“Why relegate that smartphone to a pocket when you can unleash that power for good, for learning?” https://www.chronicle.com/article/the-distracted-classroom/
The discussion in these articles of how to harness the power of smartphones and the independence they symbolize for students in the classroom not only embodies the theme of the week, but of this class as a whole! As we’ve learned in HIS 3630, technology can enhance our teaching in so many ways. Why should we cast aside the promise of the cell phone as another vessel for knowledge when we’re placing such great emphasis on tech in the classroom in all other forms? In history especially, it’s vital to promote student independence, which in turn, helps them to make valuable mistakes and learn from them. By taking the cell phone – a prominent variable in a students’ world – out of the equation in terms of the history classroom and the exploration done within it, we hinder students’ ability to grasp the full scope of what it means to do history in the ‘digital age’.
“If I ban cellphones outright, I can’t have this conversation about what the future may hold for my students. Certainly some students will continue to act in risky ways online. That’s what teens do—engage in risky behavior. I can’t change that, but I can make sure the students who are ready to listen and think before they act are informed properly.” https://www.teachingquality.org/4-things-youll-miss-by-banning-cellphones-in-your-classroom/
This quote not only encompasses some of the real world implications of banning cell phones in the classroom, but brings up the question whether or not we will diminish students’ ability to learn history in today’s context if we remove a large chunk of the context of our time – the cell phone. In making the decision on cell phone bans in classrooms in the context of history, one must consider the purpose of teaching history in the first place – to teach through history. Students are not just in our classrooms to learn the facts of the past. We should be teaching them how to create meaningful connections to the past within the context of the world they live in today. If we isolate our teaching of history from the technology that is so characteristic of the historical context our students are growing up in, we are failing to equip our students with the tools they need to engage in modern modes of critical thinking and exploration of the past.
“Distraction occurs, the authors argue, when we are pursuing a goal that really matters and something blocks our efforts to achieve it. After all, we don’t consider ourselves distracted when we are scrolling through Facebook on a Friday night with nothing else to do — we are only distracted when we are scrolling through Facebook while trying to grade papers.” https://www.chronicle.com/article/the-distracted-classroom/
I thought this point was worth further discussion because it’s vital that we find ways to allow students the freedom to apply their main technological influence to their work without labeling it a “distraction”. I think exploring ways to apply the cell phone to the classroom environment, rather than removing it as if it’s not a prominent part of our students lives, is something that we should practice if we want to produce more engagement among students. It’s less of a distraction if it’s what we intended on including in our line of focus in the first place!
