Personally Owned Devices or whether or not using them in the classroom.
I have noticed there is a lot of talk at the moment about cell phones in schools: should they be banned or could they be used as a learning tool? Teachers I know from my PLN, twitter and from the blogs I read are mostly pro cell phones. However, the policy at my school is that cell phones have no place in the classroom and that students shouldn't be using them during lessons. I understand that if a student uses his or her cellphone to answer a call or a text message during a lesson, then obviously the teacher should stop it. But I have read an excellent post by Steve Dembo where he explains that " a teacher requires that the cell phone be out and ON the desk. In plain site. Not hidden in a pocket or backpack. So if the student is using it, the teacher KNOWS. And if the student is using it when they shouldn’t… Well, that’s when there are consequences. Phone is confiscated until the end of the week, or the parent can pay a $25 fine to get it back for their student. Sure, there were plenty of students who lost their phones, and plenty of fines paid. They used the money to pay for a field trip before the end of the year. But the point is, the students learned when it was ok to be using the phone as a learning device, and when it was inappropriate. Believe me, no student wants to go to his parents and let them know that they need $25 to get their phone back… and explain why."
Now my school has a tight budget and clearly lacks new technology and as Steve Dembo mentions "here we are with millions of dollars in technology that’s being paid for by the parents VOLUNTARILY… and most schools refuse to leverage it because of outdated policies and teachers that don’t want to modify their own classroom management strategies."I must admit I love my computer but I am not really good with cell phones or other personally owned devices, I have the most basic one just in case of emergency. Most of my contacts are by emails or skype calls. However after watching this wonderful presentation from this other excellent post by Lisa Nielsen, I am tempted to have no fear and give cell phones or ipods a go, especially because we don't have many computers in my school. If in any doubt about whether or not you should allow your students to use their cell phones in your lesson, watch this, it's great! The POD's are Coming
