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.