The Powerful Computer in Your Pocket: Using Smartphones in the Classroom

[Commentary] Many schools ban phones in classrooms. Why?

Well, students may text with the phones -- they could be sending messages from their pockets and under the desks during lectures. They could play games and go on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram, disengaging from what they are supposed to be doing in the classroom. The smartphone's plight is compounded by the reality that there really is no substitution in the old classroom model that would require a student to have a smartphone in class. To even imagine the uses of a smartphone in the classroom, a teacher would need to begin climbing up the SAMR (Substitution, Augmentation, Modification, Redefinition) ladder pretty quickly from the substitution level. And so, if the benefits of technology seem to not outweigh the risks, teachers and administrators can come to the conclusion that there is no reason to employ them in the classroom. But there are reasons.

With smartphones, students can quickly use apps like Socrative to input answers, allowing teachers to gather more quantitative data about what students understand in the moment. Students can more easily engage with information on a creative level, taking pictures and video and incorporating them into the way they demonstrate understanding and share what they know. Students can connect with their teachers via text to clarify assignments, video chat with teammates who may be in another class or absent from school, and share ideas on Twitter and other social media. Additionally, with smartphones, students can use a cellular connection instead of Wi-Fi, so that there are fewer hindrances to connectivity. And smartphones are physically smaller, and therefore less of an obstacle to interpersonal interaction, than laptop screens. Teachers are looking for technology to enhance learning, not dominate it; the minimalist nature of smartphones can help tech to be more seamlessly integrated in the classroom.