Some teachers embrace cell phones for class
Virtually since their invention, cell phones have been banned in classrooms everywhere. Now some teachers are beginning to see value in wireless handsets as teaching (and learning) tools.
A few teachers are beginning to believe that they can take advantage of the love young people have for their cell phones. One example cited by an AP story is Spanish teacher Ariana Leonard, who not only allows her students to use their cell phones during class, she requires it. In Leonard’s classes, the phones are used for class lessons, to turn Spanish vocabulary lessons into digital scavenger hunts, to copy notes with cell phone cameras, and even to send text messages to remind students of their homework assignments.
Leonard is a big believer in the positive values of cell phone usage. She says “I can use my cell phone for all these things, why can’t I use it for learning purposes? Giving them something, a mobile device, that they use every day for fun, giving them another avenue to learn outside of the classroom with that.” Nor is leonard along in her belief that cell phones make good educational tools.
The days when teachers just thought that cell phones would be used to cheat or to distract students from their lessons are fading fast. Dan Domevech, executive director of the nonprofit American Association of School Administrators, says “It really is taking advantage of the love affair that kids have with technology today. The kids are much more motivated to use their cell phone in an educational manner.”
Cell phones in the educational process can be used, like almost all technology, for good or for evil. It is clear from the success enjoyed by some teachers that cell phone can be used to help students learn, with no more problems experienced than with traditional tools. Students were disrupting classes with plain paper and pencil long before the cell phone came along. Used properly, it seems that the wireless handset can be a good tool in the hands of good teachers and it is likely that the barrier between education and cell phones will continue to fall.
Related Posts:
