Mobile phones in the classroom…. again
Pogue shared a letter that’s got me all riled up again…
I’m a high school teacher. Like all high schools, we are dealing with a problem that sucks time, energy, and resources like a black hole: cellphones. We waged a similar battle a few years back with iPods, and although stakes seem much higher now, the fundamental argument is the same. The argument is:
1] cellphones are a distraction
2] cellphones present a potential liability in terms of cheating on tests
3] cellphones are a distraction
…
So I’m asking for some insight on how to sell this to an administration that is overwhelmed with a hundred more important things, and to a school board that feels that two $500 computers are twice as good as one $1,000 machine. What’s the answer?
I’m so fed up with these arguments. Paper clips are a distraction. Spiral notebooks are a distraction. And as we’ve seen recently, students certainly do NOT need a cell phone to cheat on an exam.
So off the top of my head, I decided to rattle off a few things that cell phones could be good for.
Such as…
1) Check the spelling/definition of a word
2) Research a topic
3) Look up reference images
4) Pull up maps (even with satellite imagery)
5) Document a science lab with built in digital camera/video
6) Fact check on the fly
7) Mail questions to the teacher that they might be embarrassed to ask
Classroom response system
9) Take quizzes
10) Record and/or listen to podcasts
And that’s off the top of my head, spur of the moment. Give me some time and I’m sure we can come up with a much more comprehensive list.
So let’s stop exerting so much energy trying to ‘bust’ students for carrying the same devices the rest of us carry. Rather, let’s start focusing on how we can use them to improve education in the classroom. You know, prepare them for the world and such…
A Vision of Students Today
From the creator of the Machine is Us/ing Us:
I’m not a huge fan of people who keep pointing out the same problems that we’ve known about for years without sharing their ideas for solutions. While this video doesn’t share solutions, the fact that it was organized, researched and scripted by students makes a pretty bold statement about new solutions. Anyway, enjoy the video. Well worth watching a couple of times.
Accept the ‘facts’? I think not.
Have you ever heard of Good Magazine? I haven’t but they have an impressive enough looking website, so they MUST be reputable, right?
I always keep an eye on Viral Video Chart to keep an eye on what the more popular videos are. A video released by Good Magazine is currently at the top of the charts which relates some stats about internet and porn. It’s pretty racy and not work safe for anybody working in a school environment. If want to watch it, you can find it here.
The reason that I mention the video is because it lists quite a few statistics. Bold statements like “25% of all search engine requests are for porn.” Or “35% of all internet downloads are pornographic in nature.” Or “Sex is the most searched word on the interenet.”
Honestly, I didn’t even question any of their numbers while watching the video because I figured there’d be a long list at the end detailing where they got their numbers from. Guess what? I was way wrong. At the end, the footnotes (written on the models foot no less) only contained three sites. I’ll quote it verbatim. “MSNBC.com TopTenReviews.com Alexa.com”
Can you believe that? Might as well just say, “Statistics were found by searching on Google” or “Figures determined by asking people”. I went to Good Magazine to find the original video and couldn’t find any more information about their sources there. I went to TopTenReviews.com as well, and discovered that it’s a site that basically reviews things like DVD’s, online services, and other such things. What that has to do with any sort of research is beyond me. So I went to check other stats of theirs. Between looking up what words were searched for on Google the most and browsing Alexa, barely any of their numbers seemed to add up.
My point? It’s easy to make up numbers and people seem to just take them for granted. It’s more important than ever that we teach our students to question so called ‘facts’ and to verify information for themselves, whether the source is Wikipedia, Good Magazine, or even Britannica. Heck, the last time somebody told me that the Declaration of Independence was signed in 1776, I checked it with three independent sites! Now more than ever, you’ve got to do your homework.
Oh yeah, and if you do put any stats in a presentation or video… Don’t forget to cite your sources.