A business administration professor at National Chung Hsing University, Chiao Yu-ching (喬友慶), is trying a “cellphone detention system” in classes this semester, with the aim of emphasizing to the importance of concentration to his students.
Chiao marked the first day of the policy with a Facebook post, saying: “I believe that in this day and age, concentration is crucial to your ability to make the most of fleeting opportunities.”
“Your learning environment is affected by having temptations everywhere,” he said. “To that end, I want to make the Chung Hsing business administration department a phone-free space.”
Chiao, who also serves as the business administration department chair, set aside 60 lockers in room 203 of the departmental building earlier this month for “phone detention,” the university said, adding that students are asked to deposit their phones in an assigned locker before they attend class, although the policy is not mandatory.
Chiao’s measures were greeted by an enthusiastic social media response and several professors in other institutions have expressed interest in starting similar programs.
A statement released by the school on Thursday quoted Chiao as saying that university students all have smartphones and that a large number use them during class, which has a negative effect on their ability to concentrate and learn.
A student surnamed Chang (張) said he felt “lost and nervous” not having his phone in class, because he was accustomed to using it as a fact-checking tool.
However, after attending the class twice without his phone, Chang found himself to be more focused and more capable of recalling his knowledge and personal experiences to share in group discussions and exercises, he said.
The cellphone detention system is in a trial period for Chiao’s classes, he said, adding that the lockers would be made available to other students in the department if he is happy with the results.
The military has spotted two Chinese warships operating in waters near Penghu County in the Taiwan Strait and sent its own naval and air forces to monitor the vessels, the Ministry of National Defense (MND) said. Beijing sends warships and warplanes into the waters and skies around Taiwan on an almost daily basis, drawing condemnation from Taipei. While the ministry offers daily updates on the locations of Chinese military aircraft, it only rarely gives details of where Chinese warships are operating, generally only when it detects aircraft carriers, as happened last week. A Chinese destroyer and a frigate entered waters to the southwest
The eastern extension of the Taipei MRT Red Line could begin operations as early as late June, the Taipei Department of Rapid Transit Systems said yesterday. Taipei Rapid Transit Corp said it is considering offering one month of free rides on the new section to mark its opening. Construction progress on the 1.4km extension, which is to run from the current terminal Xiangshan Station to a new eastern terminal, Guangci/Fengtian Temple Station, was 90.6 percent complete by the end of last month, the department said in a report to the Taipei City Council's Transportation Committee. While construction began in October 2016 with an
NON-RED SUPPLY: Boosting the nation’s drone industry is becoming increasingly urgent as China’s UAV dominance could become an issue in a crisis, an analyst said Taiwan’s drone exports to Europe grew 41.7-fold from 2024 to last year, with demand from Ukraine’s fight against Russian aggression the most likely driver of growth, a study showed. The Institute for Democracy, Society and Emerging Technology (DSET) in a statement on Wednesday said it found that many of Taiwan’s uncrewed aerial vehicle (UAV) sales were from Poland and the Czech Republic. These countries likely transferred the drones to Ukraine to aid it in its fight against the Russian invasion that started in 2022, it said. Despite the gains, Taiwan is not the dominant drone exporter to these markets, ranking second and fourth
Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s comment last year on Tokyo’s potential reaction to a Taiwan-China conflict has forced Beijing to rewrite its invasion plans, a retired Japanese general said. Takaichi told the Diet on Nov. 7 last year that a Chinese naval blockade or military attack on Taiwan could constitute a “survival-threatening situation” for Japan, potentially allowing Tokyo to exercise its right to collective self-defense. Former Japan Ground Self-Defense Force general Kiyofumi Ogawa said in a recent speech that the remark has been interpreted as meaning Japan could intervene in the early stages of a Taiwan Strait conflict, undermining China’s previous assumptions
RSS