journal#4: SHOULD CELL PHONES BE BANNED FROM CLASSROOMS?

SHOULD CELL PHONES BE BANNED FROM CLASSROOMS?
Learning &Leading with technology-Vol-35 pg8-9
By Josh Allen and Liz Kolb

According to Josh Allen he does not think that cell phones should be used in the class rooms as technology. He says that the students waste a lot of time on these, and he believes that students can use it for purposes other than educational and he mention it as a way to spoil the children. On the other hand, District money should not be wasted on these cell phones instead they should invest on buying more laptops for students’ convenience. He says that using cell phine does not have any advantage and does not have any rule in students' learning skills.
Liz Kolb thinks that the schools should fully use the cell phone technology to teach the educational aspects of the modern technology and to help them for their future proffesional lives. She believes that it is a way to connect the students classroom learning to the real world.The schools can use this tool as knowledge construction, group communication tools to make students more competetive. The students can learn a lot of knowledge construction by using and working with their cell phones. She mentions that most cell phones have a lot of features like free Web-based software called Jott, a hearing impaired student can record audio on a cell phone to create text- written e-mails, or they can have many free Web 2.0 tools for innovative classroom projects. The students can take some pictures from special events and make a slide show and show it inthe class. The money spend on cell phones is less than any other technology tools like a computer or a laptop. Teachers can also use cell phone to communicate with the parents like sending text massage alerts to send information about assignment. Teachers can limit using cell phone in the class room by making some rules like collecting all the cell phone at the begining of class and return them back to use as a learning tool.
QUESTIONS:
1-Write some disadvantage of the cell phone use in the classroom?
According to Josh Allen “Laptops are much more versatile yet uniform than cell phones. Any monies a school spent on phones and plans would be much better served with any number of other technologies.it is an unnecessary way that parents do to spoil their children ."It is a way to waste the time for students and it may be used for uneducational purposes.
2-What is some great benefit that the cell phone can bring to students?
According to Liz Kolb “A basic cell phone has the ability to be the students’ “Swiss Army Knife” of technology. Allowing cell phones to become learning tools will give teachers the opportunity to introduce appropriate cell phone etiquette to students as well as show them how their toy can become an essential professional tool.Teachers can use this tool to communicate with the parents and send them text massage alerts about assignments. some of the students can take pictures with their cell phones and discuss about their experience in the class room and share them with their classmates.