Cell Phones: Emerging technologies

By: Terri Wisdom

Advantages to cell phones in the classroom

They give students a chance to collaborate with each other, or connect with peers in other countries.

They can be used for high tech alternatives to boring classroom lectures, letting the students take part in interactive assignments like classroom polls.

They can serve as notepads or as an alarm for setting study reminders

They can be recording devices, letting students record impressions during field trips and create audio podcasts and blog posts.

http://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2012/05/do-cell-phones-belong-in-the-classroom/257325/

Disadvantages to cell phones in the classroom

Every student will need to have a device in order for

it to become an essential learning tool.

Not every student can afford an up to date device.

Cyber bullying is a concern for parents and

administrators.

School districts are not 100% on board to embrace

mobile learning, nor are they prepared.

Mobile devices may be a distraction when not in use.

Devices have cameras therefore, the issue of

privacy is a concern.www.educause.edu/ero/article/distraction-engagement-wireless-devices-

classroom

From distraction to engagement

Enable switching networks off and onTurn off internet access but allow e-mail access, turn off e-mail access, but

allow internet access or disable internet and e-mail access but allow to reach

campus web pages.

Contract with studentsSet proper boundaries to let students know what is acceptable and what is not.

Contracting with students implies that faculty trust individual students to

make the right choices.

Educate the communitySome rude technology-related behaviors can be prevented or minimized if

students have learned community norms through workshops, written

guidance or orientation sessions.

www.educause.edu/ero/article/distraction-engagement-wireless-devices-

classroom

How to use cell phones in the classroom

Every student MUST have a device.

Devices need internet access.

Teachers need to be educated on effective use.

Re-mix lectures. Allow devices to become a

resource instead of a barrier.

Involve learners. When students are viewed as

active participants in learning, distraction

becomes much less of an issue.

www.guardian.co.uk/teacher-network/2011/oct/26/mobile-devices-classrooms

Is it fear?

An unacknowledged fear - but that which parents and

teachers perhaps fear most - is that mobile learning

is a "trojan horse" for a whole raft of changes

sweeping the educational landscape. And they'd be

correct in that supposition. The world is different now

than it was when we went to school and so we need

to prepare our children differently. Technology is

something to understand not something to fear.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/teacher-network/2011/oct/26/mobile-devices-

classroom