Comments on: Should Cell Phones Be Used In Education? Hall Davidson Thinks They Should

By: Osman

Osman — Mon, 11 May 2009 19:00:36 +0000

Cell phones should be used in a class because of a calculater

By: Garry

Garry — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 21:04:03 +0000

I agree that some studient could quite possible cheat on test and other things but then again if you use it for projects like taking pictures and even call parents for a change of planes they can contact them if you set rules for useing a selfphone in school maby some kides wont follow it but the kides that do arnt the ones getting lose and kide napped because they couldnt call there parents for a change of planes instead the’l be able to call there parents before school ends and tell them whats going to happen with the schedues…

sincerely Garry
Age 13
Born 1994
7th grade
akwmel middle school al

By: Classroom Management

Classroom Management — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 23:53:09 +0000

It sounds like student compliance with school and classroom policity is an issue.
Most schools I’ve heard of with an honor code, make a student who is aware of cheating, but doesn’t report it, guilty of an honor code violation.

One key goal for many students personal development is self-regulation. Simply put, that is the ability to manage distractions and focus on the task at hand. As classroom facilitator, the teacher has a role in instilling this behavior during school time.

In meetings we’ve had with teachers, our school district still has a “no electronic devices in the classroom” policy. However, a naive interpretation of this leads to a ban on even laptop computers, which are useful in the classroom.

Having access to a cell phone during school hours is considered a safety issue by parents. This isn’t going to change. The school must adapt to ubiquitous mobile internet devices, but still set policies that allow enforcement of an “acceptable use policy” during school times. Now that Google has opened up the cell phone as a generally programmable device, these kind of ‘nanny’ applications will be possible.

Perhaps a “school mode”, where text msg reception isn’t allowed except for those originated by the parent and school, would be most helpful. Just don’t expect your wireless carrier to provide it for you, you’ll have to get a developer to build it.

By: Will "not the actor" Smith

Will "not the actor" Smith — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 14:53:30 +0000

I totally agree – when my son was in high school at a Christian Private School here in North Dallas (at a large, mega-church, mind you), even though the cell phones were not “allowed” during school, the students still used them extensively to cheat on tests, texting each other the answers. It mad my son mad that they would do that, even though they signed a code of conduct agreement.

Use it in the workplace at conferences for voting or interactive questions from the audience to enhance a presentation, but not for core education. The students need more focus on the teacher and what they are teaching, and the distractions of technology will definitely not help that effort. When MS Windows first came out, I was in college and a co-op employee (half-days) at a very large long distance telecommunication company here in the US. Engineers were trying to justify playing solitaire during working hours as “practice getting comfortable with using a mouse.” Distractions are everywhere, and we as humans will find them. Let’s not hand our kids those technology distractions when they’re already struggling to meet the minimum standards in school.