A Love Affair with Technology

This statement is how Americana Association of School Administrators’ Executive Director, Dan Domevech, describes teen students connection with innovation.  It also creates an effective point in which to continue my discussion from last week.  In this discussion, I would like to elaborate specifically on cell phones as classroom tools.  Also, I would like to address valid concerns about the use of such devices in instruction.

In my last article, I demonstrate how iPhones can be used in social studies settings – specifically with geographic information systems (GIS) and other map skills.  However, not every cell phone owner has this level of technology available to him or her.  There are other applications that can be used with standard cell phones.  One is the texting activity I mentioned; using Google’s text service.  Another application is mentioned in Oklahoma’s NewsOK, in which texting extends beyond social studies, and beyond the classroom.  In the latter situation, the author mentions a Spanish teacher from Wiregrass Ranch High School in Wesley Chapel, Florida who uses cell phones for scavenger hunts and homework reminders.  She sends text messages to her students in Spanish to seek out various people and things within the school.  Through this interactive and seemingly fun activity, students get the opportunity to apply their language skills to a much more tangible level.  The homework reminders help students to complete expected tasks with greater success.  I suspect there are many other applications in many other subjects for the use of cell phones as teaching tools.

As there are two sides to every story, there are also two sides to any tool or learning aid.  With cell phones, I’ve demonstrated positive aspects, but there are two major concerns that parents and/or educators may possess.  First, one may be apprehensive, worrying that only a few lucky cell owners will be able to participate in such activities – leaving the majority of students high and dry.  Have no fear.  According to the Pew Internet & American Life Project, last year 71% of teens owned cell phones – with no observed differences among race or socioeconomic status – and that rate is growing rapidly.  Additionally, the project states that two in five students send text messages on a daily basis.  Yes, there is still a notable minority of teens without cell phones, but those students could engage in paired or group versions of activities, such as the Spanish scavenger hunt and others.  Therefore, all students can participate in learning through technology.

A second concern about using cell phones as academic tools lies with the issue of cheating.  A recent poll claims that up

Courtesy Tech Corner

to 35% of teens have been caught using phones in the act of dishonest academic behavior.  Further, US News reports, in a story about 21st century cheating, that 75% of parents believe this form of cheating is taking place in their children’s schools, but only 3% of parents believe it is their sons or daughters doing the deed.  These are not numbers to sneeze at.  One might say the easy solution is to ban cell phones from schools.  I agree with the principal at Ridgewood High School in Ridgewood, New Jersey (See above US News link), who says, “I think it’s a little bit naive to think that that’s going to solve the problem.  If you have a culture in your school where . . . there is an expectation that students are honest about their academic achievements, where students and the administration promote it, I think you decrease the opportunities for students to cheat.”  We as educators need to be a serious and consistent about cheating with phones as we are with cheating by sneaking answers the old fashioned way.  Further, banning cell phones will not stop students from using them, and it will defeat the idea that technology can be embraced as positive learning tools.  As I mentioned in my previous article, we must model safe and proper behavior – this is not limited to technology.

In closing, I simply want to state that technology is an inseparable part of students’ lives.  They may not see the learning potential of such innovation, but they are learning and are motivated to use this innovation.  Unfortunately, not everything they’re learning through these media is beneficial to their development – in the contexts that they presently use them.  Just as we model right and wrong with younger children, we should model right and wrong with older children in their use of cell phones, social networking sites, and other interactive communications.  For these reasons, we must include such entities in our classroom instruction.  By doing so, we are providing safe, appropriate, and cognitively developmental applications for things students are going to utilize regardless of our viewpoints on the matter.  Further, doing so also makes curriculum more relevant and meaningful for our students.  Let’s encourage our teen’s fascination with technology, not discourage it.

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