Image linked to source If you haven't heard yet, smart phones in schools is becoming a pretty realistic consideration for a lot of schools. They bring a lot of benefits, as talked about all over this site, but they also bring some risks. An online site called Lisa Nielsen gives us a few reasons why we should perhaps reconsider in an article called Should Smart Phones be Banned from Schools?
In this article a lot of legitimate concerns are addressed for possible problems with smart phones in school. There is the concern of bullying and rumor spreading using smart phones There is also a concern of using smart phones on tests to cheat. What if a student forgets to bring their phone to class that day?
I think that there are solutions to all potential roadblocks though. For instance lets take the bullying situation. First off lets get the cop-out answer out of the way: Kids are gonna be bullies over the internet whether the school provides them smart phones or not. This is a crappy answer that lacks a solution. Lets try this instead: If schools provide students with smart phones then they also have to ability and right to search phones for evidence of bullying or harassment. To do this parents of the students and the students would need to sign a contract that allows this. This would stop bullying and punish those who tried.
The next issue is cheating on test. Again students who are gonna cheat are gonna cheat, smart phones do make this easier. However if the school issues the smart phones then they have control in knowing who has a smart phone to cheat with which in this case would be everyone. So simply have a collection basket in which students place phones in before tests.
A lot of the potential issues that we have with smart phones can be solved by knowing that the school has the power to decide how they are used. This makes smart phones an effective and safe learning tool.
In this article a lot of legitimate concerns are addressed for possible problems with smart phones in school. There is the concern of bullying and rumor spreading using smart phones There is also a concern of using smart phones on tests to cheat. What if a student forgets to bring their phone to class that day?
I think that there are solutions to all potential roadblocks though. For instance lets take the bullying situation. First off lets get the cop-out answer out of the way: Kids are gonna be bullies over the internet whether the school provides them smart phones or not. This is a crappy answer that lacks a solution. Lets try this instead: If schools provide students with smart phones then they also have to ability and right to search phones for evidence of bullying or harassment. To do this parents of the students and the students would need to sign a contract that allows this. This would stop bullying and punish those who tried.
The next issue is cheating on test. Again students who are gonna cheat are gonna cheat, smart phones do make this easier. However if the school issues the smart phones then they have control in knowing who has a smart phone to cheat with which in this case would be everyone. So simply have a collection basket in which students place phones in before tests.
A lot of the potential issues that we have with smart phones can be solved by knowing that the school has the power to decide how they are used. This makes smart phones an effective and safe learning tool.
Image found: http://www.innovatingjustice.com/innovations/a-smartphone-app-against-bullying
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