But really, the use of cell phones in schools has come up several times over our time in this course, and it was Liz Kolb's recent presentation to our class that put a spotlight on the issue. She is an advocate for using cell phones and other portable devices in the classroom, as a way to encourage greater student interaction with the material.
One point that she raised was related to why more schools aren't adopting a pro-cell phone policy (though, as she noted in her presentation, the number of schools that are cell-friendly has grown dramatically over the last several years). In an interview on the subject, she notes that most administrators in charge of making technology decisions did not grow up with the same kind of devices (or in some cases, any devices) that students today are using. They simply aren't familiar with them, and thus have a hard time envisioning their place in the classroom. While I can understand where such administrators are coming from, I also think that maybe they aren't considering the issue carefully enough. I mean, look at most smartphones today. They do practically everything for you. And most administrators that I've met so far are at least familiar with what an iPhone is/what it can do, if they don't already have one themselves. To some extent, how can you NOT think up at least one use for it in schools?
In terms of classroom use, I really like the polling sites that Liz introduced us to. In my methods class we've been working on writing lesson plans, and one of the trickiest areas to find activities for seems to be formative assessments. Tools for this need to be direct and easy to implement in a short amount of time in order for them to be really effective, and letting students take a poll with their phones strikes me as a really simple way to get student feedback in real-time, without taking up too much instructional time.
Of course, there are drawbacks, which I think have been pretty heavily outlined. One solution that Liz points to in terms of making students more responsible with their technology is the need for some kind of appropriate use education. It's one thing for students to sign an appropriate use "contract" at the beginning of the year and leave it at that, but I think (and have probably mentioned before in other posts) that it's important to teach students WHY they need to be responsible and HOW to go about doing this. Digital native students have for the most part always had technology and social media as a part of their lives, and treat it as an extension of their being. Liz brings up an important point when she notes that just because you send something using your personal device, doesn't mean it's personal to you. Educating students on the vast and interconnected nature of the internet, and the power that is held in their devices, is essentially for creating citizens who will responsibly and sensibly utilize the technological opportunities in front of them.
