The Cell Phone

This is a topic I have been pondering for quite sometime. CELL PHONES IN EDUCATION. I stress it because these devices have become such a stress on so many teachers. I have come to the following conclusion about cell phones:

1. They exist
2. They will continue to exist
3. They will be used by more and younger students in the future
4. They will have a positive impact on education in the future

Ok, I respect school districts or schools ability to make decisions about technology. Some of these schools have decided to ban all cell phone use. As a high school teacher I can see how this would an advantage. No more ‘emergency’ text messages from parents that students have to answer during class, no more wondering about what that guy is really doing with his hands under his desk in the back of the class, no more worry about your video or picture showing up on Youtube.

However, the power of these hand held devices is undeniable. I currently teach 10^th grade students. That means they were born in 1992-1993. Do you know what that is in cell phone years? Well in 1992 about 1% of the world hand a cell phone. At the end of 2007 there was an estimated 3.3 billion cell phone subscriptions on the planets, around 50% of the world population. In the U.S. the mobile phone penetration rate is 81% according to Wikipedia.

So if we look at the number of cell phones on earth compared to the number of phones on earth it would be something like this:

Cell have increased from basically zero since 1992 to 3.3 billion 2007.

World population increased from basically zero (33 million) in 2000 BCE to 3.3 billion in 1965.

So in cell phone years these kids would about 4007 years old.

It makes me nervous to hear schools ‘coming down hard’ on cell phone use. It is an uphill battle at best and more likely a futile fight. The pendulum has already swung and educators need to face that reality.

I think it makes more sense to find a way to bring these devices into the educational fold rather than stripping these students of one of the ways they communicate and recieve information effectively. These devices can be used for education; however, the companies that make the products have not had to dedicate attention to educational possibilities and teachers (myself included) have not spent enough time seriously considering these devices as an educational tool. It is my guess that when this happens the impact will be enormous.

Is it annoying to teachers to see a kid texting in class- yes. But it shouldn’t be reach the deepest pit of anger that it seems to reach with many teachers. If a students is a talking to another student when they should not be, a good teacher has strategies to deal with that type of activity. In my opinion a good teacher does not threaten to take the students tung and give it to a higher authority until and even higher authority can come pick it up. We can find a way to make these thing useful.

Here are some examples and thoughts other people have on the issue.

Cell Phones in the Classroom: A Good Practice Guide

Exploring Cellphones as Learning Tools

Improving education with teacher of the year

ACU first university in nation to provide iPhone or iPod touch to all incoming freshmen