Should
cell phones be used as a learning tool in the classroom or are they only a
distraction?
When
trying to answer this question, I feel as though I am split down the middle. I
can see both the pros and cons of allowing students to have cell phones in
class. I want to look at both the pros and cons.
First,
let’s think about why teachers may not want to use cell phones in the
classroom. Some obvious reasons are that they are disruptive and noisy. If a
phone goes off in your class with some up-beat ringtone, everyone is going to
be distracted from their work. Another reason that phones can be a distraction
is because most kids have games and other applications loaded onto their phone
that they are going to be tempted to play when they think their teacher is not
looking. Something that kids and young adults are really into nowadays is
texting. It would be really easy for a student to pull out their phone, put
their hands in their desk, and start texting while you are teaching. I am big
on texting myself and I know how easy it is to send text messages. I don’t even
have to look at my phone while I text because I have the keys memorized. I can
imagine that students would use this to their advantage as well. Students have
also used cell phones to cheat on tests. Whether they are texting a friend the
answers or taking a picture of the test and sending it to a friend, there are
many ways cell phones can be used to cheat.
Now
let’s look at the opposite side of the issue and think about how cell phones
could be incorporated into the curriculum. I looked at a Scholastic article
called, Lift the Cell Phone Ban, (http://www.scholastic.com/browse/article.jsp?id=3751073)
and found this quote by Dolman, “It’s a stereotype of teenagers—that you can’t
trust them with a cell phone. Our experience was that if you give them the
opportunity to use them, and you give them guidelines to go with that use, you
won’t have problems.” I can see how this would work. If you give specific
guidelines in order to use the cell phones, students will either follow them or
will no longer be allowed to use them. The majority of students in middle
school and above have cell phones; many of them even have a Smartphone. It
would not be hard to get enough students to bring in their phones for certain
activities. A few ways to use cell phones in the classroom are: polling, taking
pictures with digital cameras, text messaging for assignments or quizzes,
Internet access, calculators, or even using the calendar to set reminders for
due dates.
There
are many benefits of using cell phones in a classroom, especially since this is
a digital age. However, there are also some potential problems with allowing
cell phone usage. I definitely think it would be something I would try if I
taught middle or high school. My Kindergarteners might be a little confused and
quite frankly, I would be shocked if many of them had cell phones. Overall, I
think using cell phones in an educational setting is something that is worth a
try.
