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Mobiles to Help Learning? High School in UK says OK

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Via @TerryFreedman:

Looks like Notre Dame high school in the UK is taking the bull by the horns and moving forward with an initiative to allow the use of mobile phones for educational purposes during class time.

Assistant headteacher Paul Haigh said mobiles, MP3 players and gaming devices were “untapped resources” for teaching and learning.

“We realise as a comprehensive state school we could never afford to buy every student all the IT and mobile devices we would like them to have.

He added: “But most students own many of these devices anyway – they’re just hidden in their schoolbags. What’s more they’re experts in using them, knowing all the short cuts and characteristics of their own equipment as they use it every day.”

Mr Haigh said there was little logic in allowing pupils to use a netbook in school while banning mobile phones, many of which could access the internet, record sound and take digital photographs.

This new school policy is running contrary to a nationwide ban of cell phones in schools. What’s interesting though is the source of the opposition. That the teacher’s union is against it isn’t all that surprising, but the other group that is currently opposing the change is…. the parents. While there isn’t much in the way of details on this front, it does say that parents are worried phones will be a distraction.

Whether you’re in agreement with the new policy, or with the opposition, it will certainly be an interesting story to follow. Hopefully they plan to publish the impact of this change throughout the year.

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33 Comments

[...] the rest here:  Mobiles to Help Learning? High School in UK says OK – Teach42 By admin | category: comprehensive school | tags: barber, before-inviting, buy-every, [...]

Sean
10/26/2009

Currently reading – Mobiles to Help Learning? High School in UK says OK – by @teach42 http://is.gd/4CeEd #teaching

Terry Freedman
10/26/2009

Thx for the mention, Steve. I’ve been in touch with the guy from the school — he caused quite a stir when this came out a few weeks ago at the Handheld Learning Conference in London. Apparently it was first announced on Merlin John’s website, http://www.agent4change.net/. I missed that, but should like to put the record straight now! Merlin’s site is well-worth following for ICT-related news in the UK.
Terry Freedman´s last blog ..Interesting sites 10/24/2009 (a.m.) My ComLuv Profile

Brandi B,Qiana O,Jami O,Taylor H, Chelsea D,
10/26/2009

Hey Steve,this is Brandi,Jami.Qiana,Chelsea,and Taylor.We are in class right now discussing whether or not cell phones should be allowed in school.We think that having a phone in class would help us because we can access many things like a calculator,the internet.and spell check.With all the goods of having cell phones there also bad , like it will be easier to cheat. Cell phones can benefit us in a good way for many reasons, but there is a con to the whole thing, cheating. As long teacher make sure no one is texting a student for cheating purposes the cell phone rule could be a great rule to have for learning.

eDCSD
10/26/2009

http://edcsd.org Mobiles to Help Learning? High School in UK says OK – Teach42 http://bit.ly/wrZtV
<- elearning links

Steve
10/29/2009

@Brandi and friends: But is cheating really a cell phone issue? Or is it a larger issue than that?

To see what I mean, check out this post:
http://www.teach42.com/2008/04/02/how-can-i-cheat-on-the-test-let-me-count-the-ways/

Just something to consider…

[...] Mobiles to Help Learning? High School in UK says OK (teach42.com) [...]

Great post. As a digital native myself, I can’t imagine someone forcing me to put my phone in my backpack, locker, or leave it at home for the entire day. I use my phone to connect, communicate, and yes, learn. It seems like no one quite knows if using mobiles in the classroom is worth the “safety and security” risks.

To try to collect people’s opinions on this, we started a poll on our website – thanks to the inspiration from your post!

http://www.simplek12.com/learning-mobiles-classroom

Keep it up, great post!
Lisa via @SimpleK12´s last blog ..ISTE Educational Technology Conference: Crowdsourcing My ComLuv Profile

Nancy Mangum
11/11/2009

Reading – Mobiles to Help Learning? from @teach42 http://bit.ly/4zFwIw

Kim Josh
11/20/2009

Yes, we can used mobiles in learning. More and more mobile phone are having a lot of special features for learning. But of course we all don’t agree having mobile phones during exams.

nice posts

[...] Mobiles to Help Learning? High School in UK says OK (teach42.com) [...]

[...] Mobiles to Help Learning? High School in UK says OK (teach42.com) [...]

Sean Nash
11/23/2009

My school has allowed phones on a limited basis. We’ve never been terribly purposeful about advocating active instructional use of mobiles… though I think we assumed that when we naturally grew into that, we’d be more or less ready.

That said, the staff at our school is now considering going back on this policy in the name of “safety” (classroom management).

My latest blog post (linked below) details this situation.

Sean
Sean Nash´s last blog ..When The Empire Makes The Rules My ComLuv Profile

Melissa R.
11/23/2009

Thank you for the post. I guess I never really thought about it myself. I am curious to see how the school year pans out with this acceptance of cell phones in the classroom. Personally, it seems like a difficult task for teachers to control this situation. If the teacher allows students to use cell phones for a particular activity, how will they be able to monitor each student’s progress? Are they pretending to research a certain topic? The parents make a good point, will this be more of a distraction rather than a resource? Look forward to reading more about this issue!

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Hripsime M.
12/1/2009

I’m surprised at how many people are looking toward the benefits of this policy because with the passing of such policies, there seems to be less and less authority above students because they seem to be given to much leeway with resources and tools. We all attended high school without the use of cell phones, yet still benefited in many ways inside and outside of the classroom. I am not saying that schools should not adapt technological advances, they just don’t need to adopt ALL of them.

[...] Mobiles to Help Learning? High School in UK says OK – Teach42 [...]

Scott Shephard
12/9/2009

Reading: Mobiles to Help Learning? High School in UK says OK – Teach42 http://bit.ly/6u1pTu via http://www.diigo.com/~sshephard

[...] Mobiles to Help Learning? High School in UK says OK (teach42.com) [...]

[...] Mobiles to Help Learning? High School in UK says OK (teach42.com) [...]

Peter Kaminsky
12/11/2009

Great post! I am a college sophomore with a dual major in Physics and Mathematics @ University of California, Santa Barbara. By the way, i came across these excellent english flashcards. Its also a great initiative by the FunnelBrain team. Amazing!!!

Yes, We can learn a lot through mobile phones because mobile cellphones now a days has a lot of goo features but mobile phones must not be allowed during exams and test. Private Schools Palm Beach

Jerry McGowan
12/14/2009

Great post! I am a college sophomore with a dual major in Physics and Mathematics @ University of California, Santa Barbara. By the way, i came across these excellent language flashcards. Its also a great initiative by the FunnelBrain team. Amazing!!!

Kevin Flo
12/17/2009

Hi,I’m a big fan of online learning because it fun and at the same time you also get to learn.I came across a link which i would want to share and I’m sure it will be helpful. Check it out. education flashcards

Tiffany Harrell
1/6/2010

I am completly for the best practices of integrating technology into classrooms, but I do not see how a cell phone could be a sensible choice to replace such tools as calculators and dictionaries. As a teacher, I would feel ignored and useless to my students if they felt that they could stay on their cell phones all day. I hope that there are specific rules set in place with this new idea to ensure that students are truly hearing what teachers are trying to teach them.

Tiffany Harrell
1/8/2010

Did anyone think about those students who can not afford a cell phone? Since they do not seem to be offering to provide them for the students, this would give an unfair advantage to those students who do not own a cell phone. Also, since when have you seen a teenager with a cell phone using it for educational use. This is one rule that I believe students will bend a little too far.

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