Friday, May 17, 2013
Smartphones in the Classroom
As I was looking through my RSS feed today, I came across an article titled "Smartphones in the Classroom: Working Smarter Not Harder." This article caught my attention and was very interesting. It discussed how the use of smartphones could benefit the classroom. My school has a phone policy and students are not allowed to have their cell phone on them. This is truly a hard task to monitor. I know students keep their phones on them, I typically go with the rule "I do not want to see it in my classroom." However, I think this policy is out of touch with reality. In my mathematics classroom, it is strongly recommended that students have a graphing calculator. I have a classroom set of TI-Nspire graphing calculators that students can use. However, many buy their own. Just recently I found out that you can buy a TI-Nspire app for your Ipad or smart phone. This app costs about thirty dollars compared to the $115 handheld calculator. If a student has a smartphone, I will definitely try to save them some money and push them to buy the app. It is so user friendly, actually it is way easier to manipulate. Overall, I'm beginning to think my schools cell phone policy is out of date. There are so many uses of smartphones in the classroom that can help student achievement; like the article states, we need to work smarter not harder. I am curious, what are other schools cell phone policies?
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We have the same problem at our school. As of right now, students are not allowed to have them on their person. But as you said, this is a very hard task to even monitor. I also have the policy that as long as I don't see or hear it, I am good.
ReplyDeleteI think that a lot of schools policies are out of date. However, I think that the responsibility of having a cell phone in the classroom is not something many students can handle.
I think schools who have this "no phone" policy really are out of date. Think about it - students walk into school and have to turn their phones off, then as soon as they leave the building, they turn their phones right back on. So, schools are the only place students are not using their phones. Why aren't we embracing our students ability to use technology and come to the realization that this is life and this is how kids learn and communicate.
ReplyDeleteYou will appreciate this since you are a fellow yooper. I went on a technology tour to some schools in the UP last Monday with some of our administrators. We went to places that are more advanced in technology to see what types of things are useful and what products we should get. One school is going 1:1 with ipads, so everyone in the district is getting ipads. The other district does BYOD - bring your own device. We went into classrooms and watched how the teachers were using technology in their rooms. One class had a classroom set of laptops they were using to take a quiz. The other one had some students with laptops, some with tablets, and some with smartphones. It was neat to see students taking note on their laptops, creating presentations, and taking quizzes. I really liked how this particular school is using their BYOD policy. Each teacher is responsible for creating their own classroom policy for how the devices are to be used in their rooms.
I love the BYOD idea. I am running that one by our administration tomorrow.
DeleteOur school's cell phone policy allows teachers the autonomy to choose how they can be used in their classrooms. There are some teachers who don't allow them at all. Students in my classroom can use them when we have work time, but not when we are participating in an activity or instruction. There are so many great uses for smartphones in the classroom. Your calculator example was perfect. Students could also fill out Google Forms using their smartphones in your classroom. This is a great way to collect data from formative assessments that can be used to guide your instruction. I think as you mentioned a lot of districts need to rethink their electronic device policies. We live in a digital age, that's constantly connected. It's unrealistic to expect our kids not to use them.
ReplyDeleteMy son's school has the same "no cell phone" policy in effect, too. I think that there can be great benefit in using them in the classrooms and that banning them totally is just unrealistic in the day and age in which we live. The hard part is how to utilize them without having them become a hindrance in the classroom. I think individual teachers should be the ones to determine how technology is implemented in the classroom setting.
ReplyDeleteClearly this is a big topic in schools by the look of responses! In my school, it's a class by class policy and up to the discretion of the teacher. I allow phones in my classroom at certain times. If I need all attention on a new lesson, I ask the students to keep their phones away. However, I have students who take notes on their phones. I've used assignments that require students to use their phones. Sometimes students even look up information on their phones to add details to class discussions. When filming, students download scripts and shot lists to their smart phones so they don't need paper. We have a no social media policy on our school computers. However, students can access social media on their phones. I've done exercises with this type of media using smart phones before. It's great!
ReplyDeleteThere is a downside to my district's policy... Sometimes the class-by-class policies can actually can create friction. Students can get confused with various teachers' rules. Some teachers have to hear the "She allows it, why don't you?" complaint. Some students do abues the policy as well. This is something teachers have to juggle and be aware of to allow students to use what I believe is a valuable resource in the classroom.
I agree with many of your posts. The technology policies in most of our districts are completely out of date and don't allow students to use what they do best to its fullest capabilities. My district currently has a no cell phones policy but they are starting to allow tablets and other devices for students to use mostly for reading at this point, but it is a step in the right direction.
ReplyDelete