School-Wide Bans of Mobiles Lead to Missed Opportunities

Photo by k.Akagami via Flickr

Below is a policy stance piece I submitted for my Mobile Phone Learning class, which explores how mobile phones can and are being used for educational purposes. It’s perhaps a bit too rah-rah to be of much analytical value, but it was a fun way to explore policy!

Like many other schools in the United States, the New York Public School system has taken a hard-line stance against the use of mobile phones by disallowing possession in schools. Supporters of such bans argue that permitting such devices increases distraction, enables cheating, and creates a risk for theft, while critics insist that phones are an integral part of students’ lives and that they can ultimately be used as tools to increase learning.

A key role of public schools is to prepare children for life after school and to encourage social responsibility. Putting a blanket-ban on the use of phones within schools not only destroys chances for innovation by teachers, but also ignores an opportunity for teaching students how to appropriately use technology in a social setting. I assert that classroom bans at the discretion of teachers are a much more palatable choice for school systems.

Organizations such as Sesame Workshop have demonstrated the efficacy of mobile phones for learning. To benefit from these tools, it is essential that schools explore how mobile phones can be integrated into classrooms and how they can bridge school and home environments. A peer-to-peer training approach may be particularly useful. Issues such as inequality of possession and appropriate use would need to be addressed by any strategic plan.

I recognize that a blanket ban is the easiest solution to the unregulated use of phones within classrooms. However, if school-wide bans continue to prevail, there will be no way to capitalize on the potential of these ubiquitous devices.