Internet-based technology has reached a point where students are constantly connected to
the answers. While the answer that they
find may not be an accurate answer, chances are that students can find some information
to help them. A recent Harris poll (2014) revealed that while over 53% of elementary
students, 66% of middle school students, and 82% of high school students owned
a smartphone; yet, only 42% report using their smartphone for school work.
When
addressing the use of cell phones in the classroom educators and students can
have vastly different opinions. Teachers
over 50 tend to view cell phones as a distraction more than an educational tool in
the classroom, whereas younger, presumably more “tech-savvy” teachers tend to be
more open to the use of smartphones (O'bannon & Thomas, 2014).
Smartphone ownership is associated with age, income, and education level
in a predictable pattern (See Table 1; Anderson, 2015).
There is still a digital divide associated with SES and living in rural
communities (Anderson, 2015).
Obviously,
non-academic cellphone use can distract from student learning. Students k-12 who participated in the Harris
Poll (2015), reported that the majority of students prefer using tablets and
laptops for collaborating with other students (Harris Poll 2015). Hispanic students are much more likely to use
mobile technologies in school than African Americans or Caucasians (Harris
Poll, 2015). Despite the potential to
use smartphones for more than an endless pool of knowledge to find answers, it
seems that web 2.0 and 3.0 applications are not used in the classroom.
Table
1:Smartphone Ownership 2015
|
||
Smartphone
Ownership
|
Computer
Ownership
|
|
Age
|
||
18-29
|
86%
|
78%
|
30 -49
|
83%
|
81%
|
50-64
|
58%
|
70%
|
65 +
|
30%
|
50%
|
Income
Level
|
||
<$30,000
|
52%
|
50%
|
$30,001-49,999
|
69%
|
80%
|
$50,000-
74,999
|
76%
|
90%
|
$75,000
|
87%
|
91%
|
Education
Level
|
||
Less
than HS
|
41%
|
29%
|
High
School
|
56%
|
63%
|
Some
College
|
75%
|
81%
|
College
+
|
81%
|
90%
|
Adopted from Anderson, M. (2015). Technology Ownership 2015. Pew Research Center. Retrieved from http://www.pewinternet.org/2015/10/29/the-demographics-of-device-ownership/
| ||
In preparing students for their future,
they will need to not only find answers but also evaluate sources. Students will
use technology for collaboration and complex problem-solving. Yet, this is not what they are learning in the
classroom. This raises some questions
that need to be addressed by educators:
1. Does the curriculum taught in schools support Web 2.0 (collaboration) and Web 3.0 (intersection) technologies? A Web 3.0 application might be using Google
Maps and Earth to learn about how city capital buildings are positioned in different
parts of the country, or following the movement of a character in a novel.
2. What encourages teachers to use Web 2.0 or Web 3.0 applications in instruction?
3.
When does using technology for collaboration and problem solving become a necessary skill set?
4. Why are students turning away from
smartphones and tablets in favor of a laptop for schoolwork?
References
Anderson, M. (2015). Technology
device ownership 2015 Pew Research Center. Retrieved from http://www.pewinternet.org/2015/10/29/the-demographics-of-device-ownership/
O'bannon, B. W., & Thomas, K.
(2014). Teacher perceptions of using mobile phones in the classroom: Age
matters! Computers & Education, 74, 15-25.
Harris Poll (2014). Pearson student mobile
device survey 2014. https://www.pearson.com/content/dam/one-dot-com/one-dot-com/us/en/pearson-ed/downloads/2015-Pearson-Student-Mobile-Device-Survey-Grades-4-12.pdf
