Could it be that the much-reviled and oft-banned cellphone is experiencing a warm welcome in the nation’s schools? Yes indeed, according to a fascinating article in the current issue of Education Week, which reports: “A growing number of teachers, carefully navigating district policies and addressing their own concerns, are having students use their personal cellphones to make podcasts, take field notes, and organize their schedules and homework.”
The article goes on to give specific examples of cell-phone driven lessons that secondary-school teachers have used successfully, from creating polls and podcasts to interviewing research subjects. It also makes the point that using cellphones to teach computing has economic advantages for cash-strapped schools: “Indeed, more educators are concluding that cellphones may be the only realistic way their schools can offer the 1-to-1 computing experiences that better-funded schools provide with laptops.”
I urge you to check out this piece – it’s heartening to read about educators who, instead of resisting technology, are using it safely and brilliantly. I am so excited after reading this story, and I can’t wait to check out some of the resources it mentions.
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