Cellphones have messages about learning

Opinion

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 13/02/2024 (573 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Distractions. I recall, decades ago, two high school lads riveted by the random outcomes of a surreptitious, they thought, game of cards, rather than attuned to my teaching of the Canada Food Guide. Message received — think about how I teach the Canada Food Guide.

Cellphones re-emerged in the Free Press on Feb. 9 (Putting a vise on their devices) and 10 (Instead of a ban, group wants to draft open guidelines).

System-wide policies restricting cellphone use in schools are increasing. Manitoba’s Division scolaire franco-manitobaine and Quebec have them. Ontario has struggled with a policy since 2019. British Columbia is targeting Fall 2024. Government and other educational leaders in Manitoba are likely texting on the matter.

From the latest cycle of the 38-country OECD’s Programme for International Student Assessment – PISA 2022 (math focus; also science and reading; targeted students turning 16 in 2022), Canada had 10 per cent of students attending a school where cellphone use was prohibited. Across provinces (author’s analysis of PISA raw data; caution — Canada and most provinces did not meet PISA sampling standards), Manitoba was 3rd highest at eight per cent.

In 2023, knowledge-sharing and peace-promoting organization UNESCO’s 2023 publication Technology in Education: A Tool on Whose Terms stated that studies using data from large-scale international assessments find a “negative association between excessive ICT (information and communication technology) use and student performance.”

In December, PISA 2022 showed continuing declines in achievement across the OECD, Canada and provinces. This contributed to pressure to restrict students’ access to cellphones in classrooms. Evidently, there is room to move.

The OECD’s PISA 2022 Vol. I report also noted, however, that “moderate use of digital devices is not intrinsically harmful and can even be positively associated with performance. It is the overuse and/or misuse of digital devices that is negatively associated with performance. Results from PISA 2022 confirm the need for better guidelines on how to use digital devices at school.”

How much of a distraction are they? PISA-sampled students were asked about digital distractions in class. In high-scoring (PISA 2022 mathematics) Estonia, Japan and Korea, 71 per cent, 21 per cent (notably) and 34 per cent (also notably), respectively, of students indicated this happened during some, most or all mathematics classes. The average rate for Canada was 80 per cent (OECD average: 65 per cent).

The low rates in Japan and Korea suggest that managing digital distractions is possible. The high rate in Canada confirm that a plan is needed.

There is a risk with removing cellphones, an integral piece of students’ lives, from classrooms in terms of school seeming relevant to students. Cycles of PISA have asked students if “school has been a waste of time.” From PISA 2003 (first time mathematics was the focus of PISA), provincial average rates of agreement with the statement ranged from six per cent to 12 per cent. (author’s analysis of raw data; Manitoba: 10 per cent). From PISA 2022 (author’s analysis), the range across provinces was from about 20 per cent to 30 per cent (Manitoba: 25 per cent).

This over twofold increase in malaise sends a message that school is looking less and less to students like the world for which they are being prepared. The potential for further disaffection should inform any plan to address cellphones in schools.

Up to about 10 years ago (before the provincial report card policy), report cards were required to include a section on responsible, ethical, healthy and appropriate use of ICT in classrooms. This was part of the provincial literacy with ICT initiative — LwICT (online) — that includes resources for students, teachers, school leaders and parents.

This framework should be reinstated as policy whereby students’ engagement with ICT is incorporated, monitored, assessed and reported on student report cards.

Students might be given the major role in these processes to improve their engagement with and acquisition of the LwICT knowledge, skills and attitudes needed to benefit from, rather than be distracted, or worse, by ICT such as cellphones.

The algorithmic toxicity of social media, the pervasive and persuasive con of artificial intelligence, and the urgent need for critical thinking skills (e.g., evaluate credibility, discern fact from opinion and fiction, assess bias and evidence) mean that how children engage with cellphones is too consequential for a plan that dismisses them from class and leaves the outcomes to chance.

Ken Clark writes from Winnipeg. Most of his time in education focused on assessment, including PISA, and included a role in the collaborative development of the Manitoba provincial report card policy.