SASKATOON -- A high school in Saskatchewan has stopped fighting technology and has embraced cellphone use in the classroom.
Craik High School principal Gord Taylor and Carla Dolman, who teaches Grades 8 and 9, have started a pilot project incorporating cellphone use into the learning environment. For the last six weeks, Dolman's 19 students have been allowed to bring their phones into her classroom and use them as part of their day-to-day class activities.
"These are tools, and there's no use burying our heads in the sand and not taking advantage of them," said Taylor. "We're preparing these kids for the world, and people in business are carrying cells as tools for communication."
Some Manitoba school divisions do not allow students to carry cell phones with them during the day, and none allows their use in class.
Winnipeg School Division's policy ordering both students and teachers to turn off their cell phones, Blackberries, and similar devices while in class, is typical:
"Use by students and staff of the telephone and text-messaging functions of multi-functioning communications devices is prohibited during instructional and examination times. These multifunctioning communications devices are not to be visible during these times."
Further, the division bans the use of cell phone cameras or any other type of camera at any time, unless the principal has authorized their use for a school project.
The Saskatchewan idea began in January, when a group of frustrated teachers got together at the school in Craik, Sask., about 100 kilometres northwest of Regina.
They were discussing how cellphones were disturbing class -- when someone voiced the idea of using them as classroom aids. Taylor then approached Dolman to get the idea rolling.
From that point, the students were involved in the program development, said Dolman.
"Some of the kids were saying, 'Are you sure you want to do this, Mrs. Dolman? Isn't this just going to be one other thing you'll have to control with us?' But I'm happy to report I've only had positive results."
The class has used the phones as part of a recent book study, which involved students sending responses to their teacher's questions in video and audio formats. Students have also started using the calendar and alarm features as agenda alternatives, which Dolman said has substantially increased productivity.
As a related project, students have done a cost analysis of the different cellphone plans available in the province.
Taylor said that there have been mixed reviews from other teachers and parents. Critics said it may just represent another distraction in class, a further breakdown of proper English usage, or a tech-dependency nightmare.
"I think the way people learn has changed since a generation ago," said Taylor. "People were saying similar things about calculators when I got out of university."
But aside from the positives, there has been one hitch:the one third of students who don't own cells.
The solution? The students work in groups, and the group leaders manage the cell aspect of assignments. Students without phones also have the option of texting group leaders via a website.
"Without a cellphone, it's kind of a downer," said Grade 8 student Jordan Stewart. "But it's still really fun, because we get to work with the people that have them."
Dean Shareski, a curriculum and technology consultant for the Prairie South School Division, said the cellphone could very well have a future in the classroom.
"Literacy has expanded beyond reading and writing," said Shareski. "Now kids need to know about audio and video."
The school plans to run the pilot until summer, and then evaluate its success.
Canwest News Service
--with files from Nick Martin, Winnipeg Free Press
PREVIOUS
