EDIM 514 Week 4_Mobiles in the Classroom Interview

This week's topic of discussion was on cell phones in the classroom. Weather cell phones are a good thing for education or they aren't. After discussing this through our discussion board, my discussion thread came to consensus that cell phones are amazing tools that can be used in the classroom, but also can be a nuisance. This is definitely true. Sometimes they are more of a distraction than a tools for success. With every situation / classroom comes different needs and supplements. If its not for you or that activity, don't use them. If it makes teaching / learning more efficient, engaging, and collaborative then use them.

Next, we were assigned a small activity on this same topic. We were posed with finding an educator whom uses mobile devices in the classroom and interview them. The person I chose to interview was my brother who also teaches Tech. Ed., but in another district than me. I chose to interview him because his district is very strict on policies that involve mobile devices, and I thought it would be funny to see his perspective on it.

The first question I asked him was to explain his school policy on the topic of cell phones in the classroom. He stated:

"My school tries to be up to date with technology, but struggles with their connection to how things really work. The policy used to be that cell phones were not acceptable to have on themselves unless they were off and in a bag. If they were seen out in plain sight without informing or asking the teacher first, the teacher could confiscate it. The teacher would then have to write the student up and tell them to pick up the phone at the end of the day in the office. Now that the school has tried to adopt the technology as a teaching tool, the policy has slightly changed to allowing the students to have their cell phones with them as long as they are on silent and are not using them unless the teacher says so. The confiscating policy is still in effect."

When I asked him about how the community (parents and guardians) felt about the policy change, he stated:

"The community was actually OK with the change. The school was smart before changing the policy. They sent out a community poll to see their feelings on the possible policy change. The results were overwhelmingly positive for it. I think this had to do with an article that was posted on the front page of the newspaper the week before about how a teacher in a neighboring district has changed the atmosphere within his classroom by utilizing cell phones as a powerful tool. Once the positive results came back, the school held a board meeting to address the topic once again and anyone in the community could voice their opinion at."

Last but not least, I asked him about the technology / education change / challenges he has encountered since the change. He stated:

"The biggest problem I have encountered so far is that the school does not have a guest network that the students can use. The network that is available is blocked with a private IT password. Also the signal strength of most cell phone's mobile access in our building is very bad. Its so spotty throughout the building that some students hold the phone out the classroom window to upload something. Until IT creates a guest network, the student's cell phones are basically only being used as a camera, video recorder, calculator, or notepad; all of which I already have in my classroom. Not being able to use it as instructed angers the students, and then they just wind up playing games on them until you see they aren't actually on task but instead playing games. When you ask why or yell at them they blame it on not having internet access, which is a good explanation. Most teachers have complained and then gave up. It almost seems like the school has created the policy change to say to the public that they are allowing cell phones like the other districts are, but yet know they don't work within the building anyways. To say the least, its frustrating!"

After that conversation I could tell he was done with the interview because he spent enough time getting angry just thinking about it. I still appreciated his input and it made me much happier to be in a district that 100% supports technology at its best.