Is Banning Smartphones from Class Actually Hurting Education?
How many times have you or your kids had your phone taken away in class? Teachers have been calling out mobile phones as “classroom distractions” since they were invented, but now that more than three out of four teens have one, many teachers and schools are finding ways to embrace smartphone technology and use it to their advantage.
If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em, as the saying goes, and since students are unlikely to stop carrying their smartphones around with them, why not put the devices to use as a tool for learning instead of just texting? From scavenger hunts to free video lessons, here are some of the new and innovative ways we’ve seen educators use smartphones in the classroom.
Campus Tours: Rather than handing out paper maps, the admissions office at Dartmouth College has turned self-guided tours into a game. Using the mobile application SCVNGR, new students and visitors get points for completing challenges around campus, liking taking photos of other students with the same major.
Interactive Lesson Plans: As mobile phones begin to offer increasing educational benefits, school districts across the U.S. are easing their restrictions on the devices and some are even welcoming them in the classroom. A science teacher in Wyoming, for example, is implementing QR codes (quick response codes) as educational tools. Students in his/her class use apps for quick, fact-based research and group polls. Using QR code reader apps like QR Droid and Google Goggles, students can investigate various uses of water around campus.
Classroom Management: Mobile apps can help teachers manage their classes as well. One developer is working on an app that will allow teachers to track the behavior of their students in real time.
Rather than filling out paperwork after a disruptive incident or trying to recall values to praise come report-card time when a child has no record of disruption, ClassDojo provides real-time feedback loops. ClassDojo hopes both teachers and students will benefit from this, and parents will eventually be able to tap into it, as well.Study Tools: Apps can also be valuable tools for students, helping them stay on top of assignments or seek extra help in a subject area. The Khan Academy app offers hundreds of free video lessons on math, science and other topics. College students can also use mobile apps like Blackboard to keep track of posts from their professors, class syllabi and their grades.
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