Things are busy as I wade into two conjoining streams: my second year as a full-time teacher and a master’s degree in educational technology. The part I most enjoy about my new profession is the flurry of ideas I find myself sifting through when trying to plan new experiences for my students. Exciting more are the ideas that now fly around my head like invading locusts are those concerning educational technology…
When our program supervisor Michael Paskevicius challenged us to think of issues surrounding educational technology in our first meeting, my mind went to once singular, yet extremely pervasive topic: cell phones in the classroom. Several provinces and districts are experimenting with restricting cell phones in classrooms with some enacting total bans (Benchetrit). The thing that I wonder about is the effect that these bans are meant to have on students and if they are, in fact, the ones we want.
At my school, I teach math and physics to senior school students and the group that interests me most (especially with regards to cell phone use) are my grade 12’s. They often use their phones in class but many of them do so responsibly. They are able to moderate their phone use (to some degree) while giving me enough of their attention to absorb some of what I am clamoring about.
This is the issue, I think, is not about limiting phone use to improve student attention span, but rather teaching them how to moderate their phone usage themselves. When they leave my classroom, their inability to moderate their own behavior becomes extremely important as they move into college classrooms or diverse work sites. Opportunities will pass them by if they can’t unglue themselves from their devices and in that, we do them a disservice by limiting their usage in an authoritative way. How will they learn when it is appropriate to use their devices we never give them a chance to practice?
References:
Benchetrit, J. (2023). “Canadian schools are experimenting with cellphone bans, but some parents say the devices are lifelines.” CBC.ca
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/canadian-schools-cell-phone-bans-1.6869993
