Allowing mobile devices in the classroom is risky
business. I found students were
constantly sending texts and looking things up on the internet during class
time. Taking cell phones away from
students is necessary, although an interruption to class discussions. Occasional use of cell phones in the
classroom, for the educational purposes, can be fun. However, I somewhat agree with the commenter
at the bottom of the article who says, “Sad,,,,the Poll everywhere thing is a joke...a novelty that does ZERO
to enhance education.” In order
for pollanywhere to be effective in the classroom it would have to be used in a
consistent manner over a number of classes.
More often than not, however, it is used once, mainly it seems for the
purpose of having the students believe that the teacher is hip to the newest
technologies. This only goes so
far. Gimmicks are fun, but when it comes
to real educational value, pollanywhere has its limitations.
In any case, personal digital devices are becoming more and
more common, so we are going to be seeing a whole lot more of them being used
in the classroom. It is good that there
is an active debate over how and when these devices should be allowed.
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