A few weeks ago, Nora interviewed Marie Bjerede about cell phones in the classroom. Marie is Vice President of Wireless Education Technology at Qualcomm, which sponsors an initiative called Project K-nect. That project puts mobile smartphones in high school math classrooms.
After that interview, we got in touch with Homer Spring, a math teacher at Dixon High School in Holly Ridge, North Carolina, to find out about his experiences using smartphones in school. A shorter version of Nora’s interview with Homer will air Spark 112, but you can hear the full, uncut interview below, or download the MP3. [runs 8:27]
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What do you think? Do cell phones have a place in the classroom? Can they be valuable teaching aids, or a distraction, or both? Leave your comments below, or dial 1-877-34-SPARK (1-877-347-7275 toll free in Canada).
CellPhones have a place in the classroom – but it's how that technology is harnessed. The Medium is the Message after all. So I would actually promote Smart/DataPhones in the classrooms because through them social networking sites are more accessible. If students can respond immediately to what is happening in class, and if it can be constructive, then let it happen! Just be aware of McLuhans Laws of Media before you begin!
Like most forms of communication (radio, TV, the Internet), they can be a distraction or a valuable teaching aid–it depends on the circumstances. However…who's going to pay for the phones and the monthly fees? Is the benefit worth the extra cost? I work in technology but I don't have a cell phone myself. My kids are too young for school but I have no intention of getting them a cell phone any time soon.
"It's not the size of the boat – it's how you sail it."
Textbooks, not used are useless in the classroom. Any learning resource, when implemented thoughtfully by a caring, eager teaching professional with a view to improve learner engagement and progress is a good thing. As we move into the technological future, as parents, educators, administrators and employers, we must embrace the technologies our young people use as a matter of course and develop, with them, new ways to harness the power of these tools.
I am a secondary school teacher (13th yr) in Northern Ontario and fully support the use of technology in teaching and learning.
Not that you need me to validate your opinion Chris – your points are well made. The sustainability, scalability and cost-benefit of education tech is a critical consideration when bringing new resources into the learning arena. And sometimes (today in fact!) the low tech approach is the best (I actually talked to my class without any laptop, projector, PowerPoint, website, smartphone or iPod). Cheers!
I've worked with a teacher who has used them in a variety ways here in Saskatchewan. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zhAH6nncCKw
I'm all for harnassing technological tools as long as those tools are used as a means to an end. We have to constantly ask ourselves: are we using the technology as a tool or is it using us? All too often high technology is so distractive and all consuming that it doesn't allow for for the quiet reflectiveness required for deep thought and to do its work. Let us not forget that Andrew Wiles solved Fermat's last theorum (probably the greatest intellectual achievement of our time) with three tools: pen, paper, and brain, because it required creativity, imagination, and the quiet time to allow his subconcious to do its work–aspects of thought which are restricted by technological tools.
One of the points that came up in my conversation with the Qualcomm exec about this, is the importance of the phone being a way to facilitate collaborative learning experiences. It's not about the technology itself, but what it facilitates.
One thing that occurs to me is that a generation growing up much more comfortable with collaborative experiences than I was might respond much better to this kind of teaching.
I'm a high school teacher with four years to go until I retire and I don't know if I'm going to make it. Dealing with cell phones and other electronic gadgets in my classroom has become a daily distraction.
However, policing the use of phones, ipods, and portable game systems is not the only frustration. The more serious problem is the overall impact these items have on the culture of the classroom. Rather than leading to a collaborative atmosphere, personal electronics have nurtured an egocentric attitude that contributes to a whole range of disruptions. There is a new sense of personal entitlement that leads to inappropriate conversations, language, and behaviour. It seems the regular use of personal communications and media devices in public places has fostered the belief that one has the unrestricted right to say whatever one wants whenever one wants to say it.
Consequently, otherwise well-mannered students refuse to listen to the comments of their classmates and instead launch into an expression of their own opinions or carry on side discussions heedless of the rules of polite conversation. No amount of gentle mediation seems to have an effect on this behaviour.
Murray u are true.
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Cell phones, be it the smart phones or the "old fashioned" kind that do just voice and text messaging, have become more of a distraction for students than an asset. More often than not these phones were used for communication between classmates (texting, chat, Facebook, Twitter, etc) than as a learning tool. As a result, many high schools and college campuses implemented policies regulating cell phone usage. For example, Michigan City High School (Michigan City, IN) has a policy that allows students to bring their phones to school provided that students turn off their phones and place them in their locker before going to class.
The real problem here is not the gadgets themselves, but the manner in which these gadgets are being used that causes the problems we have, and this is at both the high school and at the college levels.
If you were teaching a class, would you not be irritated if you had to compete with a cellular phone or Facebook as competition for your attention from students?
Bravo Patrick! Once again, the notion of well considered, appropriate use is the guide. I chuckled when I read "…good old fashioned laptop"; when I look at the hardware I just handed off to my 8 & 10 yr old daughters (it being out of date and technologically tired), and compare it to my first Mac Classic in 1989, I am in awe of the progress thst has been made. The nugget of teaching with thechnology is this – if there exists no positive relationship between teacher and students, and a weak command of subject matter and methodology, NO MANNER OR AMOUNT OF TECHNOLOGY WILL IMPROVE TEACHING OR LEARNING!
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I really like this article, hope to get the author's more ideas ?
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