Cell Phones, Online Teaching, and MacBooks

What would you like to know?Cell Phones Getting Push in Education, But

Not Without Resistance

Case Study: Palm Beach County Schools Embrace Online Teaching Tool

Ballinger ISD Supports MacBook Initiative with WiFi Deployment

Cell Phones Getting Push in Education, But Not Without ResistanceAccording to Dave Nagel, cell phones are

projected to get a push in the Educational system.

Many professionals believe that cell phones or mobile technology, particularly pertaining to web access, are the future of education.

Cell Phones, Continued…At Trinity Meadows Intermediate School, 53

fifth graders have been given smart phones that are to be used in their lessons.

Many views of this research say that this is a great step towards the future, a step that we have missed before in the past.

Others, are not so optimistic.

Cell Phones, ResponseSome may call me old fashion, but I don’t think cell phones are the way to go. Computers have been an amazing step in education, and they are definitely a great tool in teaching and getting the students engaged. However, to give a fifth grade student a cell phone in the middle of class is foolish. A child of 12 will only pay attention for a few short days until he/she will get distracted and covertly communicate with friends. Cell phones will become more of a distraction than a aid.

Case Study: Palm Beach County Schools Embrace Online Teaching Tool“Educators are using the solution’s

customized features to scaffold, save, and share digital content…”

In the article by Bridget McCrea, this means exactly what it sounds; Teachers are able to access more than 300,000 digital resources that have been approved by expert educators by a program called My Portfolio, the K-12 “safe search” tool, netTrekker d.i..

Case Study: Continued…It is said that this new network is easy to use,

in fact, easy usage is one of its main goals.These resources are monitored, regulated,

and evaluated for quality and academic relevance.

Case Study: ResponseThis, unlike my response to cell phone usage in

school, is very positive. I think this information sharing system will be an awesome step for unified attempts at successful education. Teachers will be able to use proven ideas from other teachers and share a wealth of knowledge that doesn’t have to be contained to one classroom, or even one department. Teachers need to share what works with others, and they need to be always expounding upon current procedures, and I think this online teaching tool can do just that.

Ballinger ISD Supports MacBook Initiative with WiFi DeploymentThis article describes a new initiative by

Ballinger Independent School District in Texas with equipping every student and teacher with a MacBook and outfitting the schools with a Wireless network.

They had to consider cost, upkeep, simplicity, and last but not least, quality.

In the end they chose the Xirrus Wi-Fi for the “emPOWERing Students for the Future” initiative.

Ballinger ISD: Continued…The Xirrus Wi-Fi requires less hardware and

parts than many of the other wireless networks available, so in the end Xirrus saved them a lot of money.

Thus far, the system has been great and has experienced failures since its inception.

Ballinger ISD: ResponseThis is a great idea for this school district.

The only problem is that I see MacBooks as slight overkill for elementary and even jr. high students. I feel that high school students would benefit most from the computers and the wireless network. Not only do I think they would benefit, I think it would be a phenomenal tool for teaching and learning. As I said above however, only for high schoolers.

Lets Sum UpOverall, I feel technology is the direction our

world is taking. With our world heading in that direction, we need to have our educational system up to speed if not beyond the rest of the world. With that said, we need to be wise about technology’s benefits verses its drawbacks. When we let a fifth grader use a cell phone in the class room or give an elementary student a MacBook, we really have to evaluate if we are spending all these dollars on truly prospering education, or if we are mindlessly wasting our money and our time.