Point/Counterpoint Presentation With Perspectives from
Administrators, Parents, Teachers and Studetns. By: Julie Gorski-
RDG. 5410 Should Students Be Allowed to Use their Cell Phones in
Class?
Slide 2
Should students be allowed to use cell phones in class for
educational purposes? Yes or No
Slide 3
Outside of school, students communicate through a variety of
digital devices, such as cell phones, computers, BlackBerry
devices, and I-Pods. Of these, cell phones are by far the most
common and accessible devices.
Slide 4
Using real-word resources for teaching and learning in the
classroom can make education more meaningful and relevant to our
students. Because mobile phones are tools to access, create and
share information, they have the potential to be valuable tools for
teaching and learning. ( Hoope, Jouner, Milrad and Sharples,
2003).
Slide 5
The Current Stance on Cell Phones in the School In the early
1990s many states banned students form brining cell phones to
school. Views on cell phone use in the school has changed because
cell phones have become more common, inexpensive and popular. By
the late 1990s several states had already repealed their ban on
student cell phones in school. Cell phones have become a permanent
part of society. Some teachers say banning them is as futile as
former efforts to ban calculators.
Slide 6
Administrators View on cell phones in the classroom It can be
costly Theres a great deal of liability involved when it comes to
the improper use of this technology. We need to be equitable in the
delivery of education to all of our students.
Slide 7
Instead of spending time, energy and money creating policies
that fight cell phone use in schools, we are better served
directing our resources toward finding useful ways to integrate
these devices as knowledge construction, data collection, and
collaboration tools and towards teaching digital etiquette.
Slide 8
Parents view on cell phones in the classroom Most parents feel
the opposite of teachers and administrators when it comes to cell
phone use in the classrooms. They feel: Cell phones provide a
safety feature where their child can contact them in any emergency
and vice versa. Parents also see the academic benefit of cell phone
use. They want their children to be using the technology that will
prepare them for the future.
Slide 9
The Goal: The goal is to encourage educators to introduce cell
phones to students as potential learning tools and lifelong
professional tools, rather than viewing them solely as a social
toy.
Slide 10
Teachers View on Cell Phones in the Classroom Teachers have
been overwhelmingly in favor of cell phone bans possibly due to:
their lack of knowledge on the benefits of technology in the
classroom or lack of confidence on how to use these devices
themselves Or the liability that comes with them. Only 47% of
teachers feel schools are doing an adequate job preparing students
to compete in the modern job market. (Project Tomorrow,
2006,b).
Slide 11
The issue is not whether educators should use the media tools
of the digital native generation in the classroom rather the issue
is how to help teachers learn to utilize the media tools
effectively for knowledge construction.
Slide 12
Allowing students to use technology within school gives them
the opportunity to connect learning inside and outside of school.
Students have their cell phones with them at all times (unlike many
other school tools) teachers need to take advantage of this
motivational tool and find methods to integrate it into the
classroom.
Slide 13
Students View on Cell Phones in the classroom Students enjoy
using their cell phones and they are highly motivated to interact
with their cell phones during class. If students are going to use
technology outside of school, teachers need to bring these devices
into educational activities, so students can learn to use them as a
tool of knowledge. If they already use technology at a staggering
rate, teachers should teach them how to navigate and stay safe in
the media world. Students are often unaware of and indifferent to
the consequences of their use and misuse of technology (Raine,
2006).
Slide 14
86.3 % of students use the internet to find information instead
of trying to find a book with the information in it.
Slide 15
Activities most favored by Middle School Students One a scale
from 1-6, six being most favored and 1 being the least favored,
students preferred the following: Using a computer type device -
Most Favored Doing research on the internet Most Favored Working on
projects in a group Favored Listening to the teacher explain things
Least Favored Doing worksheets Least Favored
Slide 16
Most and Least Favored Activities in School: Taken from the
research of Hiller A. Spires, John K. Lee, and Kimberly A. Turner -
North Carolina State University
Slide 17
What Students Want From their Schools: To be engaged in their
learning. Make it relevant and enjoyable. Prepare us for the jobs
of the future by exposing us to current technology. Dont leave us
behind the rest of the world. Make us competitive.
Slide 18
A Pew Internet & American Life Project Survey found that
64% of online teens are content creators. They have created or
worked on a blog or a web page, shared original content online, or
remixed content found online to make a new creation (Lenhart,
Madden, Rankin, & Smith, 2007).
Slide 19
Benefits of cell phone use in the classroom Students can stay
in contact with parents when plans change and the office secretary
and classroom teacher are not interrupted. In Emergency situations,
police can get real time information and landlines stay open. Cell
phones have internet capability for researching. Cell phones and
other digital devices allow learners to transcend the boundaries of
time and space imposed by schools and to connect with literally a
world of information anytime or anywhere (Breck,2006; Inkpen, 2001;
Rogers & Price; 2007; Sharples, 2000).
Slide 20
Benefits continued: They have built in calculators They have a
vast amount of memory to hold entire downloadable books, pictures
and research documents. They are more cost effective than textbooks
over time. Cell phones mimic computers that classrooms may lack.
They are relatively inexpensive. Easy to use Allows for
interactivity between students and teachers. Allows for
collaboration inside and outside of school.
Slide 21
Still more benefits: Allows users to create new knowledge and
share information on the internet ( Alexander, 2004; Roush, 2005).
Many new web sites can be coupled with cell phones to create
innovative learning opportunities. These sites are a part of the
Web 2.0 generation Web logs (Blogs), Wikis Photo sharing sites
Flickr MP3 Sharing sites Napster (OReilly, 2005)
Slide 22
Cons of cell phone use in school Detractors say that drawbacks
to student cell phones outweigh the benefits. Cell phones are hard
to monitor and police during times they are not allowed. Cell
phones distract students and disrupt the flow of the classroom and
the teachers instruction when they ring in the classroom. Cheating
as cell phones become more sophisticated and powerful opportunities
for cheating increase. Inappropriate use of cell phones such as
photos being taken in the locker rooms or bathrooms are posted
online.
Slide 23
Cons continued: Leads to a deeper division between the Haves
and Have Nots. For students who dont have a cell phone or an
inferior version envy develops and leads to additional
socioeconomic stratification and sometimes theft. Opponents of cell
phone use say its unfair to allow well-off students to benefit from
technology and deny the same benefits to poorer students. Students
accessing unfiltered internet sites. Financial considerations-
students or their parents may be charged for use of different
applications.
Slide 24
Still more cons: Using web sites to intimidate or threaten
students. Downloading music illegally from the internet.
Plagiarizing information using the internet. Playing games during
learning time.
Slide 25
Solutions/ways cell phones could be incorporated into the
classrooms Schools need to develop guidelines to govern cell phone
use and misuse. Teachers can post school and classroom rules and
policies regarding cell phones usage in the classroom. Teachers can
post consequences for breaking the rules and they should be stiff
enough to make an impression. Schools can set up a social contract
with students before engaging in any cell phone activities. Schools
can purchase a class set of cell phones to be used in class and
monitored easily.
Slide 26
More solutions: Because many schools ban cell phones in school,
two ways that students can take advantage of their cell phones as
learning tools without having to bring them to class is through
fieldtrips and homework assignments. Classroom controls: teachers
can collect cell phones and not hand them out until needed for an
activity. Pair students who have no or limited access to technology
with others who have significantly greater access.
Slide 27
Our education system must be transformed to address the needs
of the global society as well as the needs of the 21 st century
student (Speres, Lee, Turner, 2007)
Slide 28
Conclusion/Personal Reflection I believe that cell phones do
have a place in the classroom. Our students need to be exposed to
ways they can use the devices they use everyday for educational
purposes. I do believe that thoughtful guidelines and safeguards
need to be put in place for this to be successful. We have an
obligation to our students to educate them the best way we can. All
our students want from us to be engaged, to be prepared and not
left behind.
Slide 29
References Alexander, B. (2004). Going nomadic: mobile learning
in higher education. Educause Review, 39 (5), 29-35. Bailey, D.;
Riffle, G.; Ross,T. (2004). Digital citizenship addressing
appropriate technology behavior. Learning and Leading with
Technology, vol. 32, No. 1. BBC News (2006b, September 19).
Youngsters reliant mobiles. Retrieved September 21, 2006 from
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/5358784.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/5358784.stm Breck, J. (2006).
Why is education not in the ubiquitos web world picture?
Educational Technology, 46 (4), 43-46. Hiller, A. ; Spires, J.;
Lee, K.; & Turner, A. (2007). Having a say: middle Grade
student perspectives on school, technologies and academic
engagement. Journal of Research on Technology in Education. 40 (4),
497- 515. Hoope, U.; Joiner, R.; Milrad, M.; & Sharples, M.
(2003). Guest editorial: Wireless & mobile technologies in
education. Journal of Computer Assisted Learning, 19, 255. Inkpen,
K. (2001). Designing handheld technologies for kids. Personal
Technologies Journal 3, 81-89. Kolb, L. (2007). Toys to tools
connecting student cell phones to education. McNeal, T.,Van t
Hooft, M. (2006). Anywhere, anytime: using mobile phones for
learning. Journal of the Research Center for Educational Technology
(RCET), Vol. 2, No. 2, Fall 2006. Sharples, M. (2006). The design
of personal mobile technologies for life long learning. Computers
and Education, 34, 177-193.