To Cell or Not to Cell?
Just about everyone has a cell phone these days, what did we ever do before we had them? In contrast, most schools do not allow the use of cell phones by students. In fact, phones are confiscated if found in use during the school day by many teachers. However, Karl Fisch, who is a teacher in a Denver school district, has a different perspective. I am having mixed feelings about this topic and just wondering what everyone else thinks. Mr Fisch comments in his blog The Fisch Bowl, that we should embrace the new technology of cell phones and use it for good. He made a very thought provoking video called What If? that likens our ban on cell phones to a time in history when schools were against the ballpoint pen. This idea seems silly now, years later. Will our ban on cell phones seem silly 10 or 15 years from now?
posted by Sharon Thistlethwaite at
7:48 AM
10 Comments:
i didn't read the article. all i know is 1) not everyone can afford them for their child, but 2) if they CAN afford them, they should be for emergency use only to call home, not to be texting and sending pics/msgs 24/7, especially during school hours.
Both ballpoint pens and cell phones might be technological innovations, but a ballpoint pen is not a distraction. I can't recall anyone talking to his ballpoint pen in class, can you?
I always took my calls on my Agent 99 Shoe Phone...
:-)
I think that cell phones, iPods, etc have a certain functionality in academics- example: the universities that provide incoming freshmen with iPods so they can store podcasted lectures and supplementary material...
That said, college is a bit different than "school"-- and electronic devices don't do a lot to facilitate in-class instruction, whereas the ballpoint pen does... by way of making note-taking uninterrupted due to the fickleness of graphite and inkwells.
I think the article made a very convincing argument and I would urge anyone who hasn't read it to please do so before passing judgment. He mentioned several very useful aspects of using a cell phone or ipod in the classroom. For example, using ipods for video presentations played through an LCD projector, or as portable hard drives.
He also mentioned using a cell phone's calendar to help them keep track of assignments, texting reminders, or using the calculator function.
I think that learning to use technology responsibly can be very helpful. I personally use my cell phone for all the reasons above with my work and feel that I function much more efficiently for it. I can set the alarm for meetings, whether they are today or 3 weeks from now and know that it will remind me in case I forget about them. I can listen to seminars on my ipod while I’m working on tasks that require less attention and I am constantly using the calculator on both my cell and my ipod. I can definitely see how these things can be helpful to students.
That being said, I also think that Mr Fisch might be a bit over-optimistic about the effort necessary to make students use their electronic devises appropriately during classes and not just to cheat on tests, chat with friends, and listen to music over the teacher. I figure it’s like most new technology, wait until the kids who thought they couldn’t live without it grow up to be teachers and it will become more mainstream in the classroom. By then there’ll be something new that we’ll all be rallying against.
using it as a "tool for school" is fine, but if that's the case.. upload it to your teacher's cell phone, that way yours doesn't have to come to class :)
Since technology is not going away, I think it makes sense to harness it for use in a positive way. If cell phones are permitted for use in the classroom, it may be another teachable moment for students to learn the appropriate way to use them in different situations.
No cell phones are needed in class. The examples Fisch used were technology which is needed. Cell phones are not. Do you want to use the calculator feature of your cell phone? Get a calculator. A calendar? Give me a break. What's wrong with writing it down with that new fangled invention, a ballpoint pen, or even better, using your brain to remember it. To store information...a flash drive. The cell phones with all the bells and whistles are not necessary for high school students. I can see their use for professional business adults, but not in the classroom.
Hmm, someday soon they will be professional business adults, won't they?
Then they can buy all the bling they want. Until then, no cell phones in class!
A twist on technology in the classroom: My son's teacher prepared a power point presentation the students were to view from the school's website for homework, then complete a worksheet. However, the power point was done and saved on a newer version of Word that most of the students (including mine) don't have on their home computers. Ergo, no homework could be done using the power point. So much for technology, eh?
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