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What should I do when my students use their phones in class?
On the first day of class, I told my students that they are not allowed to use their phones in class. However, a lot of them use their cell phones and don't pay attention in class. How should I deal with this problem? Do you let students use their phones during the lecture?

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See a counter attack "How to handle teacher who doesn't let me use my phone?": https://academia.stackexchange.com/q/119373/9222

Well, we are educating adults - and they should be able to decide what's good for them and what's bad.
Of course, this philosophy does not work out really well in real classrooms - but some students are using their phones to look up terms I used or check concepts I was teaching online - yes, it really happens!
What I'm doing is confronting them with the results of such behaviour: I'm telling students, that they failed a test because of their phone usage (not only in class but in general). From time to time I demonstrate that they do not follow the course by taking someone as an example for something who is currently using the phone and they do not recognize we are talking about them.
But if you take it too serious, you can only lose.

I agree, and especially on "if you take it too serious, you can only lose". I was talking to a friend, a teacher of mathematics, who was on a crusade to ban cell phones from his class. Up to four or five years ago, he used to succeed, but lately he had to give up, because of ever increasing resistance from the students. The phone has became a primary necessity. I agree with my friend that using one in class is disrespectful, and that it does disrupt focus (with the rare exceptions you mention), but you simply cannot take it away from students anymore.

@JasonPolak I fully agree on the idea of having breaks and interruptions - they are needed and the frequency must reflect the course content and students mental conditions (which might be worse after lunch or else). For 70-80% of the students I would say you are right, and they understand that it's to their best, but at least in my courses tehre is still a significant number of those who don't get it. And they are not reached by whatever you do - they have to learn the lesson in an other way (e.g. by failing the exam and recieving honest feedback about the reasons).

@GiuseppeNegro I think its very context dependent. As a student, I would never take out my phone in say, a class/seminar of 10 people (which would definitely be pretty rude). But when somebody's at the back of a 300 person lecture hall? I doubt anyone could tell if they're on the phone even if they wanted too...

Already I might fear your class. Confronting students to tell them that they failed something because of their (cell) phone usage seems a bit presumptuous on your part. Perhaps they failed to learn properly because your lectures were equally confrontational rather than educational. Would you not rather say that you consult with students to help them discover where they can improve their learning skills, and reducing the time spent being distracted on cell phones is given as but one example.

I would almost +1 this, but I don't see how "I'm telling students, that they failed a test because of their phone usage" is practical/feasible (granted long time between behavior/result, difficulty of the instructor remembering it, etc.)

I am a 100% autodidact. I am simply not able to listen to and learn from lecturers for prolonged periods of time. If I don't have some device to read things in parallel (Lecturer: "Now for randomness..."; Me: looks up randomness and read intro on it), I won't grasp anything. If I have mastered schools, then only because I either did my own studies during lessons (not so easy in the 90s), or because I actually learned after lessons (libraries in the 90s, internet from 2000s on). If you'd tell me I failed because of my phone, then you'd simply be wrong and ignorant. -1, if I could.

Frame challenge:You shouldn't, in fact, You cannot.This is academia, not kindergarten.
These are adult people and are completely free to do whatever they want in their life as long as they are not disrupting other people. Whatever the results of their actions are, are on them and solely on them. You are not allowed to dictate other people's lives, in classroom or anywhere else. You trying to enforce such a rule would be as ridiculous as trying to dictate what colors should they be using while taking notes - and in fact, whether they take notes at all.
While I consider the above argument sufficient, I would like to point out a few supplementary points. On the flip side, other answers already pointed out that phones (being nothing else than small computers) can be very useful for students. People may take notes, record the class to listen again later and take pictures of the slides and blackboard notes. They can check the definitions on the internet and play around with equations on Wolfram Alpha while listening to You talk about these equations at the same time.
On the other hand, if You will try to go through with this, You will very quickly loose any and all respect. People do not take kindly to having their lives dictated by a person at position of power.
It should be also noted that common decency rules about phones apply in class the same way they apply in cinema or opera. People are expected to keep all their devices completely silent - the 'not disrupt other people' part of the fundamental rule is as important as the 'complete freedom' part.
EDIT:
I would encourage all the commentators to point out WHAT culture do they belong to. It seems to me, seeing the comments, that it's one of those many questions where You will get WIDELY different answers depending on the place where a given person lives. For that matter, I would also like to point out that I speak from the European perspective.

Exactly. Modern phones are almost fully-fledged computers that can and SHOULD be of tremendous aid in teaching and studying. Focusing on non-area specific issues (use of phones, attendance, why someone's absent, why someone's not done homework etc.) detracts from efficient teaching/learning processes. And you can't make a true scientist out of someone. He/she only himself/herself can reach that. You can give a lot of knowledge but if someone doesn't work hard enough, there's not much to be done. The carrot and stick policy is not the be-all and end-all, not by a long shot.

Before we go off the deep end here, the student handbook at my school and others (perhaps most?) forbids using smartphones in class unless specifically part of the instruction. One might be careful about rewriting rules until after one gets tenure. You might think it's no big deal, someone else who happens by or observes your class might think differently.

@ASimpleAlgorithm "What do You care what other people think?" - Feynman I think?

@user2357 Well it seems to me that You see it the 'US' way. Here in Europe the education is a right. And here in Europe we protect individual's rights and freedoms, and yes, I make this about freedom. Whatever teacher's moral code is or is not, it does not give him right to infringe on the student's freedom. Moreover 18 is not a magical barrier, it is a LEGAL barrier, and your or whomever else moral code again cannot be above that. Neither can University.

@Empischon not sure if you got the point I was making. If you don't have tenure yet, you probably should care what other people think, specifically other faculty and administrators.

@Empischon - there seems to be a lack of what we call respect from you. Imagine being on a date and your partner is constantly on the phone instead of paying attention to you. No need to say more.

The theater comparison seems like a missed point of data. It is expected not only that phones be silent, but that they also not be visible, because of how incredibly distracting the view of such devices is for other people. Arguably same for the classroom.

@Empischon that is a very good quote and absolutely applicable if you're Feynman or someone of his inteligence, accomplishments and abilities. Otherwise you should probably think twice.

This morality is all backwards. If a student sits in the back of the classroom openly reading a newspaper and playing with a yo-yo without ever looking up, wouldn't the morally correct thing for a teacher to do be to at least attempt to refocus the student? If you believe that your students are wasting potential in your classroom, you are practically obligated to attempt to help the situation.  Whether you succeed or not, you would be giving up on your students if you did not at least attempt to redirect them back into the class. The student is not being denied an education here.

@JasonPolak Movie theatres are generally dark. Every phone screen is an unwelcome source of light. Unless your classes are in the dark, the argument doesn't hold. And if you think it's your class... oh boy.

Students are bound by formal and informal obligations upon entering a university (so not "completely free etc."). And - many teachers find that students' use of phones in class is disruptive - to the teacher and to other students. -1.

One thing that seems to be missing from the idea that students are adults is that we, as educators, are held responsible for the results of our students. If our students do badly in their exams, we lose our jobs.

@user136 Are you telling me that you get distracted by a phone screen a meter away from you in a brightly lit room? Or that your lectures usually take place in a blacked out room? (I've never been in a lecture room that was in any way comparable to a cinema) If some people get distracted that easily from other people's phones, real life must be very, very hard indeed.

I like the first paragraph. I was in a laptop-mandatory program at a (respected) community college, and I found my own laptop/smartphone use distracted me, as a student, far too often. This was a lesson I appreciated learning for myself, though; I don't think I could have learned it any other way.

One idea I think is missing here is that while the instructor is trying to get one student to pay attention, he is not teaching all the other students that are interested. So, while I may have a duty to get that student interested, I have the same duty to deliver a class to all the other students. I do not think it is justified to stop a lesson just because someone is not listening, as long as it is not disruptive.

If it bothers you, stop class a second. Tell them to please put their phones away. Proceed.
Personally I don't much care, though it does bug me for example when I take precious class time out of the syllabus to review for an exam, which I need primarily for a few lagging students, and the slacks are playing with their phones rather than listening. At which point I'll embarrass them by asking them to listen.
Just don't make too big a deal of demanding everyone turns the phones or ringers off (unless you have to single out someone who has a really loud one or which goes off a lot) because sooner or later you own phone will ring in class and you'll look like a fool if you acted like it was verboten.

Embarrasing the students is a dangerous thing: if assistance is not compulsory, they may stop all together, which is a worse outcome.

In my college/university classrooms, I find it effective to employ three strategies with respect to electronic devices:
1) Acknowledge the student's responsibility,
2) Enable the student's agency, and
3) Intervene to prevent disruption.
In general, I leave it to each student to determine how to use (or not to use) electronic devices in class. They are adults who are in charge of their own education. On the first day of class (and as necessary afterwards) I verbally acknowledge the student's responsibility to make decisions that further their education objectives. I do so in order to prevent them from thinking that the electronic device policy has been imposed from on high, which would externalize motivation and also create an antagonistic relationship between teacher and student.
Unfortunately, many students are woefully unaware of the research that shows how reliance on electronic devices can diminish learning. So in order to enable the student's agency, I provide them with brief recommendations on how technology could be used profitably in my course (in order to help them understand what works) but also with brief characterizations of the potential pitfalls (in order to help them understand what will probably be harmful to them). With such guidance, they're far more likely to settle into better habits than if I said nothing. Moreover, they're put in a position to make informed rather than ignorant decisions.
There are still classroom management issues that come along with electronic devices being used. If a student in the front row is shopping or watching videos on their laptops, everyone behind the student will be distracted. So I intervene to prevent disruption when there's a demonstrable effect on the learning environment. Usually, that's a matter of asking the student to put away the device (rather than trying to take it away). I'm careful not to scold the student, but instead state plainly and briefly why I'm asking that the device be turned off. If the student protests that the use is urgent or somehow otherwise legitimate, I won't argue. I ask them to step into the hall until the business is concluded so that it's not a distraction to the other students. A brief glance at the faces of the other students is usually enough for the offender to realize that there was in fact a problem, so the matter rarely goes beyond that.
If the reasons for your electronic device policy weren't established at the beginning of the semester, students might think that it's merely arbitrary (and easily dismissed--or forgotten). There's no reason that you couldn't present your reasons now, though. If those reasons involve some sort of need for a universal prohibition, you're likely to get better compliance from the students if they understand why.

I don't mind my students use their cellphones in class. In fact, I encourage to use them by tossing open questions in systems like Mentimeter or even a simple Google form can do the job of attracting the student's attention and provide real-time feedback on the topic you are presenting. Just be creative and use technology on your favor!

Integrating the technology into the classroom in a constructive way is quite different from random, unrelated use, of course.

I too have used Mentimeter in my teaching. I have found it rather helpful and the student's have enjoyed it too. But I also feel that such a usage is besides the point that the OP is making.

One of the best things any of my professors have done is given us a reading which discouraged any form of computer use within the classroom. The classic one is the Fried article (Fried, C. B. (2008). In-class laptop use and its effects on student learning. Computers & Education, 50(3), 906-914.) about laptop use.
As a technology professor, Shirky (https://medium.com/@cshirky/why-i-just-asked-my-students-to-put-their-laptops-away-7f5f7c50f368) posted about his approach with laptops.
Truth is, I would ask any students who want to use technology to sit in the back of the room. If you want to sit in the front and take notes, use a notepad.

You state that you told the students not to use their phones. Your desired behavior is clear. They are ignoring you. My recommendation to your question of what to do when they ignore you depends on your answer to this question:
Why do you care?
--> Using a phone is unabashedly and unambiguously disrupting and distracting more than just a few others in class.

Such disrespect must be nipped harshly by example for everyone. When a student pulls out a phone, stop lecturing. Stare at and/or walk over to the student with the phone. Say calmly but firmly ... "My class policy is that you are not to use phones during lectures. Your use of the phone is disrupting other students from learning. We will wait until you put away your phone to continue the lecture." Do this for perhaps three times. At the next instance, stop entirely. Say nothing. Wait until the phone is put away. Then say ... "We've waited until after the disruption with the phone has stopped. Unfortunately, this means I have to skip the lecture material that I would have covered in the meantime. Perhaps next time, when anyone wants to use a phone, you will leave the class first. Otherwise, I leave everyone in the class to appreciate that from now on even one person can be the cause of not be able to provide all the lecture content for everyone. Perhaps you all should figure out how to fix this problem that I apparently cannot despite my best efforts to do so."

--> Using a phone is annoying you (and absolutely no one else).
--> Using a phone when you asked them not to is disrespectful to you.

Learn to ignore this problem. Get on with giving your lecture to the students who are paying attention. It does no good to carry the battle to a war. At best, on occasions when the annoyance gets too high, stop the lecture and just say so ... "My class policy is that you are not to use phones during lectures. One reason is because I get easily distracted. Another is because I want to engage with you rather than teach to you. The level of phone use has become annoying to me to a point where I cannot continue well. Let's try putting away all cell phones for this lecture and leaving them put away for the next lecture. I'll wait until you've put them securely out of the way and then I will continue the lecture."

--> Using the phone seems to be annoying only one or two others in the class.

Such behavior should be pointed out as being disrespectful. Again, stop and stare and/or walk over to the student with the phone. Say calmly but firmly ... "My class policy is that you are not to use phones during lectures. Your use of the phone seems to be annoying other students. Please be respectful, put away your phone, and we can continue the lecture without the annoyance." Handle this each time as disrespectful. After enough times, take a moment at the start of class to remind the class of the general policy. For students who continue to ignore the policy and continue to annoy others, pull them aside for an office visit and dig deeper.

In the future, you might structure a written class policy in your Course Outline. Mine says something akin to this: The use of cell phone, tablet devices, computers, and camera recording devices is strictly prohibited during quizzes and exams. Anyone caught violating this policy may have the respective quiz or exam grade reduced to zero. Cell phones should be kept off and placed out of use during lectures. Extenuating circumstances are recognized. Please go outside the classroom to handle emergencies.
Finally, as background, I teach in the US, and I am not teaching first year students (fresh from high school) any more. I admit my approach may be hash for the first year levels, where I have heard that a bit more "coddling" is sometimes required to handle disruptive situations. Also, by the time the students get to my junior and senior level classes, they are rather aware that playing on a phone during lecture is entirely their loss not mine.

I like this answer, but I can't see much difference between your first and last case: first case reads like "it's annoying to everybody" and last case like "it's annoying to some people". Your suggestion on how to handle the situations do not seem that different either.

The first case is one where you see a definitive disruption. It takes a higher level of proof and a higher level of "annoyance" than the first case. Example First Case: the noise from a movie or a "cluster" of students all engaged clearly blocks/distracts others from seeing/hearing. Example Last Case: The phone drops on the floor and distracts another student.

Make your sessions interesting and innovative,so that they won't be using their mobiles.let me give you an example ,in our physics class teachers use to explain to us how the apparatus ,which is in our lab works . Instead of just telling how it works why can't they take us to the lab and explain it to us by performing the experiment . Practical classes are more interesting than theory like wise don't just be explaining something thinking that everyone knows the basics of it so just by telling plainly you can explain to them from basics each time so that students will think ,he is teaching from basics at least now we will listen and understand

Instead of just walking into the class and explaining something that you know , which others have no idea about, especially when you think that others will understand what your talking about is absolutely wrong.first always know that there is no wrong in explaining everything in detail and students will like more of a practical class than theory so if you can give a practical example ,make sure you do that . sitting in one place and learning everything which is out there is so boring .

If you think students shouldn't use their phones because it's distracting you can do what one professor of mine did. He showed how multitasking actually makes it so you do both tasks at a much worse level with a small example. He asked one person to volunteer who thinks they are good at multitasking. One person comes to the front of the class. He says, ok, count to 26 and recite the alphabet while swapping each time. So the student says 1,a,2,b,3,c,... etc, until they inevitably fail because this task isn't as easy as it seems. These are two things that the student is extremely comfortable doing, just like paying attention or using a phone, but they failed only while trying to do both. Displaying WHY it's bad to multitask (without a clear purpose, like looking up some missed content) is much better than saying just don't do something.
If a student really thinks they can look at their phone and learn the lesson, show them why they can't.

that's also an entirely different type of multitasking than passive listening

I'm an older (40yo) college student. I've sat in classes where prof said put away phones. I don't sit on my phone, but if I get a text or call, I know it's important and will answer it. If prof has a problem with that, they can kiss my you-know-what.
The problem is that most college classes are not 40-something adults monitoring their phones for critical issues (eg: sick kiddo at home, emergency with elderly parents, etc). Most are young teen / 20-something who are bored in class and use it as a distraction.
My suggestion is ... as long as they're not distracting the rest of the class, let them mess with their phone.
Had one prof up-front say during "syllabus" day that they don't restrict folks messing around with their laptops or phones. But, if that's all a student wants to do, then please sit in the back of the class where it won't be a distraction.
The whole point of pay-for classes is that students can find the right way to learn that suits themself. Some like to read the book. Others want to be taught in class. They all still show up to class to catch key information that prof may give out.
Likewise, in some classes, the students look like they're messing around on their phones when really they're all working on a collective Google Doc notes doc taking notes in class. They're listening to the prof and writing the notes out on their phones, colaboratively. And, they're texting with each other to clarify spots without interrupting class to do so.
So, kids aren't just "screwing around" on their phones. You have a generation growing up with advanced skills in multi-tasking and leveraging on-demand technology to solve all kinds of problems.
If the phone is not a distraction to the rest of the class, then let it go.
If it's a distraction to you, because you look up and see half the class not paying attention ... well, that's your own problem.
As a college student, if I pay money for a class, I'm a customer. I can waste my time in the class if I want. I can ignore the professor if I want. If it's impacting my grade, then it's my own fault and I deal with it.
If professor is boring and not doing enough to keep everyone's attention, that's the professor's fault. I've had professors that bore me to tears, or drone on and on. They are not very engaging. It's easy to lose interest in them.
When you're standing up there looking out and seeing half the class not paying attention to you, you can either get used to it, or become more engaging / compelling to watch as a professor. I'm not saying you need to put on a stand-up routine and get the crowd laughing. Just that a dynamic professor that's telling stories and relating real-world experience so the class can understand how the material being taught is actually relevant is far more engaging then a professor rambling on like an adult out of a Peanuts cartoon.
If students not paying attention is hurting them, then they will get bad grades on tests. The universe balances it out that way.
When they approach you at the end of the semester begging for a better grade, you just say "oh, you were the person in class that was always on your phone and never paid attention to me.. well, you can sit there and plead your case to me on why I should help you with your grade, but while you're doing so I'm going to be on my phone and ignoring you, so..."
But, as an older college student (been in working world for 20 years and quit to come back full-time) I do NOT abide professors laying down extracurricular rules on me like... mandatory attendance, no phones allowed.. and other non-sense. I'm a grown adult. I have emergencies happening in my life (elderly parents, wife dealing with health issues, etc). I'm not going to ask a professor "mother may I" to skip a class in order to handle real-world crap in my life. And I'm not going to apologize to a professor for pulling my phone out if I get a text and worry if one of my parents died or something. I have paid money for the class, and I decide when I want to attend and when I want to ignore the professor.
Since I paid money, it's in my best interest to attend class and not use my phone in order to pay attention. But, if I attend several classes and find the professor drones on, or they don't cover the material that is on the test.. I'll eventually just stop going to class and just read the book and ignore them. Or, I'll come to class and work on other work on my laptop while ignoring them. (Because these types of professors always seem to get a power trip and want to "zing" students for not paying attention, eg: they'll only announce test dates in class and never email them to people missing class).
So, just learn to ignore students on their phones and let their test scores speak for themselves.
If a student doesn't pay attention in class, then approaches you after to class to go over everything again... tell them to go buzz off and read the book. You spent your time to relay information. If they didn't take the time to pay attention, that's their problem.

Although I in general philosophically disagree with the consumer-oriented point of view in this answer, I think that your point about "40-something adults monitoring their phones for critical issues" is very important; the context of who is in your class matters for this (and similar issues like rescheduling exams).  I hope that point doesn't get lost among the many answers to this questions.

I had a professor who absolutely did not allow phone use in the classroom. Written into the syllabus was a clause that stated, for each time he saw you on your phone, you lost 50 points towards your final grade, which is equivalent to half a letter grade.
Did it completely deter everyone, including me, from using their phones? No, however, we were very discrete and non disruptive when we did.
This was a graduate level class.

I have a colleague who gives your grade a 2 percent haircut for phone usage.  His personal story of overcoming educational hardships is so compelling that he definitely has the moral authority to pull it off, too; if I were a student in his class I would be ashamed to be wasting my luck at having a comfortable university education with checking Snapchat.

You're fighting a losing battle. Are some students simply playing games and ultimately hurting themselves? Maybe. But I've learned that many students also use their phones in a myriad of productive ways during class. They might photograph a diagram on the whiteboard. They might be taking notes. They could be using the calculator.
I remember one class when a student asked me a question about my lecture. I told him I didn't know the answer. Then another student spoke up and answered the question for me. I asked the student, "Oh, you knew that already?"
The student answered, "No, but I was wondering that same thing, so I looked it up."
That moment changed my thinking in a lot of ways.
I was once in your shoes; I used to try to prohibit cell phone use in class. I still encourage students to not use their "electronic pacifiers" as a way to alleviate boredom. But with that comes a promise that I will work hard to make our class time engaging and worthwhile. For example, my class leverages in-class activities such as think-pair-share, I do my best to incorporate humor into my lecture slides, I use the Socratic method, I tell stories, and I will occasionally let class out early if I feel like we've covered a topic enough and I'd only be boring them by trying to use up the last 10 minutes. I create every lecture with the mindset that all of my students would probably rather be doing something else, and I think of ways to keep the class lively, engaging, and productive.
I used to tell my students that I would prefer they not use their phones in class. Now I use an analogy instead. I say, "Just like an airline will ask you to put your phone into airplane mode before takeoff, I'll ask you to put your phone into classroom mode." In other words, turn off your ringers, silence your notifications, and avoid opening apps like Facebook.
Then the onus is on me to deliver a presentation so engaging that the students don't even think to get out their phones unless they are doing so for a good reason.

My personal experience is that using a computer is extremely distracting to a degree that those students probably miss most of what you say. This experience comes from two sources:

From myself when I goof off during boring online meetings and start reading the news (or stackoverflow ;-) ): I immediately miss most of the conversation.
From teaching a weekly math club with elementary school students. Even the 11 year olds desperately wanted to boot the computer in the room and do something with it, anything. When they succeeded they were completely zoned out and didn't participate at all any longer. The math club was voluntary so when they didn't stop trying to get to the computer I told them that they are there voluntarily; they need not be there if they are not interested. That helped.

There is the additional aspect of respect which may be a generational thing (I'm 54): I become immediately and extremely annoyed if my conversation partner (in a private or professional setting) starts using a phone. I respond by abruptly stopping talking. That usually gets their attention, so that they look at me again. I continue; when they goof off again, I stop again. They usually are surprised but get it. If they ask, I tell them that they have all the time in the world finishing the urgent phone business and that I'll continue when they are done.
I would not tolerate phone use in my class, and I'm surprised that the vast majority here seems to be OK with it or at least considers it an unwinnable battle.
I would use whatever sanctions you have; in particular, if you can, I'd throw offenders out for the lesson after a first warning, and maybe even throw them out of the course for repeats: Because they are so very obviously not interested in what you say. To avoid temptation I'd suggest they turn off the devices when they enter the classroom.
(You may want to talk that through with your students to avoid misunderstandings; let them sign a little sheet with these rules so they cannot claim they missed it later. You can also ask them whether anybody needs to be reachable during class for emergency calls, e.g. from elderly relatives or children, and allow taking such calls, after leaving the classroom.)

There are several approaches. One is to educate students about why it's not good to hope they make good decisions on their own. Another approach is to provide some motivation in the form of a disincentive (punishment).
I find that students who use their phones in class do worse on exams, on average, than students who don't. I teach statistics, so if I were very motivated to illustrate this to students, I could track how many days I see which students on their phones on the roster and find the actual correlation between phone use and exam scores for the class.
Another approach might be to announce that the use of phones will increase the probability of a pop quiz for the entire class. This disincentive should also encourage self-policing among the students.  Then, you would need to be prepared with the occasional pop quiz until the students stop using phones in class. (Is that too Machiavellian?)
Of course, you could always ignore the issue. The students will reap the rewards of their own decisions.

"Students who use their phones in class do worse on exams..." Correlation does not generally imply causation.

@paw88789 Though in this case, there is other research as well that is pretty indicative of causation, such as the study measuring the decreased comprehension of people who have the misfortune of just sitting near laptop users.  Truly, correlation does not imply causation, but it's hard to reason around that one any other way.  Screen use, when screens are not actively part of the learning, detract from learning.

@BenI. Thanks.  Such research then gives another reason not to have cellphone usage during class

Let them do, witnessed personally that going after them is a huge waste of time for everyone, if they don't want to pay attention it's their choice, just tell them they're on their own if they lag behind.

First, how big is the class size...A huge lecture class vs a small class makes a difference.  It'd be more 'rude' seeming in a small class to whip out a phone and use it.
I would make the distinction between using the phone as a phone or just pulling it out and glancing at it and again using it to type on for a period of time.  Also, is the phone making noise...I definitely would stress MUTING their phones.
I mean, if somebody pulls it out and starts talking on it, without making an effort to leave -- that's rude to everybody.
A quick glance -- ok...maybe OK.
Pulling it out and using it -- depends on why and how long/often they do so...you may want to ask the person WHY, discretely later -- because maybe you could alter your lectures to better get the information across .
The frequency/duration could also be asked too...I mean maybe it's them, maybe it's you...but at least maybe you could see what is up with them.
Although, if you notice that it is distracting to other people, you should opt to discourage it  -- or move the offenders into their own section away from other people.
I don't think today that you could or should totally ban it...but mitigate it definitely or work to include it.  If someone is legitimately using it to learn, why shouldn't they.
For me, in Grad School, I had a laptop (this was in the pre-wifi days and pre-ebooks -- so I couldn't do what people could now) which I used...but mostly to type out class notes, because my handwriting was Doctorish -- and sometimes I was like what the heck did I write...so...using technology isn't necessarily bad.

My experience teaching small classes (not 100-person lectures) that place a high premium on in-class engagement is that cell phone use not only distracts me, it can easily distract other students.  But I also have found that public shaming of all manner of distracting behaviors can be counterproductive - no surprise, in retrospect.
So often I will take about thirty more seconds of whatever I'm talking about, then turn to the board (I teach in a quantitative field with a lot of examples on a screen or board) and make up an example that somehow involves the issue.  Like "Imagine the power on your phone is P and you're using it right now, what would the graph of P against time look like?"  Very silly, but it gets the point across and I really do consistently see sheepish looks and phones disappearing.
Of course, I have other strategies like talking to students after class, calling on someone who seems to be distracted (and then letting them down gently or repeating the question), etc.  Some people are addicted, some are worried about family, many reasons they use it.  But this seems to work pretty well if:

You have students who are used to you engaging fairly directly with the class, not just anonymously
You have students who agree with the premise that phone usage in class is poor form.

If you don't have the first point, this idea may just seem creepy.  If your students don't agree with the second point, probably phone usage is not the biggest problem you face.

Try offering positive reinforcement for voluntary cell phone surrender. I give students a very small amount of extra credit, applied to their next exam mark, for every day that they leave their phones at the front of the classroom. This gives them an 'excuse' to not answer texts/emails immediately in class, and even though the extra credit is insignificant, they like it. If someone does not want to surrender their phone- I don't ask why. It's their choice. For those who do, they get a different learning experience. This is in a small college in Canada.


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How to encourage students to attend and participate in class?
I have seen a shrinking trend in the number of students coming to my classes and suspect that it's due to the large number of digital tools that are available to students.
What techniques can I employ to encourage students to attend class and stay engaged through a class or lecture?

Do you film your lectures?

Would I be correct in assuming that the decline you're interested in is over the years,  and not over the course of a semester?

There is a fair amount written here about flipped classrooms. A simple search should turn up much of it.

(Although this question is currently closed...) the obvious point is to make it worth-while, in_the_perception_of_the_students, to come to class. Some perceived benefit beyond the book or notes or on-line stuff. Yes, that is challenging.

@paulgarrett The question has been reopened. If you have good advice on how to achieve that, I'd encourage you to write an answer.

Learning tools are substitute goods - don't be afraid if students choose their favourite tools: This is an excellent question, since it raises a common issue with teaching, and it is an issue where some academics (not referring to you) take an irrational and overly defensive view.  Here are a few points that I think are worth bearing in mind in these situations:

The goal of any university course is to give students the best possible assistance to learn the skills you are seeking to impart in the course.  The lectures and other materials available to students are generally "substitute goods" in economic parlance, meaning that use of one tool assists in learning the course content and thus diminishes the demand for the other substitute tools.  Thus, if the digital tools you are referring to are of high quality, they may be very helpful for students to learn the course content, and thereby diminish demand for your lectures.
Students appreciate having a range of teaching tools they can choose from.  When I was a student, the best lecturers I had were the ones that gave us lecture notes, practice problems, and other teaching resources of such clarity and high-quality that attendance at their lectures became virtually unnecessary.  It was a pleasure to be able to teach yourself the material directly from lecture notes, etc., without the assistance of the lecturer.  In some cases this meant that you learned some part of the course so easily that you could skip the lectures and still feel that you had good command of the subject.
If lecture attendance is dwindling due to the provision of useful outside tools, this can be seen as a signal that the quality of those outside tools is relatively high.  The fact that you are offering outside learning tools that the students perceive to be sufficient for their own learning should be seen as a good thing.  Of course, you should want all the learning tools you are providing to be the best quality they can be, so if your lectures seem to be lagging behind in demand, you should certainly do what you can to improve them.  Since you already have good outside resources, the use of a flipped classroom would be one obvious thing you could try.  Another thing to try would be increasing student questions and other interactions that cannot be substituted by digital materials (e.g., recorded lectures).
Unfortunately, some academics take it personally when students don't attend their lectures, and so they try to encourage attendance by removing outside learning tools that compete with their lectures.  (I am not suggesting that you are thinking about doing this, but I want to raise it anyway, since this is something I have seen other lecturers do in university courses.)  This creates a kind of "race to the bottom" where a lecturer tries to increase demand for one set of tools by diminishing substitute tools.  In the worst-case scenario, a lecturer who gives bad lectures ends up removing other material that could have substituted for those bad lectures, and the students end up with no good learning tool for the course.  In my view, this is a petulant and irrational strategy, which represents a failure to appreciate that the goal of the course is student learning, not affirmation of the teacher's ego.  So whatever you do, I would encourage you not to remove the digital tools that seem to be working successfully.

Your answer addresses what students want, but the actually important thing is what students learn.  I suspect that, in reality, students who choose to use all the "tools", including showing up to class, learn the most.  There is evidence that variety helpful for learning.  It is harder to even tell if choice is helpful.

Also this does not answer the question.

That is a very obtuse reading of the problem.

I'm not entirely sure what you mean by digital tools, which could mean tools to enhance learning (e.g. lecture recording) or tools that might distract students in lectures (e.g. Facebook). I'm going to assume you mean the former.
There have been several studies looking at the influence of lecture recording on attendance in lecture rooms. The Teaching Matters team at the University of Edinburgh recently reviewed some studies and the same team has previously looked at some surrounding issues from a student perspective. The corresponding team at the London School of Economics also recently wrote about the benefits of lecture recording for students. All these links provide references to further sources you might find useful.
One thing that comes across in discussions with my own students on this is that they're more likely to attend lectures if they think that being there in person will give them some benefit that they won't get watching the recording or going through the slides. If a lecturer talks without interruption, or even worse reads off the slides, it's easy to see why a student might feel they get nothing extra from being in the room. Conversely, if lecturers answer student questions, use quizzes or other techniques to enhance or check understanding in real time, or interact with students in the room, there's more reason for students to show up.

I will take a different direction with my answer: "You cannot fix what you do not know!"
The first thing you need to do is to understand why the attendance is low / decreasing. You can find that out in at least 2 ways:

Make small changes in whatever you do, one at a time, see what it works. It will be slow and does not guarantee a satisfactory result.
Get actual information. Ideally, the students will tell you themselves what is going on - especially if you have a good relationship with them. Just ask them. Even better: do not ask about attendance, ask about feedback: about you personally and about the way you do your job. You may be surprised by the things you will find out.

Why feedback about you personally, you may ask? Well, we had a situation at a previous job. One guy (nice guy otherwise), was always emanating a smell of food, especially onions. One day, two days... For the colleagues near him, it was a nightmare to survive throughout the day. So one of them decided to suggest him (in private) to eat onions only in the evening. The answer was astonishing: he did not eat onions. The discussion revealed the true "monster": he was using deodorant with the smell of onions. What I want to say: the real reasons for things are not always obvious in any way. No other implication intended.
So you should not rule out reasons like color of shirt, haircut or God knows what else.
Bottom line: We can brainstorm about many things here. It is only you who can find out what is going on - and you may share the results with us. If you are more specific with details of the situation, we can be more specific helping you.

Some well-known strategies:

Tell students you expect them to attend and participate.  Tell them why this is helpful.
Do not lecture during your lecture.  Instead of using the time to tell students what they know, use some of the many interactive learning techniques.  Lecturing, in the sense of telling students what they need to know, is among the least effective uses of class time because it allows students to relax.  If the students must do something, they will be paying attention and they will then realize class time is helpful.
If students are not participating, refuse to continue until they participate.  You can use clickers to check.  Personally I use colored cards, which are much cheaper.  If any student is not holding up a card after I ask a question, I will not go on. This way, students at least realize they were asked a question, which prompts them to pay attention in the future.
You can assign a grade for attendance and participation.
You can provide information in class that is not available elsewhere.  For example, you can tell students the answers to the final exam.  Most instructors do that already; students just do not realize that the answers to the exam are buried somewhere in what they are taught in class.  Remind them.
Tell students why you are doing what you are doing.  Then they will know it is important.

Makes me think of the tape recorder scene in Real Genius (not so transparently based on reality of CalTech in the 80s)  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gt4vXaoPzF8
But seriously:

Make it interactive, with some amount of drill (math, science, practical topics) or discussion (history, lit).  Can be quizzes (have the students swap papers and grade in class to lighten admin load), practice problems, paired stuff, recitation at the board, getting called on, etc.  Doesn't matter exactly, but insert some amount of "doing" as well as "seeing".
Take a class in lecturing.  See what tips you get.
Videotape yourself.  Are you monotone and boring?  Insert a little zip, juice, excitement into tone and topic.  Don't worry about being false.  Fake it til you make it.   Think about how football coaches interact during practice.  I was a ski instructor once (late in life).  I got the advice to be outgoing (am not normally).  I just decided to "go big or go home" and was very "on".  It totally worked.
Maybe listen to a few lectures by other teachers on same or similar topic.  See what they do?
Have a colleague come and observe you and then give you feedback.
I would also consider to have more full period tests than just a semester midterm and then final.  More like high school where there is a test every couple weeks.  Obviously they will be there for those.  And it probably just keeps more of a beat of things.  It's also HIGHLY VALUABLE "practice".  Getting up for a test and doing a test is more intense and drives more learning than passively listening to the font of wisdom talk.
Occasionally mention importance of what you are doing.  (This makes money for people, this is likely to be on the midterm, this is number one thing people mess up on, etc.)  Students key for "horse".  Obviously don't compromise the test after it is written (or if you have a section of a multisection group). But...let them know what is important.  You can even stamp your foot like making a joke of the hint, hint.

Welcome to Academia.SE. While your answer mentions many options for improving teaching generally, I'm not sure it really answers the question -- the question is how to encourage students to show up. There is no evidence that OP's teaching is bad; it could be that OP's teaching is great but students still don't attend. So, I think OP is looking for examples of specific structural changes (e.g., requiring attendance or having quizzes or ....) that experienced lecturers have successfully used to increase attendance.

@cag51: I think that nobody can change another person's behavior - in this case, the teacher cannot modify the behavior of the students. What the teacher can actually do is to change his ways - and maybe the students will change their behavior too. Many times (most of the times?) it is the teacher who is the problem with the attendance. I know from experience: same students, different professors. Attendance always changed according to the professor. At the other extreme, there are students who will not attend regardless of what one may decide to do. Bottom line, I think you are quite wrong.

Actually, I'm not sure we disagree -- of course attendance will be higher for great teachers than for poor ones, and of course everyone should strive to improve their teaching. My point is that OP did not ask for a bunch of self-evident suggestions about how to improve their teaching; they asked for specific strategies to boost engagement given their current teaching skills. The question as written could even apply to an excellent, experienced teacher with a relatively high attendance rate who is wondering about how/whether to encourage/coerce the remaining students to attend.

"coerce" - I love the way it sounds :)) Otherwise, I think I agree with you (new) point of view.

"self-evident [suggestions]" equals usually with "nobody will think about it / everybody will ignore it". There is a good reason for the joke: "Is it plugged in?"

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Low salary in Marie-Curie Fellowship
I received Marie Curie global fellowship to go to US from Sweden. I think the salary I was told to have is too low. 3400 USD/month after tax (4657 USD/month before tax). Please let me know if you think it is too low and who can I try to contact to sort it out.
I will send 2 years in US and 1 year in Sweden, however, I was told to receive flat salary of around 4100EUR before tax and around 3000EUR after

From the Guide to Implementation, if you moved to Sweden, your gross monthly salary (at minimum) should be composed of a living allowance of €4880 plus a mobility allowance of €600 multiplied by a country correction coefficient, which can be found in this document, table 2 and which is 1.218 for Sweden. Thus, your gross monthly allowance calculated in this way would be €6674.
In this case, yes, you would be very much right in thinking that your salary is lower than the expected, unless I've missed something.
The Guide to Implementation, in section 3, reports the contacts in case of problems, where there is also a link to a help desk. I suggest you to read that section and follow the links and contacts there provided. In particular, there is a National Contact Point for Sweden. However, I suggest you to first formulate your question to the contact point not as an accusation, but as a request of information on the calculation of your salary.
If, instead, as suggested by Pieter Naaijkens in a comment below, you're moving to the US, the coefficient would be 0.991, yielding  €5430. Even in this case, after converting to USD, your salary seems lower than expected.

The country coefficient for the US applies if the time in the US is the outgoing phase of the fellowship.

@PieterNaaijkens You're right, but the OP says that they go from the US to Sweden. Anyway, I'll edit my answer to take into account your remark.

The OP says that are going to the US from Sweden

I wonder if there is a misunderstand of the term "gross salary costs". We are assuming that this just means pre-tax, but it could in fact include all sort of other on-costs. For example in the UK, the grant chargeable on costs for a postdoc are about 1.5x the pre-tax salary the employee receives. In particular in the US i bet health insurance can be counted against it. When i was in the US, my employer was paying $1200 a month for my health insurance.

@IanSudbery is correct the gross salary cost for the Marie curie includes all salary costs including all employer contributions to pension schemes and various National insurances.

As mentioned I was told to receive a flat salary of 4130 EUR before tax and around 3000 after. They also told me that they will pay me with Swedish coefficient all the time. Which makes everything to look even more strange. Thank you for you replies, and I have already tried to contact a person from Nation contact point in Sweden.

@IanSudbery Excellent point. My suspicion is that "gross salary costs" is not the same as "gross salary". This is rather unfortunate and I can't really fault OP for getting confused if that's the case.

@ElenaSubbotina Please, if possible, let us then know the result of your inquiry: it could be certainly useful to future readers.

I can clarify once again the numbers, I will take it in SEK. I was told to be paid 31000SEK after taxes, (42300SEK before) for my outgoing stage-US, and incoming stage - Sweden. I was a told I will be paid with Swedish coefficient all the time  and if US coefficient was applied I would have gotten 25000SEK/month after tax during my stay in US, which is lower than the minimum required by my University in US. I find wierd that my department decided to pay me with Swedish coefficient and that with US coefficient I would not be able to go at all due to too low salary. That is why I am suspicious.

I have perofmed calculations taking into account full cost of my salary for my employer (using https://statsskuld.se/jobb/berakna-bruttolon) If the numbers: 4880 EUR/month +600 EUR/month (mobility) and 1.218 living cost coefficient for Sweden are correct, I still should get more without University topping out anything.

The website you posted shows the gross salary for a given net salary. It doesn't show the gross cost to the employer, which is higher than the gross salary, particularly in the US. Also, the EU won't pay for the Swedish multiplier to be applied in the US. If that happens, either the Swedish or US host must be paying for it. But it does seem worth asking for details of how it is calculated.

@Ian sudbery, the website does show the full cost employer pays ("arbetsgivaren betalar" or "the employer pays", for net salary of 35000SEK it is around 67000SEK). I however do not know who should pay this amount the university or the EU. Anyway, I just want to understand, how it works and will post the outcome of my situation.

As I have promised I write how my situation was finally resolved. The main reason for too low salary turned out to be very high taxes in Sweden, which in my case is 57% plus 30% of the residue. This money turned out to be not enough for the outgoing phase, because US has lower live cost coefficient. And my department topped it up. However even with this topping up my salary was around 3200-3400 depending on the exchange rate. But!!! Importantly, after a long negotiation period I asked to use part of the the money allocated to "institutional cost and training".

This money are ment to be used for training and conferences, but at the end of the project if there is smth left they should be paid to the postdoc. But, inportnant to know that it is solely decided by university how these money are used. In addition, these money will be paid as a housing compensation and not as a part of salary, which means that they are not taxed. Hope this info will be helpful for people in the same situation.

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What are good custom questions to add to an end-of-course survey?
The purpose of end-of-course surveys is to have feedback on the course overall.
However, the survey is more of an evaluation of the instructor than the course itself. A successful course depends more on how a student approaches it than how the instructor does. Obviously, most of the time a bad instructor implies a bad course even for students that have a commitment to their studies. Similarly, a student that takes a course without putting in the effort/hours required for a college course and still has a "high-school" mindset, will evaluate the course negatively.
I'm allowed to add questions to the survey and plan to do so in a way that gives students the opportunity to reflect on the responsibility they had to succeed in the course they are evaluating. Hopefully, some of them, will take ownership of their learning and approach college in a different way.
With this in mind, what are good custom questions to add to an end-of-course survey?

It seems buried in this question a bit that your goal is to do a version of a "push poll", which strikes me as possibly manipulative. That is, you aren't actually interested in the survey responses. If that's not your intent, you may want to revise the question.

Why not ask them then to think about those things explicitly if you think it's important, rather than hiding it in a survey?

Those all sound non sequitur to me.

Any other time than pretending it's part of a survey when it's not.

You're right, I don't teach classes. Doesn't seem like a good way to defend being disrespectful of students by manipulating them using course evaluations that are meant to help you improve.

"Is the course too hard?", "Which part did you struggle the most?", "How did your prerequisites help you with the course?", "Did the course meet your expectation?", "Should the instructor provide additional help to students? and how?",... They are typical questions in our end-of-course survey. However, I think there is another problem.
(The original post stating that the current end-of-course survey consists of 20 questions directly related to the question "How good is the professor?")
At my university, end-of-course surveys are taken seriously as well. However, I have observed that my fellow students tend to systematically select a higher rating for each question regardless of their opinions, also there are many questions with "No Answer". It is because of the survey design is not good.

There are too many questions as well (like 20); however, most of them are multiple-choice questions (rating from 1-10) without much description. Many students will just avoid thinking and select a very high rating or very low one without even reading questions to finish the survey.

There are a few optional short answer questions at the end of the survey. However, no one wants to answer these questions after randomly completing the first 20 MCQs.

In my opinion, students do not have an incentive to complete that long, boring survey in an honest manner. The number of questions should be reduced before adding any new question to the survey. Avoid using too many MCQs. Instead of using a scale (e.g. 1-10), we should add detailed description for each option (5 options would probably be the best). Avoid redundancy - do not ask many questions for the same thing. "20" for "How good is the professor/the course?" is clearly too much!

Partial frame change answer.
Starting with the point of view that "A successful course depends more on how a student approaches it than how the instructor does." to write your end of course survey questions is not great. Before you have even heard this year's evaluation of your course, you have concluded that your actions had minimal influence on student outcomes. Therefore there is little to be gained by making changes based on their perception.
But your absolutely right that encouraging them to reflect on their own agency is helpful.
If you come at this in good faith, I think it likely the students will sense that. Seeing you honestly reflecting on what you did well, and what might have been better, gives you more credibility to ask the same of them. Furthermore, I think you should be honest about what you want to do here.
Making a specific suggestion is tough without seeing the other questions, but to make a concrete one;

Some of the responsibility for enabling you to succeed in this course is mine. For you specifically, was there some aspect you would have liked me to take more responsibility for? What assessment rule or guidance did you find most helpful?

Some of the responsibility for enabling you to succeed in this course is yours. In this course, which of your own habits and practices were most useful to you? What do you think you will do differently in the future?

@ziulfer I'm UK based, so perhaps it's different across the pond, but it might interest you to know that in the UK student satisfaction scores have an inverse correlation with entry requirements. That is to say, the highly motivated students at elite universities complain more than those at less prestigious institutions. We could hypothesis that elite universities are worse at teaching, but I actually think better students care more and expect more. That's good. I'm glad they care, and I'm glad they complain.

@ziulfer we are all very busy, so we don't have time to try every possible thing that could improve our course, but there is well researched guidance out there. As a STEM lecturer, you might be interested in the work of Dr Ross Galloway in Edinburgh. https://www.research.ed.ac.uk/en/persons/ross-galloway I'm sure there are folk in the US who have a similar focus.

@ziulfer in general, I do think the feedback you are describing sounds valuable, and has the potential to help you develop your course.


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What high school subjects build strategic thinking?
I am trying to provide some guidance and incentive for a senior high school student showing a particular interest/strength in strategic thinking. They have asked me which subjects I think they could learn more about this and use it, since their current subjects are lacking this.
They are an avid gamer and enjoy activities involving complicated strategizing and problem solving. Maths does this to some extent but the real world applications are not always there.
They haven't yet chosen a career path specifically but if I were to have a guess I would think areas such as Project Management, Leadership & Strategy and perhaps Marketing/Advertising. They also haven't ruled out trying to work in the military.
Any suggestions on which subjects I should point them towards?

@Roland some high school's offer electives in business education such as management, marketing which I believe do require strategic thinking?

student government, model UN, debate, leadership roles in other school groups...

The actual branch of science that deals with strategic decision-making is game theory, but it is premature to try to learn this formally in high-school (the theory and maths would probably be too difficult at that level).  At a high school level, I'd say a reasonable proxy for learning strategic thinking is for the student to involve themselves in a range of competitive or cooperative games (e.g., board games, card games, team sports, etc.) that have a strategic component where optimal actions depend on the action of other players.  That could lead to a general interest and rough heuristic knowledge in strategic principles that are formalised in game theory.
(If it helps, here is an academic paper on optimal strategy in the children's game Guess Who.  The mathematical elements of the paper would certainly be too difficult for a high-schooler to understand, but they might be able to get a general heuristic understanding of some of the broad strategic ideas in the paper.  It would be a useful exercise for a high-schooler to try playing some games to test out different strategies and see if they are able to understand the heuristic ideas of the strategic optima.  They might also like to start thinking about optimal strategies in other simple children's games.)


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Is it considered offensive to address one's seniors by name in the US?
In my country (India), there are several implicit norms that almost everyone is expected to follow.
One of the important norms is that juniors do not address a senior by their name. It happens students' circles as well as in faculty circles - thus, even junior professors would not address senior professors by name.
Recently (in the US), a female assistant professor addressed a male associate professor by his name. This was the first ever time that I saw an incident like this. I even thought it was offensive to the male associate professor.
I am wondering whether it is a norm in the US to address seniors as "sir" or any other respectable salutation instead of addressing by name.
Note: The question is broader than only addressing a professor.

When you say "by name" do you mean that "Professor Jones" is not allowed?  Or do you merely mean that "Henry" is not allowed?  Certainly in the US, "Professor Jones" would always be allowed.

What do you mean by "senior"?  In the US, it could be either someone at a higher rank in the organization, or simply someone a good bit older.  And in US universities, it isn't all that unusual for some students to be a good bit older than some of the professors :-)

Out of curiosity are you speaking English with your Indian countrymen, or your local language?

Comments are not for extended discussion; this conversation has been moved to chat.

It's been a long time, but good manners are good manners. I had called him 'Professor Jones' until the day he said 'Call me Bill.' This was in the US.

No, in the US, it's usually not rude to address people you know more than in passing (e.g. are colleagues, classmates, or in their class) by their first name. NB: The question isn't "How should I address a professor?" it's about general rules and behavior, especially (my interpretation) the same university.
In the US, professors, staff, and PhD students would address everyone on their own "level" by their first name. In every department I have encountered, anyone in any of those groups would address each other by their first name, but as others have pointed out, occasionally Master's students maintain a bit more formality.
Occasionally, some professors prefer their undergraduates (especially in large classes) to use their title, whether "Professor," "Doctor," or "Mister/Miss/Mrs."
All undergraduates would use first names, and would almost always use first names with staff and graduate students they are familiar with.
However, it's typically considered polite to start using the title (for faculty, and maybe staff) and to only use their first name when invited, which most people in academia in the US do right away. Often, the convention is people sign their emails how they want you to address them. In my experience, it would be a raised eyebrow to use a first name where it was "incorrect," but would really only elevate to "rude" once someone has consistent disregarded someone's expressed wishes.
In regards to your example, it would strike me as incredibly rude if  a professor took offense at another professor by using their first name.

Yeah, for professors you usally use last name unless invited to, which however they usually do in the first lecture. There are the few Profs insisting on their title/lastname and to them it would indeed be an offence. Those are becoming more and more rare tho

Not only for myself, but in observation of others, I don't think it's genuinely "universal". Maybe 70% or some other substantial fraction, but by far not universal...

@paulgarrett What exceptions have you observed?

E.g., quite often senior faculty, when talking to grad students, refer to other senior faculty as "Prof X", rather than "Alice/Bob". I do so myself, in my own mind conveying respect, though that probably doesn't mean much, given the cultural drift. Decades ago, referring to people by surname only was nearly standard, in some circles. As it was in my middle school, among boys, who were trying to be tough. :) Ah, society, ...

Might also be some exceptions in medicine, where MDs often refer to each other as Dr Lastname.

@paul Interesting! Never heard someone do that. I'll edit to say "address"

In general, I think @AzorAhai-him- is correct. My experience has generally been that faculty members refer to one another by first name here in the US. I refer to members of my department by first name and prefer my graduate students to refer to me by first name. Of course, there's no hard-and-fast rule. Some people are sticklers for formality, but in the US it's certainly not considered an insult to refer to a fellow member of the department by first name.

I agree with mostly everything in this answer, except "The convention is people sign their emails how they want you to address them.". In my experience, people use automated signatures in their emails, which include their full name, their diploma, their field of research, as well as their professional contact information. The automated signature remains always the same, regardless of the emails' recipients, be it colleagues, students, friends, family, or bureaucracy. These automated signatures absolutely do not reflect the way the person wants to be addressed.

@Stef Agreed. I worked on a project for the head of the department surgery at a major hospital and he signed his emails with "Gerry". I never tried, but I don't think it would've gone very well if I called him that.

@Stef The "email signature convention" is widely discussed on this site. What culture are you coming from?

@Stef  I have such an automated signature.  Just above the block with the institution's logo, my title, name, rank, and serial number, it says, "Best regards, Bob"

I'll note that I feel a tad offended when someone calls me "sir", and it's not in a standard "courteous" exchange with a salesperson or what-have-you.  It feels like a subtle put-down.

Great answer. It also often depends on forum, which may be worth mentioning.

As US native who has been in university more than once and has also lived abroad, I'm very familiar with this question.
It's understandable to think that there is no formality around names at all in the US because it is common to find people using personal names and not family names or titles.  You can probably find examples of people using personal names with superiors or teachers in any institution.
However, in truth it's taking it a bit too far to say a person should just use personal names and there are no rules.
The current majority culture in the US does have fewer clear, strict rules around social hierarchies than many other cultures.
But it certainly does have respect for seniors.  And how it operates is through conventions around paying attention to what is expected.
.
When you first enter a new institution or organization, you absolutely should first address people much older or more senior than you as "Mister" or "Ms" or a job title where there is one ("Professor", "Doctor", "Sergeant").  (corollary - US English culture does have job titles, just very, very few of them for some reason)
They will tell you if they want you to use a first name instead.  You might still "forget" to use their first name a couple times to be sure.
When meeting someone that may be only a little older or more senior than you, introduce yourself first and then ask them how you should call them.
When learning about someone indirectly, such as in a meeting, you need to observe how others address them, or even ask your peers how to address them.
We might add that written communication may be different, especially for an official purpose, and you should seek out examples of what may be the best way to address people.
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Through all of this, you may end up using personal names much of the time.  But the rule isn't to ignore respecting seniors,  it's to show respect by following the local conventions, just like anywhere.
The conventions in US majority culture in some ways are actually more complicated than in cultures with strict hierarchies.  They may also be less consequential.
But they are still present.

Yes, wisest to gauge the context by watching others' forms of address.

Official written communication actually has a very straightforward rule: You use Title Lastname format, or Title Firstname Lastname if (for some reason) you want it to look like junk mail written by a robot. The only tricky part might be figuring out the right title, but in most academic contexts, that will be one of Mr., Ms., Dr., or Prof., as appropriate (I agree with KRyan that Mrs. and Miss should be disfavored unless you happen to know that the recipient specifically wants to use one of those titles).

When addressing someone you don't know well, who is older than you, and whose position in the hierarchy is unknown to you, "sir" and "ma'am" (male or female forms of address) are generally acceptable until you're given leave to use a more familiar form of address, or a different and more specific form of address (e.g. "Professor Jones") becomes obvious.

I understand what you mean. In India, junior faculty usually address all senior faculty (especially those in administration such as Deans and Directors etc) as Professor X etc. But faculty, staff and students of similar age would refer to each other by first name.
However, in the USA, it is the norm that faculty, staff and students of similar position would refer to each other by first name. Among faculty, the distinction among professors, associate professors and assistant professor is rare and each refer to one another by first name.

There isn't really the same concept of "seniority" in general US culture as there is in other cultures. (I say "in general" because there are different varieties of US culture. Southern culture is more formal than Northern. Different ethnic groups are going to have different norms. Groups like the mafia probably enforce status differentials more than the general population does.) There are very few cases where using any name would be considered rude. Maybe if you're in court, the judge might consider it rude to refer to them by their name rather than as "your honor".
There are cases where it's considered proper to refer to people by their last names. And referring to someone by just their last name generally comes across as casual; in formal situations one uses a title or honorific before the name.
There are two general categories of where last names are expected: a formal situation where everyone refers to each other by their last names, and a situation where there is a large hierarchical distance where the "higher" person is addressed by their last name.
Although the Harry Potter books takes place in a British boarding school, so it's more formal than the general US social situation, it's an example of different norms that you might see in place. You'll notice that all the students address their professors as Professor Lastname, and the professors address the students by just their last name, while in conversations within just students or just professors, you'll see first names. So between professors and students, the interactions are formal, with the difference in social level being marked by the students using the title "Professor", and professors just using last names.
In the US, prior to college there is a clear gulf between he social status of teachers versus students, and teachers generally refer to students by their first names while students refer to teachers by honorific + last name. The honorific will usually be Mr./Mrs./Miss/Ms., but if someone is teaching high school despite having a PhD, they might have the students refer to them as "Doctor". In the other directions, in less formal/"progressive" schools, the students may refer to the teachers by their first name.
During college, there is less of a gulf, especially in graduate schools. Whether a doctoral students addresses their adviser first name will depend on their relationship, although they will probably refer to them by their last name, even if they are addressing them with their first name. A TA will probably address the professor they are working for by their last name, but if the professor is less formal, the TA may address them by their first name. Students will generally address, and a TA who asks their students to refer to them by their last name will probably be seen as pretentious.
However, you have more leeway for asking people to refer to you by your last name if you also refer to other people by their last name; then it's an issue of formality rather than relative status.  An associate professor is indeed a more prestigious position than assistant professor, but it's not enough of a status difference to justify last name status. Unless they refer to assistant professors by their last name, an associate professor who asks assistant professors to use their last name is going to be considered a pompous jerk. In US culture, marking someone as being a lower status is a faux pas more often than not marking someone as being a higher status is.
The military is one area where there is a rigid hierarchy. From what I gather, people will generally be referred to by their rank and last name, but in some cases they'll use just last name, and in casual settings they'll refer to each by their first name.
Also, never refer to a woman by her first name if you would not, in similar circumstances, refer to a man by his first name.

It's also worth noting that outside academia, things tend to be more "casually formal" in the South, compared to the North (where "The South" means from Texas to the Atlantic and from Virginia down to the Gulf of Mexico - "The North" is just about everywhere else (give or take)).  In the South, people regularly address each other casually as Sir and Ma'am.  In the rest of the country, this tends to bring odd stares.

Offensive?  Generally not.  Awkward might be a better description.
You talk about addressing seniors, but that can be interpreted as referring to age or to rank.  The culture in some parts of the US default to using title + last name for anyone a generation or more older than you, while in other parts of the country this custom is on the decline.  In some places you might even hear title + first name as the local custom.  Because of this inconsistency such habits are considered polite, but aren't necessarily expected.  There aren't large-scale cultural rules like that regarding position or rank (military schools notwithstanding).  You tend to see relatively consistent habits within a department or university, but the school in the next town over might do it completely differently.  My university even had one department that did it slightly different than the others.  They had several instructors with the same last name so they used title + first name (tradition was less important than practicality).
The general rule of thumb is to use whatever name/title that person wants you to use.  If you call someone by first name and they respond by indicating that they'd prefer you use their title and last name - or vice versa - then that person won't typically be offended.  You didn't know what their preference was and you made an honest mistake (it happens to everybody).  When people tend to get offended is when they tell you how they want to be addressed and then you continue to call them something else.  That comes across as an intentional disregard for their wishes, and people might take offense as that.
The other thing to keep in mind is the audience.  Instructors (regardless of official title) might normally address each other by their first name.  When in a group with students present, however, they'll typically use whatever form of address the students would normally use.  It's generally less confusing that way, as students may not even remember an instructor's first name if that's not what they use to address them.
In your example, the assistant professor addressing the associate professor by first name would be perfectly normal in most cases, at least in private or with other faculty members.  It would be unusual and awkward in mixed company (faculty and students together), but not seen as offensive unless it was clear that the speaker was intending to offend the other person.

No, in this year, it's not really "offensive" in U.S. academia to address one's seniors by their given names...
But that literal question is probably misleading, and/or invites incomplete descriptions of the situation.
For one, in some contexts it is a "matter of custom/form" that everyone addresses everyone by given name. How to know whether one is in such a situation or not? Watch others. To my perception, sometimes there is the exaggerated display of familiarity by addressing serious people far more familiarly than there is any possible justification for. This game is not only played in academia, of course.
And, for that matter, telemarketers and solicitors seem to use given names...
And medical people with their patients. When I was younger, I was tempted to both address them by their given name, and "correct" them to address me as "Professor X" rather than "given name". :)
But to my ear, though I'm some decades removed from current culture, use of given names with people who aren't one's intimates is ... ridiculous.
When grad students in my dept (quite considerately) ask what form of address I'd like, one of the diagnostic questions I pose is "do you address your grandparents by their given names?"... and of course they don't. For that matter, my partner only addresses me by my given name to make some sort of rhetorical point. Ditto my kids. :) (So we have a quite nice symbolic compromise, that many address me by my initials...)
And, as I say to grad students, tone of voice matters far more than the literal words.
Not a clear answer, I know, but hopefully informative... :)

I'm curious what the grandparents example is supposed to mean? They're family, and that's a different situation than non-family. I don't use nicknames for them because they're older than me, I use them because they're kin. (And one of them does go by Grandma "Alice").

My point was that, even though grandparents are relatives, I suspect not many people address Grandma Alice simply as "Alice" on a regular basis. Perhaps I'm mistaken. In any case, I would never have addressed my grandfather simply as "Bob", etc., and not only because he was family.

But what do terms of endearment have to to do with titles? Like what does telling you my grandpa goes by "Papa" tell me what I should call you? Do you go by Papa garett? haha

Sorry, I don't understand the sentence with "rhetorical point" (maybe due to my limited English). Are you saying your partner would "usually" not call you by your given name (if they would not want to make a point)? If so, what form would he/she use instead?

The OP seems to be saying that using any name, not just given name, is considered rude.

I believe it's also where you're from.  when i was young, my parents had several friends that they called by their given names.  I didn't just call him "Frank", that would have been far too familiar, but Mr Frank was perfectly acceptable.  now that I'm older, when I meet kids for the first time, i introduce myself as Mr Kevin.  My wife is Miss Michele.
You'll find this a lot in the southern USA.

authors: Bob Jarvis - Слава Україні


text:
What is the correct way of citing with et al. using IEEE citation style
I have seen many authors cite in scientific research papers as follows:

First_author's_last_name et al.[10]
Another_first_author's_last_name et al. [15]

I have also seen some papers refer to popular methods created by some authors as follows:

In 2006, CravingGold [10] was created by some students from Havard under the tutelage of ...

Here, CravingGold is a famous method everyone in that domain is aware of.
What is the correct way of citation if I want to use et al. and also mention the popular method the authors created? For example,

First_author's_last_name et al. [10] proposed a method based on hyperplane called CravingGold

or do I say:

First_author's_last_name et al.  proposed a method based on hyperplane called CravingGold [10]

or is it correct to even say:

First_author's_last_name et al. [10]  proposed a method based on hyperplane called CravingGold [10]

Either of your first two options would be fine. I personally prefer to put the citation immediately after the authors' names as in your first option, but I have seen both and neither is uncommon.
If I saw something like the third option I would assume the double citation was unintentional. You're only mentioning it once so it should only be cited once.

You can find the IEEE style guide at
https://www.ieee.org/content/dam/ieee-org/ieee/web/org/conferences/style_references_manual.pdf
Under Referencing, it says:
NOTE: Use et al. when three or more names are given.
In the examples given, there are no first names. It also says that you should treat references as footnotes or nouns.
Adding first names can be useful, since some places have only very few last name. I personally hate it if references are given by number only as it forces me to reread the Reference section.


text:
Figures on the number of LaTeX users
I am looking for figures on the number of academics using Tex or LaTeX.

How may people use LaTeX?

LaTeX is a computer language used to produce pdfs and make books. It is popular across STEM fields.
I am also interested in related figures that people can find or know about. For example:

What percentage of textbooks are made using LaTeX?
What percentage of Springer books are made using LaTeX?
What percentage of mathematicians (physicists, chemists, biologists, engineers, computer scientists, etc.) use LaTeX?

The TeX SE might be a better place for this.

And they have this question: https://tex.stackexchange.com/q/29236/128923


text:
Should you correct grammar mistakes during peer review?
In almost any paper there is an abundance of classical errors, such as omitting the "s" at the end of a third person singular verb. I am growing tired of painstakingly listing the page and line for each error. Is it acceptable to just write: "Please, have a native speaker fix your grammar?"
Usually the reviewer guidelines ignore the subject of grammar.

Just to point out that you don't necessarily need to oppose native and non-native speakers on this issue. It's true you can often guess the writer isn't a native speaker by the type of grammatical mistakes, but being a native speaker doesn't necessarily give any authority on grammar. If anything, non-native speakers are likely to be the only ones who've actually gone through grammar lessons at school (as far as I understand, grammar as such isn't always on the curriculum). Native speakers do make mistakes such as your/you're (or even witch/which) quite regularly.

Probable duplicate: Are spelling issues part of the reviewer's job?

@Bruno your right, as many US citizens say...

I usually list a few examples and suggest editing by a native speaker/writer. If it's really bad, I will do so as a request for major revision. I've never had an editor complain about my doing it that way.

This is what I do too for errors that would be caught by a professional copy editor. I do specifically point out errors in usage, spelling, or capitalization that would only be noticed by someone familiar with the field.

This is what I do too. I'll pick a section (first paragraph, first page, introduction) and list all the errors I see in that; then I'll say that the rest of the paper is similar, but that I haven't listed all the other issues.
I also always add whether this does or doesn't affect understandability (" ... making the discussion in the paper unclear", or "nevertheless, the paper is perfectly understandable".

In addition to the others answers given, I think that is it extremely important to state whether or not you consider the grammatical errors to affect the scientific substance of the paper.
Usually, grammatical errors don't actually effect your ability to evaluate the science in a paper.  Even when phrases are fairly tangled or when a missing word makes a sentence say the opposite of what is intended, you can usually sort out what the authors intended, and judge them on their science, not their presentation.
This is an extremely important responsibility: do not judge a paper based on grammar and language issues.
Whatever grammatical issues you point out, be explicit that they are not the reason for your recommendation.  Some reviewers will play language police, and recommend a paper be rejected because it is "sloppy."  This is, in my opinion, inexcusable: grammar, no matter how tangled, can always be cleaned up, and should only be held against an author if they refuse to do such cleanup.
In those rare cases that things are so badly presented that you cannot understand the science, however, state clearly that is what has happened, and that this is why you are judging the grammar to actually affect the acceptability of the paper.

For example, your grammatical error in misusing effect when you mean affect doesn't materially harm my comprehension of your answer.

@TRiG Exactly. I will now pretend that I did that on purpose. :-)

Oh, but to effect is a verb meaning "to cause something". I truly agree that "grammatical errors don't actually effect your ability to evaluate the science in a paper".

@JiK it would be more grammatically appropriate to say "grammatical errors don't actually effect a hindrance on your ability to evaluate the science in a paper" - your ability is affected (altered), an impact on your ability is effected (caused)... yes, I'm loads of fun at parties, why do you ask?

@Jason My point was that I interpreted the sentence as "grammatical errors are not the reason for the existence of your ability", which is clearly true (but obviously it doesn't make much sense to say it).

@JiK... I didn't comprehend that you were quoting directly out of the answer, because I didn't read it that carefully.  Serves me right!

@jakebeal Although I agree that grammar alone is no reason to reject a paper, I sometimes really don't understand how people can hand in papers riddled with errors. At the stage when one hands in a paper, it should be in a (at least technically) almost publishable state. If you know your written english is not super great, get someone who's better at it to proofread it before you hand it in.

@Sursula For people whose native language is not English, that's often not quite as simple as you seem to think.

I fully agree that it is the science that matters and not the grammar, but in my experience papers with a lot of grammatical mistakes are usually equally sloppy on the scientific side

@Louic Indeed! And in that case, I would argue that there is definitely no reason to say anything more about the grammar than a note at the bottom like "Minor point: there were also many grammatical errors."  Complaining more about the grammar than that, in my opinion, will detract from the weight of your scientific criticism.

It depends on how bad the problem is.  If the number of grammatical errors is reasonably small, I'd be inclined to point them out individually, but if there are errors all over the place, I'd point out a few (for example, those on the first page, or in the first paragraph if there are too many on the first page), say that there are many more, and recommend that the paper be repaired by a native speaker. (This assumes that the author is not a native speaker; if (s)he is, then I'd recommend careful proofreading.  I have refereed papers that had obviously not been proofread even in the most cursory manner.)

I would stay away from the comment about having a "native speaker fix your grammar" since even though it is a valid comment its not exactly constructive or guiding the author back to the correct path.
Depending on the general level of errors, I typically would mention one or 2 instances of a given error specifically  as a single item listing its locations in the paper, and then in the event that it appears a third time then change the review comment to a major item and change the text of the comment to reflect that these are limited examples and the paper contains more identical instances of the same issue.
One thing to remember is not to allow grammatical issues overshadow your review of the content.

Why is it not constructive to suggest proofreading by a native speaker? I think it's exactly the sort of thing that's called for, and today basically everyone has access to someone who actually knows the language well (in addition to there being commercial services that can do it for you for a rather reasonable fee).

because it is implying that the author is not capable of doing so themselves, and that their grasp of the language may not be adequate (even if that is the case).

I've received the suggestion to have proofreading by a native speaker, despite quite careful proofreading by a colleague from Australia.  The reviewer did not cite any specific examples and upon careful examination we found only a few minor typos.

@gerrit My point exactly, a blanket statement such as that is easy to write, and then provides little (if any) assistance to the author to actually fix said errors.

@Damian Nikodem: It's not implying that the author is not capable, it's bluntly stating it.  My only quibble is with suggesting review by a native speaker.  I've seen more than one paper by native speakers with too many spelling/grammatical errors.

@gerrit's comment doesn't back up your point at all. gerrit says he was once told to get a native speaker to proofread his paper and that request was factually incorrect. Any referee comment could be factually incorrect and a comment being factually incorrect when applied to one paper doesn't affect its application to a different paper. If it is factually correct, "Get a native speaker to fix your grammar" is constructive enough: the referee doesn't have time to type out reports of a hundred grammatical mistakes.

Indeed. Just because someone has used this line of argument incorrectly does not mean that it is generally a bad idea. In all cases I can think of, it was easy to tell that the author's command of the English language was simply not good enough and that they needed external help. If there ever was a case where the author would have been capable but simply didn't care to proofread -- well, if I offended you by suggesting to get a native speaker, then you simply had it coming.

I think it can actually be more tactful to recommend proofreading by a native speaker.  The implication is that you know the author is far too well-educated to make these simple mistakes, it is merely a question of familiarity with the language.

You don't need to list every mistake. As people have said, you can just give a few examples and ask the authors to look back over the whole paper. I also wouldn't say "Please, have a native speaker fix your grammar". You can make the same point that there are grammatical problems which need to be fixed without making assumptions about the authors which may themselves be offensive.
Where I would slightly disagree with some of the other answers is that I do think all non-trivial grammatical errors should be fixed before publication.  This includes getting singulars and plurals right for example. An arguably incorrect semi-colon may be more forgiveable of course.  I have read a number of papers with poor English where it has made it much harder to understand the content of the paper.

Yes, about poor English making it harder to understand the paper.  I've seen instances where I thought the science was good, but couldn't be sure because I wasn't entirely sure what the authors were intending to say.

I think grammar and spelling mistakes can impair readability of a paper quite a lot, and it is good the get rid of as many of them as possible before publication. Instead of listing every mistake, though (along with page and line number - a tedious undertaking) I made it a habit to mark them directly on the article PDF (using the "highlighter" function, this is fast and easy, and can be done while reading through the paper). When handing in the review I attach the PDF along with a note, telling the authors to look into the errors marked in the file.

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