Living in the 4th Screen

Exploring the use of mobile technology in education and life

Some Schools Ban Teacher's Cell Phones

Just read this on a Scholastic.com Blog:
Q:  In my middle school/high school, kids aren’t allowed to use cell phones during the day (although we all know they do).  To “set a good example,” our principal has decided that teachers shouldn’t use them either.

Frankly, most of us consider this a ridiculous ruling.  Phones are available for teacher use in the faculty room or the office, but it’s much more convenient to call a parent, for example, on a cell phone from your own classroom.  And I’ll admit that it’s also more convenient to make appointments or take care of all the other business everyone has to contend with.  How can I convince my principal to move into the age of technology?
 If a staff member is misusing their cell phone in school I think that staff member should be dealt with on an individual basis. I do not agree with penalizing the entire staff. Cell phones have become ubiquitous within our society. I believe we are moving from the period of disruption to a period of acceptance. Just like when cars first came out. It took time to figure out how to use them appropriately and create laws and road signs. Eventually cars blended into society. That is what is happening with cell phones. Below is part of the answer to the question posted on the Scholastic blog:
A:  You might refer your principal to a survey done by the Pew Research Center last spring.  The survey found that 75% of kids age 12-17 own cell phones.  Twenty-four percent say their schools ban cell phones, but 65% bring them to school anyway and 58% admit to texting in class!

The Edjurist: Can Policies Stop the Mobile Learning Tsunami?

Can Policies Stop a Mobile Learning Tsunami? According to Education Law Professor, Justin Bathon, the answer is no. He wrote the following on his Edjurist Blog:

No. They can't. There is no legal floodwall even remotely big enough to stop this one.  

Yet, we keep trying ... and causing ourselves even more policy trouble in the effort because as we are trying to build the wall higher and stronger we are also trying to bail out the water already on the other side. 

Is it time to switch tactics yet? Is it time to go with the flow and help direct the waters in responsible directions? We legal types are the ones that need to let administrators know when it is appropriate to stop trying to plug the dam. That is our responsibility as their advisors. 

Meanwhile, the kids are waiting for us ...

I agree with Mr. Bathon. I like the angle he took in approaching this from a legal/policy perspective by asking if school policies will hold back the coming mobile tsunami. Students are using their cell phones in school whether the school bans them or not. The video below quotes the study by the Pew Internet and American Life Project that found over 60% of students who attend a school where cell phones are banned, still use them. I think it is more prudent for schools to embrace student cell phones and teach students how to use them responsibly. Below is a CNN video that discusses the issue of cell phones in schools.

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Article: 5 Steps to Harnessing the Power of Cells in Education Today

The Innovative Educator wrote a post titled "5 Steps to Harnessing the Power of Cells in Education Today." Below is a copy of the 5 Steps with an explanation. Follow this link to read the complete article. The post lists ways to carry out each on of the 5 suggestions. 

Step One: Teacher Use of Cell Phones for Professional Purposes 
Remember, just because some schools and districts ban students from using cell phones, this does not apply to teachers. Begin harnessing the power of your own cell phone today as an instructional tool. 


Step Two: Teacher Models Appropriate Use for Learning 
Once you're comfortable using your cell phone as an instructional tool, you can begin modeling best practice and instructional use of cell phones to your students. Let them see ways they might consider using their phones to support instruction. 


Step Three: Strengthen the Home-School Connection with Cell Phones 
Cell phones provide a terrific means for connecting with student's parents, family, and guardians. Begin using phones to develop and strengthen those relationships. This provides a foundation and helps develop understanding around the benefits and value of cell phone use in general and later for use with students. The first thing you want to do is get a list of phone numbers from your student's parents, guardians, and/or family members. Once you do that there are many ways to use cells to support the home school connection.


Step Four: Students Use Cell Phones for Homework 
Before using cell phones in your classroom with students, begin giving students the option to use cell phones to complete their homework. This gives the teacher the opportunity to allow students to use cell phones for learning without classroom management concerns. This also gives students experience in using cell phones for learning. In most cases students can do the same work on a cell that they can on a laptop so if they have easier access to one over the other at different times they can choose what works best for them on that particular evening. Especially in families with limited technology resources, providing these sorts of options helps break down the digital divide. Suddenly the amount of technology available to a student for learning has increased dramatically. 


Step Five: Students Use Cell Phones for Classwork
Once you, your students, and their parents/guardians/families have become comfortable using cell phones as instructional tool and if your school or district empowers classroom teachers to make instructional decisions, you are ready to begin allowing students to harness the power of cell phones for learning. The first thing you'll want to do, even if your district or school has a policy is discuss acceptable use with students. Using a tool like Wiffiti or Polleverywhere may be a smart way to capture student ideas on acceptable use. You can have them contribute outside of school and once all students agree to the ideas shared they can sign a contract with a link to the resource containing the policies to which they developed and agreed. In many cases you'll find student rules and consequences are more stringent then those outlined in the school or district policy, but it's written in language everyone can understand. The results can be posted on the classroom or school website as well.

Classroom Cell Phone Disruption by the Numbers - Part 2

 
Back in January I wrote two posts titled, "Cell Phone Disruption by the Numbers" and "What is More Disruptive - Banning or Embracing Cell Phones in the Classroom? ", both posts essentially talked about how we changed our school cell phone policy and allowed students to use their cell phones during the school day. I reported the number of cell phone violations we had in the first half of the year in 08-09 and how many we had in 09-10. Below is some of what I said then:
What is more disruptive, banning cell phones and requiring teachers to confiscate them, or embracing student cell phones and teaching students how to use them more responsibly. For the 2009-2010 school year we changed our cell phone policy at the school were I serve as an assistant principal. We allow students to use their cell phones in between classes and in the cafeteria during their lunch period. The rest of the school day is instructional time and their cell phones are to be off and out of site unless a teacher is using them as part of the lesson.
 
Additionally, we made another change to our cell phone policy. We no longer require teachers to confiscate a student's cell phone if they violate the policy. We tell the teachers to write up a conduct report and turn it in to the main office and we will handle it from there. Our goal was to eliminate the classroom struggle that ensues between the teacher and a student when there is a cell phone policy violation.
 
The school I work in is a high school with about 1050 students. It is a middle to upper-middle class neighborhood. Almost all of our students carry a cell phone and an iPod of some sort.
For the first half of the year in 08-09 (Sept - Dec) when we did not allow students to use their cell phones during the school day we had over 40 violations. For the same time period in the 09-10 school year when we allowed students to use their cell phones during the school day we had 30 violations. I now have the final number of cell phone violations for the second half of the 09-10 school year (Jan - June). In the second half of the 08-09 school year we had 30 violations and in the same time period in the 09-10 school year we had 25 violations of our cell phone policy.
 
I also wrote this back in January:
Overall we have not had an increase in cell phone policy violations versus the same time last year when we did not allow cell phones to be used during the school day. In all honesty the students treated the change in the policy like it was no big deal. Many students have told me that by allowing them to use their phones it has removed the temptation to take them out at other times when it would be inappropriate. 

In all honesty I expected the violations for this school year (09-10) to be higher. One of the reasons I expected higher numbers was because teachers do not have to confiscate the student's cell phone when the student violates the policy. I thought this change in procedure would result in more discipline reports. Not the case.
In summary, we had 70+ cell phone violations for the 2008-2009 school year when students were not allowed to use their cell phones during the school day and 55 cell phone violations for the 2009-2010 school year when they were allowed to use the cell phones during their lunch periods and in the hallway between classes. I fully expected the number of cell phone violations to increase somewhat during the first year of a new policy. I also thought the fact that teachers did not have to confiscate the student's cell phone in order to write them up for a violation would make it easier for teachers to report violations and hence, expected more conduct reports dealing with cell phone violations. That did not happen.
 
Although pleased that our cell phone violations decreased, I am not exactly sure why. The students tell me that because they had opportunities to use their cell phones throughout the day it diminished the temptation to use them at inappropriate times. I am not naive to the fact that students still used their cell phones at inappropriate times this year and that not all those violations got reported to the office, but year over year we had a decrease in the number of cell phone violations. Overall a positive result. Students are certainly happier with the new policy and some parents have told me they are pleased with the change as it allows them to connect with their children during the day if they need to.
 
I have two final observations. First, the other assistant principal and I agonized in late spring and early summer in 2009 as we pondered a change in the cell phone policy. We didn't know what to expect. We contacted administrators and teachers from others schools who had made similar changes and peppered them with questions about how it turned out for them. We contacted some of our teachers over the summer and asked them what they thought of our idea of a new cell phone policy. Now looking back, we realize how foolish we were. The change in policy was really no big deal.
 
The second observation I made was that I thought a majority of students would be texting or talking on their cell phones during lunch. I expected to walk into our lunch area and see hundreds of students on their cell phones. This never happened. As a matter of fact I rarely saw more than 5 students at any given time on their cell phones, calling or texting. One day I had a colleague here from another school. I told her about our change in policy and we both walked into our lunch area to purposely count the number of students we observed using their cell phones. We saw 3 students texting and one listening to an iPod out of the 250 students who had lunch at that time. I read all the time that today's students do not know how to have face to face conversations because all they do is text. This has not been my experience. They are doing just fine when it comes to conversing with their peers.
 
Over the summer I will finish writing my paper reporting my findings this year with using cell phones as an instructional tool and will post it here when completed.
 
 I borrowed the picture from this website.

Despite the ban students are still texting in class

Pew Research Center's Internet & American Life Project reports the following:

12% of all students say they can have their cellphones at school at any time.

62% of all students say they can have their cellphones in school, just not in class.

24% of teenagers attend schools that ban all cellphones from school grounds.
• 65% of cellphone-owning teenagers at schools that completely ban phones bring their phones to school every day.
• 58% of cellphone-owning teenagers at schools that ban phones have sent a text message during class.

43% of all teenagers who take their cellphones to school say they text in class at least once a day or more.
• 64% of teenagers with cellphones have texted in class.
• 25% have made or received a call during class time.

Just because cell phones are banned in schools it does not mean students are not using them. We need to embrace student cell phones and teach students how to use them responsibly.

I Never See This With Hands

"I never see this with hands," was Sandy Riggs response to all the text messages she received when she asked her freshman Biology students to text her what they thought DNA precipitation meant. Riggs teaches at Collegiate High School in Texas. Ms. Riggs said that texting has increased her student's confidence.
 
Collegiate High School Principal Tracie Rodriguez said the science and English departments use texting the most with class assignments. Teachers can choose whether they want students to text them. The trend began with a student asking if it would be OK for them to text their teacher, she said.
She said at one time students were coming to class with incomplete assignments and texting was a way for the students to feel comfortable with getting in touch with teachers outside of class, she said.
The school does still enforce a rule that cell phones can’t be used in class unless approved beforehand as part of a class assignment or in an emergency, she said.
In addition, parents haven’t expressed concerns about their student’s cell phone bills or texting charges, she said.
 I think using text messages with students is a good idea as it is the preferrable means of communication for today's teenagers. My only concern is that teachers and administrators make sure the text messages stay focused on school related activites and not move over to to personal issues. Additionally, I can understand the concern some saff members have is giving out their personal phone number. To still use text messages with students and not give out your phone number you can use a free Google Voice account or use your email program to send text messages. I explain both situations here and here. Follow this link to read the full article.

Cell Phones in School? Read this teachers perspective.

Charles Costello has been an English Teacher at Greenwich High School (Greenwich, CT) since 2002. On his blog Teacher Talk he wrote an article about whether or not students should have cell phones in class. Below is an excerpt from his blog post:

So what should be done? Well, I have my opinion. No cell phones or any other electronic devices allowed in school. If you’re caught with one, it should be confiscated and appropriate punishment should follow. Whether that means detention or suspension or something else, we can figure that out once we have the courage to ban these devices and show our students that we expect more from them. My classroom policy is that I deduct 10 points from a student’s quarter participation grade each time I see or hear a cell phone or IPOD. If they bring it to school, it must be concealed and turned off before they enter my classroom. 

Mr. Costello takes a rather strong stand against the use of cell phones in school. I can understand his frustration as a classroom teacher but I wonder what else is going on at this school that causes cell phones to be such a disruption. Even if students are allowed to have cell phones in school, there must be policies for how and when they can be used. Additionally, the policies need to be enforced when students violate them.

We allow students to use cell phones between classes and in lunch period. At all other times the cell phones must be off and out of sight, unless a teacher is using the phones as part of a lesson. If a student violates the policy we issue them a central detention. If the problem persists with a particular student we will issue increase the severity of the consequence for each offense i.e. an extended detention, call home, confiscate the phone until a parent retrieves it, and even in-school suspension. On a few occasions we have told a student and their parents that the student is no longer allowed to bring a cell phone to school. At the school were I work the overwhelming majority of students use their cell phones in a responsible manner and they comply with our policy.

Debate: Should cell phones be allowed in school? Vote and have your say.

Follow this link to read a debate on whether or not cell phones should be allowed in school. They present an article on both sides of the issue and allow you to vote. Below are the results of the vote as of May 9, 2010 at 11:30am.

 
Follow the link above to go to the website and read the article.

Cell Phones in education has potential

Panel: Cell phones have much potential in classrooms
New paper reports that students' cell phone use is growing, and educators should harness the power of mobile devices
 
The above is the title and sub-title of an article that recently appeared in eSchool News. These observations were made during a panel discussion on the use of cell phones in the classroom. Below is a quote from the article:
 Teachers are finding interesting and creative ways to include mobile phones in classroom instruction in an effort to bridge the divide between the technologies children use at home and what they use in school, education technology experts say.
A day does not pass where I don't read another article of some school using student cell phones in the classroom. There is so much going on in the mobile space that I find I can't keep up with it anymore. I have almost 60 articles sitting in my inbox waiting for me to read and comment on. Just last August when I started this blog there was maybe an article a week about mobile technology in the classroom. I sense that we are at the precipice of mass adoption of mobile technologies in the classroom.
 
 
 
 

Teens prefer texting over talking research shows

The latest research from the Pew Internet and American Life Project shows that teenagers today are on their phones just as much as their parents were when they were this age. The only difference is today's generation prefers texting over talking.

Based on a survey and focus groups conducted with teenagers between 12 and 17, Pew found that text messaging is by far the most common way that kids communicate with each other, more than chatting on the phone, e-mailing, using social-networking sites, or talking face to face.

More than 75 percent of teens now own cell phones, notes Pew, up from just 45 percent in 2004. Around 72 percent of all teens, or 88 percent of teens who own mobile phones, use text messages to communicate. That marks a big jump from 2006 when only 51 percent of teens texted on their phones.

The survey also had some things to say about cell phones in school:

Teachers aren't wild about the use of cell phones either, and as a result, many schools limit or ban their use. Around 24 percent of teens said their school bans all cell phones from the campus entirely, while 62 percent said they're allowed to bring a phone to school but not into the classroom.

But 65 percent of teens whose schools exclude cell phones from campus said they bring them anyway, and 58 percent of them said they've sent text messages in class despite the ban. Meanwhile, kids have come up with ways to avoid having their phones taken away. One teen surveyed said he has a real phone and a fake phone so that if the teacher catches him, he can give her the fake phone.

This research underscores what I have been saying for the past year. Students love their cell phones and regardless of the prohibitions schools put on their phones they are using them anyway during the school day. Schools need to accept this reality and start embracing student cell phones and using them as part of the instructional activities.


Superintendent does not fully support his district's proposed ban on cell phone use

Prince George's County (Maryland) public schools is proposing a ban on student cell phones. The superintendent for the district does not support the ban. Below are quotes from an article in the Gazette.Net online newspaper:

"Students operate at 100 miles an hour outside of school, but once they get to school they slow down because of [rules] we impose," he said Friday at Discovery Education's Administrator Day, in Silver Spring.

Hite served as the keynote speaker for Discovery Education's — a division of the Discovery Communications media company — first administrator-only training event, which focused on education technology strategies and curriculum. More than 100 administrators from 16 regional school districts attended the free event.

Hite, referring to cell phones as "mini-computers," said phones and iPod digital music players could be used as learning tools.

Hite hopes to persuade the county school board to hold off on putting the ban in place.He feels that student cell phones should only be used to support instructional activities otherwise they should be put away. Hite used to work in Henrico County School in Virginia that was an early 1:1 laptop school district. He says he has seen the benefits technology brings to education.

New law allows confiscation of students’ phones

Via @lkolb

A new law in Denmark will allow teachers to confiscate a student's cell phone for an indefinite period of time. Below is a quote from the article:
  
"Many teachers can now get relief from students who continually send SMS’s during class as a new law gives them the right to confiscate mobile phones for an indefinite period, reports JydskeVestkysten newspaper."

I have no problem confiscating a students cell phone for the remainder of the day or until a parent can come and pick it up ( for repeat offenders). It seems drastic to keep it for an indefinite period of time.  

Click here to read the full article. 

Using Technology Students Already Have

Derek Keenan has a great post on his Adventures in Teaching and Learning blog. He lists 5 reasons for using the technology students already have in their pockets. Students are very adapt at using their cell phones or iPod Touches to access information or communicate with others. I like his 5 reasons. This ties in with my last post, Students on their cell phones in the hallway, what was going on in this classroom?, where I talk about a classroom I observed with students using their cell phones as part of the lesson. We should allow students to use the technology they are comfortable with, not the technology we are comfortable with. Follow the link to Derek's post and give it a read.

Student Cell Phones - Interference or Innovation?

Here in New Jersey all new administrators have to go through a 2-year mentoring program. In the second year of the program you have to conduct an action research project. I am three-quarters of the way through the program. My research project is exploring the use of student cell phones to enhance instruction and learning in the classroom. I am also looking at ways to reduce the distractions cell phones cause as part of the school day. I started this blog as a way to report on my findings. Below are the research questions I will be seeking to answer as as part of my research.

1. Is there a way to eliminate the power struggle that ensues between teachers and students when the teacher tries to confiscate the cell phone during class after a cell phone violation occurred?

2. Are there steps schools can take to reduce the number of cell phone infractions that occur during the school day?

3. Can students be taught and expected to use cell phones in a responsible manner during the school day?

4. Given the ubiquitous proliferation of mobile phones in both the business and consumer market do schools have an obligation to teach students how to use their cell phones in a socially responsible manner?

5. Are their legitimate uses of student cell phones to enhance instruction and learning in the classroom?

I welcome feedback and input on my research questions regardless of how you feel about the issue. You can comment on this blog or email me at kbals@holmdelschools.org . I have written extensively on this blog about many of my findings and what we have done here at my high school. Below are the posts related specifically to my project and what we have done at the high school I work at:

What is more disruptive - Banning or Embracing Student Cell Phones?

Cell Phone Disruption by the Numbers

To Ban or Embrace

No Big Deal

Use Outlook to Send Text Message Reminders to Students

Using Student Cell Phones and iPadio to Record Student Conversations

Using Google Voice in a World Language Classroom

Why did I name the blog Living in the 4th Screen? Watch the video below.

Are cell phones as really bad as we think?

Lisa Moody, a student at South Shelby High School in Missouri, has written an article that is posted on the school's webpage. She asks the question, "Are cell phones really as bad as we think?" Ms. Moody presents a compelling  argument as to when and why students should be allowed to use cell phones during the school day. Below is a quote from her article:

Texting during lunch/study hall has been brought up by students as a time to be able to text. Candace Blackford and Cassie Larrick both agreed and said, "if all their schoolwork is done then why not." Being aloud to text during school should be a privilege.

I have to admit I never thought of looking at using cell phones as a privledge students could earn. Interesting perspective. We allow our students to use their cell phones between classes and during lunch. As I reported here, our reported cell phone violations have decreased this year. The students have told me we have decreased the temptation to use their cell phone inappropriately because they know there is an appropriate time during the school day when they can use their cell phones.

Does structured use of cellphones reduce the irresponsible uses of cellphones at other times?

Paul Barnwell makes some compelling points and raises good questions regarding the use of cellphones in classrooms. In a recent article he wrote for Education Week he states:
There are responsible ways to incorporate cellphone use into classrooms, and we may be doing students a disservice by allowing draconian anti-cellphone policies to persist in schools.
This has been the experience at our school. Some of our teachers use student cellphones and Google Voice to record and assess students speaking in the target language in our world language classrooms. How do you record and assess world language students at your school?

Further on in the article Mr. Barnwell said the following:
There are other questions thoughtful school leadership teams should consider. Incorporating laptops or other technologies into a classroom can be time-consuming and frustrating, for example. At my middle school, we have a wireless network with mobile laptop carts. But the computers are fast becoming outdated, and the boot time is painfully slow on some machines. For a student with a cellphone, however, the time to “boot up” and retrieve, create, or share information is comparatively minuscule. This could be a major advantage for teachers wanting to incorporate quick Web searches, collaboration, or idea sharing, and it also lessens the pressure on school wireless-network infrastructures.
Cell phones and iPods boot up almost instantly. One of the takeaways our teachers learned from using student cellphones in the classroom was how quickly they were able to record each student speaking in the target language. This left more time for instruction, amongst other things.

Students live in the world of texting. If you want to reach them texting is the best option. Barnwell address that in the following:

How cool would it be if school announcements were sent to students on their phones? Or, instead of using a blaring PA system, the main office could text a student to come and pick up the lunch he or she forgot on the counter at home? Or perhaps students could openly record cellphone video of teachers for test-review purposes. Or teachers could send texted reminders to students about homework assignments.

I use Outlook to send text message reminders to students who have a detention. If a student misses a detention they have it doubled. To avoid this I send the students a reminder between the last two periods of the day. The students love it and it has cut down on the number of students who miss detentions. I use the Delayed Delivery option in Outlook to set this up.

Finally Barnwell states the following:

Opponents of this type of innovative approach are likely to bring up the potential distractions and abuses that cellphones in school can certainly create, like covert and sneaky text or picture messaging between friends. But guess what? We did the same thing back in our day, writing notes to our friends on actual paper. Inappropriate communication in school will never cease. I expect, however, that structured use of cellphones in my classroom would reduce the temptation to use them in irresponsible ways.

All kinds of things cause disruptions in classrooms everyday. Pencils and paper cause distractions but we don't ban them. In my opinion Barnwell makes his best statement when he says, "...that structured use of cellphones in my classroom would reduce the temptation to use them in irresponsible ways." That has been our experience here at the school where I work. I posted about this a while back. In the first half of this year we saw a decrease in the number of cellphone violations compared to last year when we did not allow students to use their cell phones at all during the school day. Students have told me that by allowing them to use their cellphones between classes and during lunch it decreases the temptation to use their cellphone at other inappropriate times.

Follow the link above to read the full article. Paul Barnwell has a blog titled Questions for Schools .

Is Your Cell Phone Ban Working at Your School? Not According to This Poll.

The graphic below is from the recent addition of the National Association of Secondary School Principals News Leader periodical. The data for the graph was taken from a Common Sense Media national poll. Whenever a building administrator tells me that their students are not using their cell phones in school because they are banned as per school policy I respond by telling them that the kids are still using their cell phones but they are just being very discrete in their usage. The chart below bears this truth out. I think we are at a point in our society were we need to embrace students cell phones and educate students in their proper use.

Text Ed for 7th graders

Text Education is coming to Canadian schools in the form of TextEd curriculum. This Times-Colonist online article reports that during the month of January 100 seventh grade classrooms across Canada will begin implementing the new curriculum. The remainder of schools will implement the program in September 2010.

The article reports:

The initiative, thought to be the first of its kind in Canada, aims to address what police call "an education gap" that's made young people vulnerable to a swath of text-related risks.

"It doesn't even have to pertain to an adult offender; we're seeing so much harm come to adolescents within their own peer circle, whereby they're sending nude images or inappropriate messages (by phone), and those are being transferred to a larger group of individuals," says Signy Arnason, who works with the Centre for Child Protection.

According to some recent research more and more students are engaging in this kind of behavior:

A recent report by the Pew Research Center found 15 per cent of youth aged 12 to 17 had received sexually suggestive photos or videos on their personal cellphones. A similar survey for LG Electronics last year suggested the number is even higher, with 22 per cent of teens claiming to have received a naked picture on their mobile phone.
 
The article implies that teachers have not been trained to address the issues surrounding the explosion of electronic devices and that the new curriculum is trying to close that gap. The curriculum consists of three lesson plans consisting of 40 - 90 minutes each.

I think a full scale approach like this during the junior high years is a good idea. By the time students reach high school it is too late to be addressing some of these issues. Parents also need to be alerted to the problems cell phones and iPods can cause in the life of their teenage children. I recommend having an evening where parents come to the school and are educated about the potential problems that exist with today's mobile technology. At the same time we need to accentuate the positive elements of the new technology and how it can be used to assist their children in school and beyond.

As Bernard Lord, president of the Canadian Wireless Telecommunications Association, was quoted as saying:

"The technology is here to stay, so we have to teach kids to use it properly." 

Does it always have to improve their grades? And yes, it may be disruptive, but what isn't?

Since No Child Left Behind (NCLB) has taken root in our schools no one wants to pursue any new initiative unless there is empirical data to support the decision. In an article in Education Week's Digital Directions the following is stated:

“The enthusiasm for [mobile learning] is based on observation and just expert thinking, and not on a lot of hard data,” says Robert Spielvogel, the chief technology officer and director of applied research and innovation at the Newton, Mass.-based Education Development Center. “Teachers’ experience so far, because there aren’t instructionally validated applications, is that cellphones and the like are only a distraction.”

I understand and support the need to justify spending limited education funds, but that should not mean it always has to directly affect a student's grades. Let me explain.

Currently I send students a text message, using my school email account, in between their last two periods of the day to remind them that they have detention at the end of school (read here and here). I am not sure that this process directly impacts these student's grades, but it keeps them from missing detention and having it doubled. Student's cell phones can help them with organization and scheduling. Last week at our class meetings I shared with some of the classes how they could use their Gmail accounts and Google calendar to set up text reminders to remind themselves of just about anything they could think of. The service works with any phone that receives text messages. This is a great productivity application and there are no additional costs to the students other than the fee for a text. At this point most students have unlimited text plans so that should not be an issue. Does being more productive and better organized improve student grades? Probably, but I am not sure there is a direct correlation that would satisfy NCLB hounds. Let students use their phones during the school day.

Many naysayers will complain that cell phones are disruptive during the school day. The internet in schools is very disrupting. There are lots of bad websites that I would not want my students or my own children on, but we have not banned the internet from schools. Instead we have embraced it and have found a way to utilize the good the internet offers and protect students from bad or harmful websites. We need to do the same with student cell phones. Embrace the good and learn how to minimize the disruptive practices that students engage in. The same article mentioned above says:

“As we start showing what’s an appropriate use for mobile learning devices, and as people get more comfortable with having them available in the classroom,” Spielvogel says, they will be viewed by more teachers as valuable instructional tools.