As a high school teacher, I notice that cell phone use in the school is ubiquitous, and there is much debate among teachers whether or not to allow cell phones in the classroom. Analyzing this article was important as the research described what students thought of using cell phones for learning, which is sometimes an important voice unheard. The results weren’t revolutionary, but they did confirm some of the observations I had made. In general, students would like to better utilize their phone for learning, but they don’t know how or the teacher didn’t design the lesson for it. There is often a missed opportunity to teach digital citizenship and literacy. Therefore, I think it is important to consider the opportunities for learning that cell phones, or any ed tech tool, can provide when creating any learning activity.
NETP has collated some good ideas, examples and resources to help promote the active use of technology.