Cell Phones in Education

Comment

Comment by Aaron Curley on May 25, 2014 at 8:10pm

I have had many different ideas about cell phones in class.  When I first started teaching I thought that cell phones were an integral part of students lives and should be used to make education more effective.  After I began teaching I changed my mind and I thought that cell phones had no place in the classroom.  Now I have come back around and I think that BYOD days are helpful in allowing students to learn in the classroom.  Currently my school has a no cell phone policy, but teachers can request to have BYOD days.  I have used byod days sparingly but it students engagement was very high on those days.  I am hoping for an ipad cart or something else with a tablet but until that happens cell phones are the best alternative.  Almost all the students have one and they have better phones that I do.

Comment by adfasedf asdfadsfa on May 25, 2014 at 8:42am

Although my school district does not currently have a BYOD policy, I can imagine that soon it will embrace such an idea. Like Emily, I also had similar questions about how to monitor students' activity on their own personal mobile devices. The applications that Adelina shared seem like great tools that students can use in the classroom, but I feel that they only provide a limited degree of control over student cell phones. What if some students are using an obscure operating system? Also, all these applications need to be installed on student cell smart phones, which brings up issues of compatibility and administrative access. I can't image students and parents giving permission to teachers to view students' screens, black out screens, or use any other administrative monitoring function. If BYOD policies are going to be truly successful, I feel that administrators and educators need to address the core barrier to BYOD policies... a lack of digital citizenship education in school systems. There is no way that all students' private devices can be monitored all the time, but if schools invest in teaching students about digital citizenship and the importance of proper technological etiquette in the classroom (which goes way beyond having them simply sign an obfuscated AUP), less resources will be needed to monitor student use. This holistic solution would undoubtedly prove challenging and require perseverance, but I feel that it's the only practical and sustainable option when pursuing BYOD policies.  Also, if our school implements BYOD policies, I feel as though mini-tablets/smart phones still need to be purchased to help fill in the gaps and provide devices for students who don't own a smart phone. One of the core pillars of digital citizenship is digital access, and when 80% of the class brings in a device, 20% are automatically at a disadvantage and probably have less access to educational resources (especially if instruction is planned around these devices). School smart phones/tablets would have to be provided to those other 20%. Although this practice would ensure that all students had equal access to technology, it could alienate some students and highlight the socioeconomic inequalities that exist in all classrooms. I've also wondered how this socioeconomic gap can be bridged short of buying and assigning a school device for all students (which is not practical for the majority of US school systems).

Comment by adelina moura on May 25, 2014 at 3:10am

I share with you my video in which I present 12 ways how I'm using students mobile devices in my classroom.

Emily take a look to these website;

http://www.stone-ware.com/lanschool/mobile

http://www.netsupportschool.com/tablets.asp

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/casper-focus/id635738553?mt=8

Comment by Emily June Hughes on May 24, 2014 at 8:16pm

Does anyone have any great tips with using cell phones in their classrooms with a manageable way to monitor all of the students and what they are on and what they are doing while using their cell phones?  I walk around constantly, I try to keep a close proximity and I also try to stay behind the students in order to make sure I am able to see all their screens at once.  Does anyone have any other suggestions?

Comment by Mary Koch on May 23, 2014 at 10:01am

Does anyone have any issues with district restrictions for students using their phones in the classroom? 

I notice that 70% of my students have a smart phone and I would love to create lessons that allow students to use their phones in an educational way, but my district had us sign a form stating we (the teachers) would not have communication with our students outside of district sites and emails. I can't even use the polling app any more. This doesn't seem to be the case for all districts and hopefully it will change over the years. I just wanted to see if anyone else is having this technology restriction in their school?

Comment by Rob Sample on April 5, 2014 at 10:50pm

Since posting last, I have continued to have my students BYOD for use on their individual projects in class.  I have witnessed about the same level of participation - which hovers somewhere around 90%, and the remaining students access school computers for reference images and research.  

One new component that I am looking to integrate into my courses is the use of mobile devices during in-class critiques.  Using a service such as Poll-everywhere to quickly source data from the students regarding opinions on artwork as well as general knowledge of a concept that we may be covering.  I have colleagues in the building who have used this method to good effect, and I look forward to incorporating it in my classroom.

@James - The website looks good so far, and this might be an odd thing to pick out, but I love that in the Khanacademy videos - there are different colors used to differentiate the different parts of the equations.  Small things make the biggest differences.  Also, out of curiosity, what is your district's/building's opposition to BYOD?

Comment by James Wheatley on April 5, 2014 at 10:58am

Since my last post, I have tried to implement my own website at www.dcasprep.com. I would have liked to have my students "byod" so I can test run and work with the site, but so far administration is against that policy. I could rent out the class iPad sets, but there is only 1 cart, and they are popular with other teachers so there is rarely a time in which I can actually use them. Once "byod" gains popularity, I think a lot of really cool applications can open up including open office, remind 101, and nearpod. If you have never checked out nearpod, go look it up! It's incredible to use with a classroom, especially if you are very presentation heavy in your teaching. 

Also, let me know how the alpha stage of my site looks; I can use all the tips/pointers I can get! Thanks.

Comment by Laura Bossert on April 3, 2014 at 5:20pm

Since my last post I have implemented BYOD in my classroom. At first I only had a few students who were able to bring in devices, now about 2/3 of my class can bring them in. It has had a huge impact on my classroom and the engagement/interaction with content. Students are really enjoying using their cell phone for research projects, Twitter, Google Drive work, Kahoot, Todays Meet, etc I have really enjoyed this time but am always looking for more suggestions!

Comment by Rob Sample on March 20, 2014 at 7:49pm

Hey Guys,

I'll lay this down as a "best of" from my post in the discussion up above.  I personally love the idea of utilizing mobile devices and cell phones in the classroom, I believe the convenience of access to information that they provide far outweighs the perceived distraction that they present to students.  I personally utilize mobile devices in my Art classroom all the time, mostly for allowing the students to listen to the music that motivates them to work best, but also for accessing inspiring artists' websites on the fly, drawing directly from references stored on their phones, and shooting impromptu reference for future projects.

I sincerely hope that more schools can see that with open minds and effective teaching, the positives of this technology far outweigh the negatives.

Comment by James Wheatley on March 19, 2014 at 4:22pm

Hey all,

I think this is a great idea that needs to catch on soon. I think that in the future, once we have administrators who are a little more tech savvy than today's standards, we should be in a technology revolution.I think what will happen is that there will be cloud based apps run on the device. If this is the case, multiple devices could connect to the same applications regardless of hardware. I honestly think the future will be very "google" heavy, since they offer so much for free. Honestly, right now, you can collaborate with everyone in the class using google apps regardless of hardware devices. Having these options open to students will be amazing in the future and I can't wait until school districts start allowing these ideas to foster and grow. (If only we can somehow limit their devices to certain applications. Google figure that out!)

• ‹ Previous
• 1
• 2
• 3
• 4
• …
• 18
• Next ›
• Page