Mobile devices are now found in the hands of most children, and school leaders are using that to their advantage by incorporating devices that students already own into classroom lessons and projects.
Concerns remain about students who are unable to purchase or borrow a device for use in the classroom, but districts might find creative ways—such as asking local businesses or community organizations for help—to provide devices in such instances, advocates of the trend say.
With access issues in mind, allowing students to bring their own devices from home can offer educational benefits, as well as some surprisingly positive results when it comes to creative thinking and classroom behavior.
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Expert Perspective
We need a new educational model that makes learning personal and motivating, and helps secure our students’ future in the knowledge economy. Mobile technology opens the door to it.
Imagine a group of kids working together on a retrospective of the Civil War. One student is at the public library, going through microfilm of newspaper articles from 1861 to 1865. She finds a reference to the political ramifications of a certain battle--notably, a picture of an influential officer. The student then uses her smartphone to snap a picture of the microfilm screen and sends the picture and caption to her group for additional research.
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Meanwhile, a second member of the group is reviewing gravesites and comes across some ambiguous headstones. He takes out his tablet computer and, after a quick bit of online research, locates the appropriate person. While all of this is happening, yet another student is conducting a face-to-face interview with a relative of a Civil War veteran. Rather than hastily throwing together handwritten notes, this student is using his MP3 player to record the conversation. Later, he'll upload it to the group's Web-based project space for the other team members to hear.
What makes these authentic, intimate learning opportunities possible? Mobile technologies. Mobile devices provide the platform and, as importantly, the incentive for students to take personal ownership of the learning experience. The lessons absorbed form deep connections for students and add to their cognitive framework in ways that no lecture ever could.
A Desktop in Your Pocket
Today's mobile technologies bear little resemblance, functionally or physically, to first-generation cell phones. They include a broad array of devices such as music and video players, cell phones, smartphones, tablets, and netbooks, all with access to cellular carrier networks, WiFi, or both. And while features and performance continue to climb, prices regularly drop, making mobile devices virtually ubiquitous.
The potential enormity of this user base has attracted software developers large and small. Nearly every available mobile device supports third-party application development, providing a rich selection of productivity, entertainment, and education applications, along with core functionality such as instant messaging, e-mail, calendar, and Web browsing. And advances in processor performance, storage, cameras, and sound have all contributed to providing users the same rich media experience they've come to expect from desktop systems. The integration of QWERTY keyboards is making obsolete the days of pecking out text messages using a numeric keypad. Also common are large, high-resolution displays that offer onscreen keyboards, multitouch gestures, and the ability to clearly view the screen both indoors and out. All of this combines to create the equivalent of a pocket desktop, in a portable, always-connected form factor.
So what is all of this doing for K-12 education? Nothing short of disrupting and transforming the established teaching and learning paradigm. To start, mobile technology is helping to solve the two challenges facing education today: students' desire to learn differently, and students' need to learn differently.
Kids today are captivated by the personalization and socialization of online tools--the ability to build large networks of friends; share their thoughts, feelings, and goals; and communicate as they wish. Students have become so invested in mobile devices that our society has coined a new term for them--digital natives--to represent their having only known a world where all of this is possible. And not only is it possible, it's possible anytime and anywhere, via a plethora of devices and widely available cellular and WiFi networks.
The upshot is, these digital natives now have in their hands the tools to shape their own education in once unimagined ways. They have the ability to interact with other learners at their convenience, with differences in time and place presenting no hurdle. They can research, on the spot, any topic of interest. And they can capture the moment, whether it's in a picture, a video, or a blog entry.
Blessed with all of these capabilities, students have what they need to function in a knowledge economy. It's the obligation of 21st century educators to prepare students for this new economy, which means providing them with the skills to locate the most up-to-the-minute facts, and then turn those freshly acquired facts into solutions appropriate for the task at hand. So students must become effective researchers, which in turn requires them to develop an understanding of how to identify quality sources of information. Developing these new information retrieval skills requires us to encourage students to push beyond old boundaries of space (classrooms), content (textbooks), and authority (teachers).
Mobile devices fulfill all of these demands. They give students a tool that allows them to express themselves in any format they wish, build networks of sources, and perform on-the-spot research to produce and act on the most current facts. Moreover, it puts in their hands a technology that engages and relates to them and sparks their curiosity. Students can now participate in an individualized approach to learning, which occurs through personal application--the student as doer. To get the fullest benefits of this new learning mode, occasions for personal application have to be available to students in any setting--in the classroom during independent study, in the library with small groups, walking home from school, while waiting in line at the movie theater, and on and on. It's mobile technologies that give students the means of owning their education on these terms.
Tools of Engagement
Mobile devices are not the first technology to promise great improvements in education. Similar claims were made about e-books, distance learning, electronic whiteboards, and many more. But there are several differences between those earlier tools and the opportunity presented by the use of digital applications, resources, content, and the Internet in tandem with mobile devices.
To begin with, mobile technology and Internet access are already ubiquitous, requiring little or no capital investment by schools. Students--or really their parents--are the ones making that investment. Earlier educational technologies required schools to deploy the technology, incorporate it into the curriculum, and train the users. Once schools made it past the deployment and infrastructure issues, they often ran right into training as the next stumbling block.
This time around, students, generally already expert users, need little or no support, and faculty and staff quickly become acclimated. In any case, as opposed to requiring specialized support from a handful of experts, newcomers have an enormous user base to tap for assistance.
Plus, previous generations' tech innovations mostly perpetuated the traditional classroom structure, and in doing so missed out on perhaps the single most potent enabler of academic success--student engagement. Mobile technologies have no such failing. Students need no extra encouragement to use them. They already spend virtually every available moment on them, texting, instant messaging, posting personal status updates, and the like. All of that energy can also now be brought to their schoolwork.
Can you imagine telling a kid to stop spending so much time on algebra? Or not to go overboard on researching historical sources? Sounds like pure fantasy, but that could become the new reality if we have the courage to discard an outdated teaching methodology that doesn't reach today's students, and instead embrace their bustling, burgeoning digital world. Mobile devices applied in the context of education will engage students, foster deep and meaningful learning, and result in today's kids reaching frontiers that generations before them could never hope to glimpse.
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 Knox County Board of Education is considering a more lenient policy when it comes to students using cell phones, including in some cases, allowing them to be used during classes.The new policy would allow high school students to use the phones at various times during the day. Some schools already allow it, and are even finding them to be valuable tools.
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?
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!
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 ...
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Via: Cell Phones
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.
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.
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.
