Phones in School Notes

Seite 1

Pros of Phones in the classroom

Peace of mind: Cellphones and smartphones can offer parents a little more peace of mind when their children are at school. Parents know that in an emergency the student can contact them, or vice versa. In addition, more and more cellphones and smartphones contain GPS devices that can be tracked if necessary.

Instant answers: Access to the internet provides instant answers for the curious. This is the search-and-learn environment kids are involved in today. Now, when they want to know “Why do leaves change color,” they are only a search away from an answer. This also gives students the ability to get an answer to a question they may feel uncomfortable asking in class. If a teacher uses a term they don’t understand, they can find the answer discreetly, and without interrupting the class.

Wider access to information: With internet access, children can be exposed to a world of creative ideas outside of their bubble. They can learn other languages, teach themselves how to draw, knit, or play chess. They have access to an endless array of options available to help them learn, and gain skills they might not otherwise be exposed to. All of this can be accomplished through a smartphone, which can be a valuable learning tool, if used correctly.

Access to video: Electronic devices in the classroom can enhance the learning experience by providing instant video access. Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream” speech is not just something to read about. Man’s first step on the moon, early flight, presidential speeches, bridges being built—they all are made more real and easier to digest in the form of instant video availability.

Wide range of music available: Sure, you might think of kids listening to their pop, hip-hop, and rap music on digital devices, but remember that all music is available. This gives students access to classical, jazz, big band, and early rock ‘n’ roll. Students could have the opportunity to compare and discuss the differences in these styles in a way that is familiar to them.

Social learning: Social media can have a negative connotation when you link it to kids. However, there can be an educational aspect. Social learning is a great way for students to share information, thoughts, and ideas on a subject. Properly focused, quieter, and shyer students may blossom in a social learning situation made possible by digital devices.

Teacher advancement: Finding ways to effectively utilize digital devices in the classroom provides teachers with an opportunity to advance their skillset and grow with their students. Many teachers are taking their digital literacy to the next level by earning an

Cons of Phones in the Classroom

Harmful effects of digital devices: There are concerns from the EPA about long-term exposure to wireless devices and computer screens. While there is no direct evidence of harmful effects, the EPA discourages too much exposure for students who have video screens in front of their faces or computers in their laps. If students frequently use these devices at home, additional exposure at school could be viewed as harmful.

Inappropriate materials: While schools can limit the availability of websites that can be viewed on their network, students may find links that slipped through the system. There will also be times that students will not be accessing the internet through a monitored network.

Distraction from schoolwork: With the temptation of social media and texting in their hands, students may focus solely on their social life instead of the lesson plan.

Child predators: Child predators are a problem everywhere. Using digital devices at school creates just that much more exposure and potential danger for students.

Cyberbullying: This is an increasing issue that’s grown exponentially in recent years. Permitting use of digital devices in the classroom could potentially lead to more of it.

Provide a disconnect: While some believe digital devices make for greater connections for students, there are also those who believe too much time with digital devices disconnects students from face-to-face social activities, family communications, and nature. Digital devices in the classroom could lead to an even greater disconnect.

Could widen the gap: Technology spending varies greatly across the nation. Some schools have the means to address the digital divide so that all of their students have access to technology and can improve their technological skills. Meanwhile, other schools still struggle with their computer-to-student ratio and/or lack the means to provide economically disadvantaged students with loaner iPads and other devices so that they can have access to the same tools and resources that their classmates have at school and at home

Should Schools Permit digital devices?

Some school districts have seen great improvements by allowing digital devices in the classroom. One thing is clear: if digital devices are permitted, there should be guidelines and rules in place.

Students need to be taught online safety, the use of judgment in determining good quality sources of information, and restraint from personal use in the classroom. In other words, they need to learn all about digital literacy and digital citizenship.

There are many resources for teaching these concepts, and a great place to start is the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE). Their comprehensive standards focus on the skills and qualities students should have in order to be successful in the digital world. ISTE also teamed up with Google and developed an online digital citizenship game called Interland. It educates kids about digital citizenship in interactive ways. Students learn how to be good digital citizens as well as how to combat hackers, phishers, oversharers, and bullies.

If a school is going to allow and/or encourage the use of digital devices in the classroom, then teachers also need proper support in terms of training, professional development, and curriculum. They can start with curriculum and PD resources such as those provided by Common Sense Media, but in order to fully utilize them, teachers need time to plan and collaborate. Digital devices should only be used when there are specific goals in mind, focusing on student safety, digital citizenship, critical thinking, collaboration, advancement, and equity.

https://education.cu-portland.edu/blog/classroom-resources/pros-and-cons-of-allowing-digital-devices-in-the-classroom/

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Extra Information (Stating Information)

Cell Phones are an extension of who we are today. Many of us put our calendars, contacts, and personal information into our phones. It is our alarm clock, our link to the internet, and it even allows us to make a phone call or text someone too.

Many families are giving their students a cellphone today in the same way that families in the past provided other rite of passage items. In some ways, it is comparable to earning a driver’s license. Kids get one when they show they can be responsible with it or the family has a need for their child to have one.

That means more cellphones are showing up in schools every year. In the United States, Techcrunch reports that the average age for a child to receive their first phone is now 10 years of age. Child tablet ownership has risen from 26% to 55% since 2012.

https://vittana.org/15-big-pros-and-cons-of-cellphones-in-school

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Driving For Cell Phones for Learning

Prof. Elliot Soloway is a leader in developing technology-based curricula and mobile computing for learning. Right now, he's convinced that we're on the cusp of a revolution in K-12 education – a huge shift toward interactive learning using smart phone technology tools that will change the paradigm of teaching from one based on 19th century memorization to one based on 21st century information access, project orientation, and subject matter integration.

Enabling this revolution is the smart phone. Modern smart phones have evolved into true mobile computing platforms, and kids already have them and bring them to school.

a layer of software that runs on a variety of phones to provide a homogenous learning environment, and a means for teachers to integrate this technology into the classroom.

Interest in the use of smart phones to provide cost-effective, integrated, hands-on learning that improves recall and builds sophisticated problem solving is high. Schools in Singapore, the UK, and the US are currently working with Prof. Soloway to implement the technology and modify curricula.

http://www.eecs.umich.edu/eecs/about/articles/2009/Soloway-mobile.html

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France Bans Smartphones in Schools Through 9th Grade. Will It Help Students?

Around 93 percent of French children ages 12 to 17 have mobile phones, and an estimated 86 percent in that age group have models that support apps, according to French government and research institute data from 2016 and 2017

Teachers also doubt whether the ban is enforceable, especially with young teenagers for whom rebellion often trumps any inclination to follow a teacher’s instructions.

They also doubt themselves for enforcing the ban because - As for taking away phones if students refuse to put them away, she said, “If I confiscated them, my students would not come anymore to class, and that is not the objective.”

“Who buys the phones for the children?” he said. “Who doesn’t give them a framework and set limits on using them? Parents. But everyone blames the school, which is very typical in France: School should be responsible for all the children’s problems.” - David Scellier, who teaches French language and literature at a school in a Paris suburb,

For sociologists and scientists in France who study attention spans and the digital culture, removing smartphones from school makes sense even if it does not fully address the difficulty of managing the siren call of social networks.

Smartphone use sets off the production of dopamine — “the same system that is implicated in addictions and drugs,” said Jean-Philippe Lachaux, a neuroscientist at the National Institute for Health and Medical Research.

“The problem with the telephone is that it reduces all sensation to what you see and the body disappears,” he said. “The world is very much reduced.” - Jean-Philippe Lachaux,

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/20/world/europe/france-smartphones-schools.html?login=email&auth=login-email

Seite 5

Cell Phones in the Classroom: Learning tool or distraction

Cell Phone Use in the Classroom

When students are distracted with cell phones, it’s a recipe for extra stress, frustration, and catch-up time for everyone

With students spending up to 20% of their in-class time texting, emailing, and checking social media, it’s no wonder the debate about cell phones in the classroom is alive and well

These days, more and more students are bringing cell phones to class. Even elementary school-aged students have cell phones in their pockets and backpacks

How Cell Phones can be used effectively in the Classroom

If properly managed, cell phones can be used as tools to help children learn in the classroom

1. Using Educational Learning apps - Cell phones give students access to tools and apps that can help them complete and stay on top of their class work. These tools can also teach students to develop better study habits, like time management and organization skills.

2. Incorporating digital platforms into lessons - Using social media can keep students interested in class and encourage them to participate in the discussion. Some teachers create twitter hashtags or message boards students can use during class discussions to share thoughts and ideas. This can be especially helpful for students who might not be comfortable speaking in class.

3. Supplementing lessons with digital materials - Teachers can take advantage of cell phones by providing students with resources to find more information about a topic. This can include videos, news stories, online discussion groups, and more. Allowing students to access these resources in class can help encourage participation and discussions.

4. Providing easy access to more information - Cell phones can give students access to more information, letting them research more about a topic while having class discussions. This is especially true for current events that have not yet been covered in school textbooks.

The Drawbacks of Allowing Cell Phones in Classrooms

While cell phones can be used as learning tools, it is a challenge to make sure students are using them for school-related tasks. A cell phone can easily turn from “classroom learning tool” into “classroom disruption”

1. Distractions and interruptions - When students use their cell phones to check social media and text their friends in class, it leads to distractions for those students as well as for their peers. This can cause disruptions in class, particularly if the teacher is constantly telling students to turn their devices off.

2. Cyberbullying - Cell phones can also lead to increased problems with bullying on the school ground. Cyberbullying can be harder to see than other forms of bullying, making it difficult for teachers to identify and stop when it is happening.

3. Cheating - Cell phones can be a helpful learning tool in class. But they can also be used by students to access information while taking a test, leading to cheating. Even if a student isn’t caught, this can lead to him or her having a poor understanding of the material in the future, and is unfair to students who studied hard to do well.

4. Disconnection from face-to-face activities - While cell phones can help encourage participation by offering different channels, this can also lead to less in-person discussion and fewer learning opportunities. Learning to work together with others is an important part of students’ education, and can be lost with too much dependence on cell phones and other digital technology.

Should Students Have Cells Phones in School?

Clearly, there are both pros and cons to students having cell phones in school. Although they can be used as a learning tool in the classroom, this only works as long as students use them effectively.

This means for teachers who decide to use cell phones (or any other digital device) as part of their lessons, it’s important to set ground rules and keep a close eye on how they are being used.

https://www.oxfordlearning.com/should-cell-phones-be-allowed-classrooms/

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Technology and Student Distraction

students can now respond instantaneously to online polls, collaborate in real time on written work, and engage with a range of media more flexibly than ever before. With those advantages, of course, come an equal and opposite set of possible disadvantages, and for many instructors the latter outweigh the former.

The Case Against Technology in the Classroom

In one survey at six different universities, college students reported using their phones an average of 11 times per day in class. In another study, 92% of college students reported using their phones to send text messages during class.

Those who texted frequently took lower quality notes, retained less information, and did worse on tests about the material

Students themselves realize that cell phone usage does not promote learning; in one survey, 80% of students agreed that using a mobile phone in class decreases their ability to pay attention.

A study on laptops in a simulated classroom found that students in the vicinity of another student who was multitasking on a laptop during class scored worse on a test than those who were not near multitaskers. While cell phone screens are smaller—and thus perhaps less distracting—than a laptop, one could reasonably expect that a similar phenomenon of distraction applies to cell phones.

The Case for Technology in the Classroom

1. Avoid Ableist Assumptions. You don't become a professor because you want to talk to yourself. You do it because you want people to hear, share and interrogate your ideas. When a professor is lecturing over a sea of students staring intently at their laptops, they get discouraged. Often this results in technology being banned from the class

2. Incorporate Technology Instead of Banning It. So your students are on Facebook instead of hanging off your every word. Or shopping on Amazon. Or watching the latest viral video. There's a solution: incorporate social media into your lecture. Ask students to crowd source questions using social media and see what their friends know about a topic. Use clickers to quiz students before and during the lecture.

https://bokcenter.harvard.edu/technology-and-student-distraction

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The Pros & Cons of Phones in School

In schools across the nation, cellphones have become as common as pencils and binders

There are pitfalls to kids having so much power in their palms. There's the worry that they'll become too distracted to learn, that they'll disengage from the interpersonal experiences that school provides, or they'll use them to cheat. Beyond those headaches, there's the ever-present concern about the roles phones play in cyber-bullying. Risks like these have some parents calling for an all-out ban.

On the plus side, the National Education Association identified ways in which cellphones can help rather than hurt in classrooms. For instance, they can provide access in schools where computers aren't always available for students. They can also offer organization tools, which can be lifesavers for kids, like mine, who struggle with executive function issues

When teachers use educational apps or other resources in their classes, they're engaging kids on their own wavelength

https://www.familycircle.com/teen/parenting/pros-cons-phones-school/

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THE PROS AND CONS OF CELL PHONES IN SCHOOLS

As technology keeps on advancing, cell phones have almost become essential gadgets of our lives, it is next to impossible to leave without these cell phones, because they make communication easy.

Cell phones are not bad or harmful as some educators can think, but the problem is that some students use them for wrong reasons and this makes them bad in school.

Pros of having cell phones

Easy communications: Both parents and teachers will need to stay in touch with their children and students, so cell phones will make this communication simple. Also students use cell phones to join peer to peer discussions which can help them ask any thing educational during this discussion.

Safety Reasons: Since cell phones are light and easy to carry, they can act as emergence contact tools for students. Disasters are unavoidable and they always distrust our daily activities. It is very important if a student has a personal phone to use and contact their parents, head teachers or police in case some thing wrong happens.

Mobile Learning: It is very important for students to be in position to learn from anywhere at any time. The education world is changing and many scholars are attending virtual classrooms. Online education is now becoming so popular than before, mobile phones have also helped in the growth of M-Learning. Unlike a computer, cell phones are light and easy to carry.

Use cell phones as research tools: Students who do subjects which require field work research will need cell phones while in the field. All modern cell phones can be used to take pictures in the field, create reports using simple word processing applications, save and submit data back to their schools

Improve relationship between teachers and students: Since teachers can easily text their students course work, also students can easily ask their teachers questions using text messaging services . During this discussion, both teachers and students get to know each other deeply.

Cons of Having cell phones

Distraction: Since today’s cell phones have more than one application, students will always get distracted in the quest of trying to discover and try out new cell phone applications. Female students are more likely to get distracted by mobile applications like Pinterest.com, Facebook or twitter, then for the male students, they can get distracted by cell phone game applications or video streaming applications. This continuous distraction will affect a student’s concentration in the classroom, and it can also distract other students around them.

Cheating of exams: Since student X was watching videos during classroom hours, when it comes to exam time, they will resort to cheating. So they can decide to scan their notes on their cell phones or use text messaging service to cheat exams.

https://www.useoftechnology.com/pros-cons-cell-phones-schools/

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Cell Phones at School: Should They Be Allowed?

A 2010 Pew Research Center study found that 65 percent of cell-owning teens bring their phones to school despite any bans that may be in place.

Most schools now allow students to have cell phones but require them to be turned off during class because they can be disruptive and distracting.

Pros

You can be in touch with your children, and know their whereabouts.

Can be Used in Emergencies

Your kids can reach you in the event of an emergency

Can Be Used If Help is Needed

If in danger, your children can reach the authorities or a medical provider

Easy to Turn On and Off

Phones can be silenced during class or study periods, and active only in appropriate places

Convenient Way to Stay in Touch

Cell phones create a convenience that was previously unavailable. With cell phones, you can easily reach your kids for any reason: to ask them questions, change plans, or to simply say hello.

Cons

Students often forget to turn off their phones in class, and ringing noises or text-message alerts disrupt learning

Cause Distractions

Even if set to silent, cell phones can still cause distraction, since text messaging has become a high-tech method of passing notes in school

Can Be Unreliable During a Widespread Crisis

In the event of a widespread crisis, rampant cell phone use can overload communication systems and render them inoperable.

Can Be Used to Spread Rumors and Misinformation

Student cell phone networks add to the spread of rumors and misinformation, which can be harmful during a widespread crisis.

Can Be Used for Bullying

Mobile phones with a connection to the Internet (therefore, Facebook, Twitter, and other popular — and potentially dangerous — social media apps) can be even more of a distraction and can be used for cyberbullying.

Can Be Used for Cheating

Phones can be used as cheating devices during exams.

Long-Term Effects Still Unknown

The long-term physical effects of cell phone use are still undetermined.

https://www.familyeducation.com/life/kids-cell-phones/cell-phones-school-should-they-be-allowed?slide=12#fen-gallery

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Smartphone ban in schools: good or bad idea?

First, mobile phones are too easily used at the expense of face-to-face communication. Teenagers can message, avoiding a more challenging conversation. Second, smartphone apps and messages prompt dopamine release, creating addiction. Third, the mere presence of one's phone consumes attention even when it's not being checked. It's been shown we have reduced working memory capacity and fluid intelligence when our phone is upside down, silent on our desk compared to when it is in another room

No: apps are useful learning tools

Firstly, regardless of any ban, school students will continue to learn with their own phones off-campus, later in life in their tertiary education, and in their professional and workplace learning. Secondly, if school students want to investigate, collect data, receive personalised and immediate feedback, record media, create, compose, or communicate with peers, in and beyond the classroom, then using mobile apps is ideal.

No: we should embrace digital literacy

We should not ban mobile phones in schools because it's important to educate children to live well in the era in which they are growing up. A good education for students today is knowing how to use technology to learn, communicate, and work with ideas.

No: phones can boost safety, health

Mobile phones serve many important functions. Digital literacy is a critical aspect of young people's schooling and research shows mobile phones can play a role in supporting such learning.

No: phones link young people with support services

Mobile phones are now ubiquitous for secondary school students. Beyond the 3Rs, an important aspect of learning for secondary school students is about safely negotiating online environments. This means all schools need to develop policies around the use of mobile phones during school hours. Given the dynamic nature of the mobile world, regularly engaging students and parents in reviewing and revising these policies is an important part of everyone's learning.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-06-28/smartphone-ban-in-schools-good-or-bad-idea/9918934