any teachers here? a question about phones etc

ilcp

ilcp

ilcp

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General question that came into my mind:

are mobile phones/tablets etc distracting, do you find students spending far too much time on them?
 
ilcp said:
General question that came into my mind:

are mobile phones/tablets etc distracting, do you find students spending far too much time on them?
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Yes, they are a pain.

I should possibly qualify that. Younger ones will generally be more preoccupied with the social aspect/apps and somehow think that mobiles are essential to their wellbeing.

If a class extracts the urine, everybody puts their phone in a clear wallet at the front of the class. I do not touch it and they can see it at all times.

Older ones and students with kids, in an evening class for example, can have their phones on due to the possiblilty of having dependants.
 
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If you mean use in lessons then I only wish we could use them! At the school I work at which is an all boys high school we still have no wifi network, no tablets or laptops. We have fixed computers which haven't been replaced for five years.
Sad times for education in this country I'm afraid like so many other industries.

We are encouraged as staff to bring our own devices which I do but what's the point if a network isn't available.

There are many schools that aren't as far behind as mine and I would imagine that as long as they are planned for and the use is effective then It shouldn't be a problem!

One concern that I do have is the significant rise in videos on youtube of school environments, teachers, fights etc since Internet enabled devices have increased in affordability. It still shocks me how 11 year olds can have contract phones via parents happy to pay thirty quid a month.
This last week I have found ten videos of pupils at the school that have had to be removed.

Personally my view is that as long as strong policy is followed and expectations for use are fair then they are of fantastic use in schools. Not sure that tablets should entirely replace pen and paper though!
 
I used to teach 14 to 16 year olds for 2 years and phones & Facebook/PCs was a major problem. I then said if they get their work done they can use the end of the day for Facebook but some of them were rushing their work to get on Facebook. In the end I got Facebook blocked and made them hand in their mobiles when they came into class. Several of the students even bought spare phones to hand in but I caught them.
 
thanks guys.

I was/am thinking of creating an app for like resources i.e. if they want help with Algebra, they can choose that from within the app and get examples/resources but one thing playing in my mind is if i did create it, the teachers might not be happy because they wouldnt necessarily know what the students are looking at?
 
Phones and tablets are a pain in classrooms when you're wanting to teach, although they can be a good outside the classroom.

At the school I worked we made things like coursework guides available on the network, they could be grabbed directly to the phone\tablet. I even had a bluetooth method up and running before I left.

I did a lot for that school... pfft, bloody redundancy </sour grapes>
 
I find them a great incentive in my classroom. Children love the technology and most of them know more about them than the staff.

Phones are a no no. but tablets can enhance learning as long as it is appropriate. Quite a few good apps about which can be used.

I hope do some Pi work with my after school club.

(I work in upper KS2 primary but I thought I would join in)
 
If kids are connecting to the local wifi, you could filter from that end, although you know...Its not hard for kids to just switch off the wifi, although then there would be data charges, for kids without a decent contract. :D

Which to be honest, I dont imagine many kids have contract phones. Could be wrong!
 
They're extremely annoying, especially blackberry's.

Tablets/Laptops not so much, our internet is pretty restricted so people don't usually bother faffing around.

(I'm a student)
 
so do you think me creating an app to facilitate teacher/students is a good idea?

The only real "problem" I have is whether students will faff around and i know you have mentioned Wifi restriction but there are chances that the student could have their own data package and also chances a school isnt that technical and don't yet have Wifi but then again there is another problem where a student doesn't have a data package and there is no wifi ?
 
I wish schools were allowed to be made into mobile blackspots.

Most annoying thing about having a lovely controlled network complete with guest and student wireless that is filtered by an expensive and in depth filtering system.......they can all get to whatever they want on 3G :/

EDIT: well i guess not strictly true as 3G has parental controls on by default i suppose, but that's not difficult to get around as all it needs is a credit card number.
 
ilcp said:
so do you think me creating an app to facilitate teacher/students is a good idea?

The only real "problem" I have is whether students will faff around and i know you have mentioned Wifi restriction but there are chances that the student could have their own data package and also chances a school isnt that technical and don't yet have Wifi but then again there is another problem where a student doesn't have a data package and there is no wifi ?
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What platform are you considering? One concern (especially if the school is running a bring your own device policy) is social equity, you are effectively restricting learning to those that can afford the technology. Another problem would be integrating with the current school network. You also have issues regarding content creation, is it quick, is it easy, is it easy to share?
 
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