A professor of marketing at Tan Kah Kee College of Xiamen University in Fujian province has been helping students to focus by encouraging them to hand in their mobile phones before class starts and collect them after it finishes. It is not obligatory, but those who hand in their phone get a point each time as a reward, which will be added to their final examination score. The professor's tactic to encourage his students to concentrate in class has been met with both praise and criticism.

Praise:

"I think it's quite an innovative move by the professor. As a student myself, I understand how easy it is to get distracted in class by all kinds of apps on mobile phones, which makes you miss lots of useful and interesting course content. It has been a headache for quite a lot of college professors. The move is controversial and cannot be applied across the board, but at least it will help to highlight the problem the professor is trying to address."