Using mobile phones responsibly and safely in schools.

Recently, I came across this article. It was produced in Austria by handywissen.at where almost everyone owns a mobile phone. I was going to post a link and then found that it had been uploaded to slideshare.

Using the mobile_phone_in_school

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It makes very interesting reading and has been written specifically for teachers giving advice and tips on how to deal with mobile devices in schools. It contains exercises which encourage students to learn how to use their mobile phones in a safe and responsible way.

It is definitely worth reading.

No excuse not to use mobiles in schools.

If you cast your mind back a couple of years, you'll remember I wrote a guest post for José Picardo's box of tricks site which even ended up as an e-book.

The post was all about how I had used, and intended to use, mobile phones in class with my students. The opening paragraph was about how the Stewart Enquiry or Independent Expert Group on Mobile Phones had advised UK schools in 2001 about the dangers of children under 16 using mobile phones.

Now new research from the Institute of Cancer and Epidemiology in Denmark, reported here by the BBC news website, has found that users of mobile phones are at no greater risk of developing brain cancer than anyone else.

So school leaders, apart from the bullying, abuse and theft issues (I'm still working on these), you really have no excuse to continue to ban phones in schools.

Using mobile phones in school.

Almost a year ago I changed jobs. My "new" school doesn't allow mobile phones (yet) but I am working on a presentation to argue a case for allowing them in school.

At my previous school when I used mobile phones with my students, they really enjoyed the activities and seemed to be much better motivated.

Today I read an excellent blog post by Gemma Dobson, a languages teacher in Devon, who has been using mobile phones with her Year 8 class. She appears to be doing some excellent work with the students and getting them really motivated.

Last week I mentioned the possibility of using phones in class to some of my own students and they seemed genuinely enthusiastic. That is, until one of my brighter students said, "That would be great and, if we got bored, we could text our friends."

Aaaarrghhh!

Mobile phones in the classroom........again.

By now most of my friends and colleagues know my opinions on using mobile phones in the classroom. I've just read this article Cell phones in the Classroom. Bad idea, inevitable, or both? by Brad Moon.

It was tweeted to me by Clare and Alex and they got it from Peter.

(Sounds like a disease, I know.)

In the article, written in Canada, the writer tells us that the OSSTF is against allowing students to have mobile phones in school for the following reasons (the comments in italics are my childish attempts at humour):

1) they cause a distraction to students

(as do wasps and farts. Can we please ban those, too?)

2) there is a potential for student/teacher conflicts

(just like homework, shall we ban that, too?)

3) it may cause a socio-economic divide between students

(this has always existed. we can tell who are the rich kids and who are the poor kids without mobile phone inspections!)

4) they could be used to cheat during tests

(now you're just being silly. Even the most myopic of invigilators would notice a student using a telephone in a test, surely. Plus I can't even get a signal in my classroom unless I stand on a desk with one leg and both arms in the air!)

On a more serious note, mobile phones, or as I shall now refer to them, Personal Learning Devices (PLDs) are not going to go away. As educators we should be using them to their full potential in our classrooms.

If students placed their PLDs on the desk in front of them with their other equipment and in full sight of the teacher, the opportunities for abusing them would be almost non-existent.

Allowing students to use PLDs in schools may have teething troubles at the start, but in my experience the students who use them have been very sensible.

One final point and this is a fact: More students come to my classroom with a mobile phone than a pen.

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PS I've just received a link from Isabelle which takes me to this article written by Ian Yorston, who sums up what I've been trying to say for the last two years in one sentence. I'm sure he won't mind me quoting him:

Schools don't need ICT. It's coming through our doors every day. We just need to adopt and adapt a little bit.

Switching off.

Woohoo! It's the Christmas holidays.

School is finished.

There is nothing urgent I have to do.

Finally, I can relax.

Do nothing.

I can switch off.

Totally.

Or can I?

If that were true, why do I keep doing work-type things?

In the last 2 days...

I've made storybirds.

I've updated my department's wiki with some students' work and an Xtranormal greeting for the homepage.

I've spent ages looking into how I can get KS4 to use their mobile telephones in class.

I've just taken a look at some homework my year 8 and year 9 students have emailed me and emailed my thanks and encouragement back.

I'm working on my yr13 Scheme of Work, reading Ripon Grammar School's MFL site (really excited about the new Year 10 & 11 listening exercises), having a look at Ashcombe School's MFL resources for some inspiration as I haven't visited for a while, and I've been reading all the updates on the blogs listed below.

And later this evening, I'm hoping to find some time to read a bit more of Geoff Petty's Evidence-Based Teaching.

Can a teacher ever switch off?

A matter of trust.

Mobile telephones are banned in my school.

I understand why. They can get broken, stolen, be used for bullying, disrupting lessons, etc, and if a student doesn't have the "right phone" then that can be a basis for bullying, too.

Two weeks ago, I was teaching a Year 11 (Grade 10) GCSE French class when I noticed one of the students using a mobile 'phone.

I asked her what she was doing.

She replied, "I'm using "wordreference"to look up a word I can't find in the dictionary."

She showed me the screen and, sure enough, she was.

I was pleased. A student taking responsibility for her own learning is a rarity in my school and I praised her for using her initiative.

Some of the other students were amazed that I didn't confiscate it, like some of my colleagues would have.

Now, if they ask, "Can I use my 'phone to...?" even though it is against the rules, I usually find myself saying, "Yes."