You post something for the students to work on/talk about and walk around to listen in while they are working.

I move around a fair amount when I lecture. I only need to be up at the podium when I change slides, and since I try not to have too much text on there, that isn't something I'm doing constantly. I also mix lecture and discussion, so when I ask a question to students or we get into a conversation, I sometimes walk out towards the students or even go down the aisle a bit if there is one. Obviously, some of this depends on the geography of the classroom, but even if you just go off to one side and forward a bit that can give you a different view of the room.

I do think it helps with keeping students from getting distracted by screens, but I've always felt like its just easier to pay attention to someone when they aren't just standing at the same place behind a podium. It helps my energy level too. If I stay still and just flip through slides, I sometimes start to go on autopilot.

[Biologist_]

Each year, a larger fraction of my students take notes on the slides using tablets or laptops instead of printing out the slides and taking notes on the printed copies. My slides include a lot of diagrams, so it's helpful for students to have them during class and take notes on them instead of writing notes on blank paper.

One of my colleagues who was observing my lecture recently noted that the students with tablets were much more likely to have the slides and more likely to be taking notes than those without tablets. The average student (at least here) turns in most assignments online so printing is less and less of a daily or weekly necessity. I can see how there might be an advantage to focus and concentration without a device open, but for many students there are offsetting factors that make it pedagogically beneficial to use it in class.

[downer]

As I said before, I am happy for students to use laptops or tablets. Many of them will buy online access to a textbook rather than a physical copy. I try to avoid using paper whenever I can. Save the trees.

[artalot]

You can also use a remote to switch slides. I have one with a laser pointer and it's very helpful if you are someone who likes to walk around while you lecture. I often move back and forth between the podium, standing at the front of the classroom, and a whiteboard, plus I walk out into the aisles. Keeps them on their toes and helps break the class up into smaller chunks with activities, feedback, etc.
My biggest issue has been students attempting to access readings on their phones. The screens are simply not large enough and the students rarely seem to take notes, highlight, etc. on a phone, whereas they might on a tablet or laptop.

[mamselle]

Also, parallel to artalot's comment, when I've taught or taken art history courses, there's something about having the instructor discuss a piece while looking in the same direction as the students, rather than facing them and pontificating at them.

I was most impressed by a medieval arts instructor who stood quietly in the middle of the class for a full minute or two when showing icons and other reflective pieces--modeling, essentially, how they'd have been looked at in their own time--before discussing them. The silence itself drew attention to the piece, as students began to really see what they were looking at, as well as looking at what they were seeing.

M.

[apl68]

Also, parallel to artalot's comment, when I've taught or taken art history courses, there's something about having the instructor discuss a piece while looking in the same direction as the students, rather than facing them and pontificating at them.

I was most impressed by a medieval arts instructor who stood quietly in the middle of the class for a full minute or two when showing icons and other reflective pieces--modeling, essentially, how they'd have been looked at in their own time--before discussing them. The silence itself drew attention to the piece, as students began to really see what they were looking at, as well as looking at what they were seeing.

M.

I was impressed by a history professor at Alma Mater who, though blind, taught using a portfolio of illustrations in our textbook one day.  He knew exactly what was on each page as he walked us through the images. 

He also never had to refer to notes during his lectures.  I recall his continuing class one day when there was a brief power failure in the building.  His response when somebody pointed out to him that the lights had come back on:  "Oh, they did?  Well that's wonderful!"