Amidst a Mobile Revolution in Schools, Will Old Teaching Tactics Work? Getty Just a few years ago, the idea of using a mobile phone as a legitimate learning tool in school seemed far-fetched, if not downright blasphemous. Kids were either prohibited from bringing their phones to school, or at the very least told to shut it off during school hours.
But these days, it’s not unusual to hear a teacher say, “Class, turn on your cell. It’s time to work.” Harvard professor Chris Dede has been working in the field of education technology for decades, and is astonished at how quickly mobile devices are penetrating in schools. That’s not necessarily surprising, given that a staggering 80 percent of teens have cell phones. “People are talking about this being an inflection point,” said Elliot Soloway. “I’m petrified that we’ll apply new technology to old pedagogy.” The most recent data available is from 2010, and indicates that 62 percent of schools allow cell phones to be used on school grounds, though not in classrooms. This Actually some schools are seeing gains. Educational Leadership:Understanding the Law:The Right to Search Students.
December 2001/January 2002 | Volume 59 | Number 4 Understanding the Law Pages 31-35 Kate R. Ehlenberger Littleton, Jonesboro, Springfield, West Paducah, and Pearl. The school tragedies in these communities brought the threat to school safety into the public conscience and moved school safety onto the U.S. public agenda. Safety threats, once thought to be only an urban problem, are a concern for urban, rural, and suburban areas alike. Although schools are among the safest places for children to be, education policymakers and administrators continue to look for ways to protect students and staff. Students in U.S. public schools have the Fourth Amendment right to be free from unreasonable searches. The courts have recently expanded the right of school officials to conduct student searches, resulting in part from recent acts of school violence and heightened public scrutiny.
Reasonable Suspicion The Fourth Amendment to the U.S. In New Jersey v. Probable Cause and Student Consent Todd v. Reflections on Bullying (Cyber or otherwise) | Alaska Ed Tech. I read an article this morning about a student who posted a dramatic note on Reddit, threatening to kill herself if a school bully wasn’t addressed in some way. The student, who identified herself as “Sarah” says of this bully, “It is hard to use the word because almost everyone knows and loves him.” (Huff Post, 2012) Sarah had reported this bully to school administration and no action had been taken. When I read this article, I remembered an NPR interview by Neil Conan a few years ago. The segment dealt with Rosalind Wiseman, author of Queen Bees and Wannabes: Helping Your Daughter Survive Cliques, Gossip, Boyfriends, and Other Realities of Adolescence.
A self-identified bully called in (she is a practicing psychologist) and bullied Neil for a period of time. A point made (and well-illustrated) during this interview: The bully is often socially intelligent. From HometownAnnapolis.com: This situation actually seems to belie Cicero’s point. Mobile Devices for Learning: What You Need to Know (available in Spanish)
Amidst a Mobile Revolution in Schools, Will Old Teaching Tactics Work? Getty Just a few years ago, the idea of using a mobile phone as a legitimate learning tool in school seemed far-fetched, if not downright blasphemous. Kids were either prohibited from bringing their phones to school, or at the very least told to shut it off during school hours. But these days, it’s not unusual to hear a teacher say, “Class, turn on your cell. It’s time to work.” Harvard professor Chris Dede has been working in the field of education technology for decades, and is astonished at how quickly mobile devices are penetrating in schools.
“I’ve never seen technology moving faster than mobile learning,” said Dede, who teaches at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. That’s not necessarily surprising, given that a staggering 80 percent of teens have cell phones. “People are talking about this being an inflection point,” said Elliot Soloway. “I’m petrified that we’ll apply new technology to old pedagogy.” More than 1.5 million iPads have been deployed in schools. This Related. How to Use Cell Phones as Learning Tools. Does your staff need Educational Technology training? The K-12 Teachers Alliance can help you plan your in-service professional development at no additional cost. Regardless of your school’s cell phone policy, the reality in most schools is that students have phones in their pockets, purses, or hoodies.
Why not get these tools out in plain sight and use them for good and not evil? Here are some easy to use strategies to use cell phones in the classrooms. Proven teaching strategies to boost your students' happiness. A few suggestions.on classroom activities that involve performance for... We point out some knowledgeable educators who quickly can become your trusted... Here are a few suggestions on how to motivate students intrinsically. Reasons why a class may be less likely to pipe up and interact during a lesson... Why Use Cell Phones as Learning Tools Cell phones are different from a computer lab filled with computers or a cart of netbooks because the cell phone is personal technology.
Cellphones in the Classroom: Distraction or Tool? The final version of the National Education Technology Plan (NETP) was released last week, setting forth the Obama Administration's plan for improving access to and integration of technologies for teaching and learning. Among the recommendations the Department of Education makes in the NETP is a call for support for "efforts to ensure that all students and educators have 24/7 access to the Internet via devices, including mobile devices, and that states, districts, and schools adopt technologies and policies to enable leveraging the technology that students already have. " The push for "24/7 access to the Internet" falls under another the auspices of yet another endeavor, the National Broadband Plan.
But the call for better access to Internet-ready devices, particularly utilizing tools the students already possess is an interesting one. Because the device that is ubiquitous for American students isn't the desktop computer or the notebook or the netbook or the iPad. It's the cellphone.