I get why cell phones can be a really great tool in the classroom. I get that "Part of an educator’s job is to help students safely navigate the media world." I get that cell phones "...can be audio recorders, digital video camcorders,still cameras, note-taking devices, calculation devices, scheduling and management tools, phone conferencing devices.." etc etc etc. However, we're not at a place, in our public schools, where every child has access to a cell phone. If the school cannot afford to buy every student a cell phone(and why should they?)then cell phones simply cannot be brought into the classroom as a teaching tool. Not every child's parents can or will buy them a cell phone, and every child that owns one has a different version. Some may have full internet capabilities and some may have limited or none. Did Ms. Kolb, who gave the pro argument, really think every child posesses a cell phone? At any rate, if a district wants to spend money on technology "Laptops...are much more versatile yet uniform than cell phones." Furthermore, we are not teaching our children how to network a conference call, schedule a business meeting, manage a company, etc, so why do they need to know how to do half of the things listed above? If a person wants to learn all the capabilities of their cell phone they can take an extracurricular course or read their user's manual, for god's sake.
Another huge issue about cell phones in the classroom is pretty obvious: they are social-networking devices. It will be nearly impossible to allow cell phones in a classroom and not have students trying to call or text their friends.
Cell phone usage is not a job skill. Knowing how to use one will not make or break someone's career. There are so many other things schools need to teach, and don't have time to teach, that cell phone usage has no place. Why would a school district even think to allot money to perchasing cell phones? I do wonder, however, if at some point cell phone will become so universal that it is necessary to teach usage in schools? I suppose computers may have been seen as a riciculous waste of time at one point or another. Maybe. Regardless, it is simply, at this point in time, a distraction and an unnecessary use of classroom time.
I am with you Alison. I think the authors do not make a considerable point for cell phone usage. I think that you are totally right, cell phone usage isn't a necessary skill that teachers need to instill. There is not reason to add distraction to an already complicated profession. I also think that your point about availability troubles me, I would not want to have students who did not have access to this technology be punished or bullied for it. Thanks for article. Great job!
ReplyDeleteAlison,
ReplyDeleteI do appreciate the argument you make about school districts purchasing cell phones for all students, or adding classes that teach this technology. However, I have a different point of view of them in a school setting. I have seen, first hand, that with careful instruction, these things can be a useful item for some students. As a parent, I not only want to be able to connect with my son, who is in high school, but I have needed to get in touch with him to coordinate picking him up, or making emergency plans. My experience with leaving a message for him with the school secretary, is that at best, she may get him the message, but ordinarily it ends up in the teacher's mailbox, and is given to him the next day.This is a reality of large, overworked, public high schools. I like what you said about computers, being looked at as not necessary some years ago, like when I and my schoolmates crawled from the cave with our Stegosaurus sandwiches, and were being taught about programing. At that time, computers were very expensive, and not common in the workplace. Who knew? It is possible that cell phones may become as common as the PC did. I am ok with setting reasonable limits on cell phones in my class. I may be wrong though, as I have eaten a lot of dinosaur meat in my day, which explains a lot.