Trend: Mobile Phones in the Classroom
We are headed into the 2020's coming up here soon. With the internet becoming accessible to everyone in 1994, and cellular phones becoming more abundant starting in about 2002 our world has been moving at a very fast pace. Smart phones are everywhere and many students have them with them at school. The latest task has been finding a way to use these phones and other mobile devices productively in the classroom. One teacher in particular has some tips that make allowing the students to use their devices easier on everyone. He points out that encouraging the students to have their devices out makes it more obvious if they are using them when they are not supposed to be. There is also a way to limit access for some students who are having difficulty staying on the app they are supposed to be on for those younger. iPads have a function called guided access in which the teacher can turn this on and set a password for it and the student can not go on any other app than the one the teacher locks it on. This is just a few of many ways to try and include but limit the technology access in your classroom.
- Are you interested in this particular topic ?
This topic is very high on my reading list. It is a good thing to be able to adapt with the times and move forward. Having students learn to guide themselves on their devices in order to stay on track is also good practice for the future. I know from personal experience, always being told no just made me want to do it more. When my professors in college though did not have a problem with me having my phone out I did not feel the need to use it as much.
- How does this trend affect your particular level/major? Are you
excited about it? Are you skeptical? Are there groups who
would/wouldn't benefit from this?
This trend effects my major and level only slightly. Typically at the elementary level kids do not have smart phones that their parents let them bring to school yet. There are the school issued devices sometimes like iPads and netbooks but many security measures are taken care of by the district technology administration. I feel like the securities put in place work 90% of the time to keep the students on track and focused on their work. Typically most groups I think will benefit from using more mobile technology in the classroom. My only concern is that with so much mobile technology, the form of long hand and simple writing and reading skills will decrease. There are so many ways students can have things read to them now that reading will not seem as important. There are also speech to text apps that will cause students to not feel the need to write or even type as much anymore. The group that I think would be hurt the most by the constant use would be those in 3rd grade and under. The students need to learn how to do things first before they can proceed to build on those basic skills with the technology.
Issue: Fair Use
Fair Use is a type of exception to copy rights. Using only a portion of something that is copyrighted can be done for use of teaching, news casting, scholarship, criticism, and research. There is not a set amount of something that can be limited for fair use. The point of the exception through fair use is to make the knowledge and form of ideas can be shared and learned from in limited use.
- One
statistic regarding this issue:
Each case is handled separately so the limit of how much of something that has been copyrighted is different every time.
- A teaching resource you could potentially use in the
classroom:
This website has a great video for teachers to watch and comes with the form in it so you can recreate the experience with your students.
http://www.edutopia.org/blog/film-festival-copyright-fair-use
I also find the mobile phoones in a classroom very interesting and want to do some research on the subject. I believe that given the time in class to use it, students will not use it for as many unclass-related things such as facebook and texting. We used ipads often in my TA experience and it was not too bad. Most students were on task, they were 6th graders so keeping them on task through anything was difficult, but they really enjoyed using the technology.
ReplyDeleteI also agree that older students, maybe middle school and higher. I thnk that ther are places for ipads in younger years, but most students that young do not have their own phones.
In the fall, look at your college classmates and their mobile distractions. Also, look at staff meetings during student teaching. Then ask why? It's not age, it's how important they feel about what's being presented.
DeleteYour educational issue of fair use was fairly new to me. I have to confess that even after going through many articles and stories in the news about fair use, it still seems fuzzy to me. It seems as if the general consensus in law is that the definition of what falls under fair use if fairly ambiguous.
ReplyDeleteI would like to mention an article I found on Consumerist called "Fairly Used: Why Schools Need To Teach Kids The Whole Truth About Copyright." You can copy and paste this link to view the story:
https://consumerist.com/2016/02/26/fairly-used-why-schools-need-to-teach-kids-the-whole-truth-about-copyright/
Basically, this article brings up the importance of teaching students about fair use policies and the creative freedoms they have in using media in critical ways. The author argues that lobbyists for movie and film companies have worked hard to spread a message of fear to the public when it comes to using copyrighted information. As Jennifer Jenkins, a professor at Duke Law specializing in the public domain says, young people are taught to believe "You can’t do anything, and if you do, you’re bad, and you’re violating copyright law!”
The article raises a great point that students especially should understand their freedoms when it comes to presenting a critical response to things such as superbowl commercials and campaign ads rather than just being silent consumers.
I think issues of fair use are not really discussed in school settings, and I think a lot of that is because teachers and administrations do not really understand the laws and so they default to fear. I think the conversation should start happening in schools because with so much media available at students' fingertips they should feel empowered to creatively mash things up and become critically involved with content under copyright, even in the light of the internet world!
I am curious to hear what you think, Janet, and what anyone else on this post things about the whole issue! I am curious to hear if anyone has heard any anecdotes about fair use in schools or online or anything like that.
I have a hard time reallly understanding this issue as well, and maybe that is due to the fact that the issue is not talked nearly enough about. I think from the sounds of what you have both wrote that we as educators should make it a habbit of learning abou this as well as teaching about it, especially wiht this day and age where kids have so much access to things through the internet.
DeleteJessica, I think you're right. I think the fact that we don't know much about it supports the point that the article I linked to was trying to make. When we talk about copyright, it's just something that most people are scared of and we are only cautioned not to use anyone else's work. It could be very interesting to flip the way we talk about it in classrooms and encourage students to use digital media in legal, creative ways.
DeleteThe (really only) guiding question is that if you use someone else's stuff, are you preventing them from making money on their intellectual property. Unfortunately, with the internet, if you find an image on a site, you may not have a clue whether the source (site) is the copyright holder. It may be the 10th or so time the image was 'borrowed'.
DeleteThe other key thing is that educational fair use has its limits, so don't think that just because you're a teacher you can get away with anything. Finally, while the risk of being caught or penalized is low, imagine being a new teacher who gets in hot water. How would the district treat you when it comes time for renewal, especially if a big corporation like Pearson came after you/district?
Last, and circling back to the first point, we often feel like fair use is for the 'little guy' (indie artists and writers) and not big groups/corporations (who cares? Taylor Swift has enough money), but the law does not discriminate on net worth.