Tuesday, July 17, 2012

Sold on cell phones

Michael Soskil does an excellent job boiling down the top reasons to allow students to use their smartphones in the classroom.  Soskil's 5 reasons to use cell phones in class include:
  1. Smart phones are a part of life, and students should be learning life skills.
  2. Smartphones stretch school technology budgets.
  3. The arguments against smartphones, that they enable cheating, are baseless because students should be learning how to manipulate facts rather than regurgitate them on standardized tests.
  4. There's a double standard when teachers/administrators use them at school.
  5. Teachers can facilitate the responsible use of smartphones; they will be used by students no matter what.
 I have a friend who works at a school in Denver that focuses on nature.  He frequently takes students on wilderness hikes, and explicitly forbids the use of smartphones.  He argues that students need the opportunity to unplug and enjoy the time outdoors without distractions.  I say let the kids have their phones; if the aim is to educate students on nature, which includes species identification, why make the kids lug around a a bird book when they can use a smartphone app?  21st Century learners prefer tech anyway, and a smartphone app can get students to appreciate nature a lot more; a potential negative is that the association of nature and no smartphones will leave a bitter taste in their mouths.

Hopefully students will be able to recognize a cactus without their phones!

Students can use their smartphones with bird identification apps, rather than lug around a massive bird book that is difficult to use.  Also, there are weekend birding activities at Great Falls park; it's early in the morning, but you can find out all about it thanks to this intrepid reporter :)

1 comment:

  1. Imagine if it was you having classes with your friend? Would you be happy?

    ReplyDelete