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One emerging trend that has been the topic of much debate in educational circles has been how use of electronic devices such as cell phones can benefit the educational process. With the majority of middle and high school students having cell phones and the number of elementary school students with cell phones increasing, the average student essentially has “a computer in his or her pocket,” says Marc Prensky, a New York City educator and consultant. His 2004 article, “What Can You Learn From a Cell Phone? Almost Anything!” discusses how to use the growing number of computers in student pockets to increase learning, noting that “even the simplest, voice-only phones have more complex and powerful chips than the 1969 on-board computer that landed a spaceship on the moon!” Prensky further reports that while U.S. educators are busy banning cell phones in schools, millions in China, Japan and other countries are using their cell phones to learn English, study math, health and spelling, and to access live and archived university lectures. Prensky concludes that “rather than fight the trend for kids to come to school carrying their own powerful learning devices—which they have already paid for,” that we should use the opportunity to our advantage.
According to the “2007 Technology Counts” report from Education Week, “the technology so integral to young people’s lives holds immense promise for academic learning, but relatively few schools have embraced it. Experts say insufficient training and lingering skepticism about the new tools contribute to the lag.” The result: students often feel disconnected once they cross the school threshold since the tools they use on a regular basis in the “outside world” are not being integrated or in many cases even allowed in the classroom. For many students, technology in the schools means using the Internet for research or PowerPoint for presentations. Still, the report indicates that a few school districts across the country have begun to realize that they can use the technology available in cell phones and other electronic devices as learning tools, with students using MP3 players to learn languages, school websites to post work, edit another student’s work, or join classmates in responding to a teacher’s discussion prompts, and teacher-prepared podcasts to review for tests.
Web posted: 04/01/08 from The Classroom Teacher, Spring 2008
