The topic of using mobile phones or smart phones in the classroom has been heating up it seems. I wanted to see everyone's opinion. Certainly, there are positives and negatives to the notion. Both sides of the debate seem to be extreme as well.
On the plus side, allowing students to use smart phones has the possibility of cutting technology costs for the school. Rather than the school providing laptops for everyone or just using the laptops for a day, students can use their phones to do research. They don't even have to connect to the school network. It would also make the laptops that the school has more readily available. With the increase of smart phones at younger ages, the need for a laptop goes down. They can do almost the same thing. Students would also be able to complete on-the-go research. No more hall passes to the computer lab and wasting time. They can do their research from their desk.
On the other hand, you can see why using smart phones, or any cell phone, in class can be quite a handful. How are we going to know if students are texting or playing games rather than doing research or typing notes? It would be very difficult to monitor what every student is doing with their phone. Both sides of the coin are very extreme.
An interesting notion.
ReplyDeleteI myself have used my own SmartPhone within the classroom as a tool.
I've used it as a voice recorder, timer, quick internet search/dictionary and other things.
As far as students using them in the class I do agree that would be tricky, but could also be really cool.
Currently with Smart or Activ technologies (smart boards or promethean boards) there are additional tools that allow kids to interact with the presented informations.
I have Acvit technology in my class (promethean) and also have access to the brands' ActivVotes and ActivExpressions. They act as responce tools for students where they can press A, B, C, D, or E to answer polls and questions with ActiveVotes, or they can "text" in thinking with ActivExpressions.
I haven't integrated it into my class that much yet, but it is pretty cool.
Hey Anthony,
ReplyDeleteGreat post! I think the more we can integrate smart phones into the classroom, the better. The question does become how can we monitor activity? I recall sitting in on a staff meeting and being required to take notes. I didn't have a pen or paper, so I whipped out my iPod Touch and started typing up the notes. I got the most bizarre looks of "I can't believe how rude!" I simply replied, "I'm taking notes" and showed them. The social stigma is still there, we have to break down those barriers and create more positive uses for all technology to make a difference, I believe.
K hannaH - I have not encountered these technologies yet, but they sound really interesting! Let me know how it goes!
Thanks,
Sean