Using Cellphones in Classes

This article worked to build a case surrounding the usage of cellphones in an educational setting. The two primary avenues the research paper discussed were how the implementation would affect the Community of Inquiry (COI) framework and also the feedback from students who partook in the trial.

For me I found it refreshing that the article took steps to account for the soft impact of stigma and perception. All technology has a rate of adoption that is integral to its ultimate success or failure; using new technologies in education is no different. In fact, it is my belief that the metric for the rate of adoption is magnified in importance specifically in the education field. There are many practices that are becoming more and more antiquated, and behind these antiquated practices are deprecated professionals who are resisting the tides of change. The very nature of teacher-student interactions mandates that the teacher be proficient in all subject matter that flow through the course and technological competence should be no different. Couple this with the public expansive nature of education while sprinkling in issues such as accessibility and the problem space continues to grow.

A large part of the excitement behind using cellphones as an educational tool is many of the aforementioned problems are alleviated. As the article notes, almost all people have a cellphone and more importantly students have a firm understanding of how to use the devices. However, there arise new problems concerning cellphones. Primarily, when cellphones in school are brought up, the initial gut reaction by the majority of educators is “Oh they can use them to cheat!” This lone stigma has the potential to derail or at the very least severely impede the adoption of cellphones into the classroom as a tool rather than a liability. I feel that this will not change until assessment trends evolve and texting your friend “1C,2D,3A” will be sufficient for cheating. The very nature of the COI is to move away from these types of assessment and knowledge acquisition anyways.

The second portion of the research paper focused on the experiment conducted with students who were enrolled in online courses and received text messages throughout the semester. On their exit surveys the response was very encouraging; students could receive information about classes and feedback immediately without having to go through extra steps to access it. They reported an increased feeling of connectedness in the class and felt that the instructor was more in tuned with their students. These are all very important aspects to keep in mind when designing online learning content. The necessity to feel connected and part of a whole will continue to gain prominence with course designers as students in those conditions are more motivated and excel over archaic ports of lecture methods into a digital medium.

Kovalik, Cindy. Text Messaging and the Community of Inquiry in Online Courses, 2010 June. http://jolt.merlot.org/vol6no2/kovalik_0610.pdf