TDSB to vote on allowing cellphone use in classrooms

[canada-man]

ctvtoronto.ca

Date: Thursday May. 5, 2011 6:46 PM ET

The Toronto District School Board will vote later this month on a proposal to allow cellphones to be used in the classroom.

The proposition comes after two student trustees pitched a change to the rules at a committee meeting, asking trustees to consider allowing cellphone use in school hallways and classrooms, should teachers agree.

If the decision were to go forward during the scheduled vote on May 18, it would be quite a shift in policy for the TDSB, which currently has an outright ban on cellphones in schools.

One student told CTV Toronto's Natalie Johnson that he was fined 50 cents after his school principle caught him texting in the hallways.

Zane Schwartz, a student trustees, said he believed the current policy fails to acknowledge that youth are living in an increasingly interconnected society.

Speaking in front of the committee, Jenny Williams, another student trustee, said phones should be allowed, if it enforces educational purposes.

Some in the committee backed the proposal.

"We have to begin to see technology just like rulers, calculators and computers," said trustee Shelley Laskin. "It's an aspect of student learning and it helps them engage."

The student trustees also appear to have the backing of the board's director of education, who said that if educators want to reach today's youth they have to "walk through their door."

"If they're using cellphones and there's a way in which we can use that to leverage learning it's something we should explore," said Chris Spence.


http://toronto.ctv.ca/servlet/an/lo...-vote-ban-110505/20110505/?hub=TorontoNewHome

 

[Mervyn]

Using the phones between classes is fine with me ( as long as they are not late for class ) but once you are in the classroom you do not use the cellphone.

 

[oldjones]

I think schools should install cell-phone jammers in every classroom. If they spill into the halls or schoolgrounds…, oh well.

For that matter let's get them into concert-halls, theatres and restaurants as well. And installed in every new car as part of the odometer sytem, so no phone can be used unless the car is stationary.

Time for the feds to set standards for jammers we can buy and install—with appropiate notices—in our homes and businesses, so we can reserve our little part of the world for people who are actually there.

I'll go quietly now; there'll be no trouble.

 

[red]

The proposition comes after two student trustees pitched a change to the rules at a committee meeting, asking trustees to consider allowing cellphone use in school hallways and classrooms, should teachers agree.

If the decision were to go forward during the scheduled vote on May 18, it would be quite a shift in policy for the TDSB, which currently has an outright ban on cellphones in schools.

One student told CTV Toronto's Natalie Johnson that he was fined 50 cents after his school principle caught him texting in the hallways.

Zane Schwartz, a student trustees, said he believed the current policy fails to acknowledge that youth are living in an increasingly interconnected society.

Speaking in front of the committee, Jenny Williams, another student trustee, said phones should be allowed, if it enforces educational purposes.

Some in the committee backed the proposal.

"We have to begin to see technology just like rulers, calculators and computers," said trustee Shelley Laskin. "It's an aspect of student learning and it helps them engage."


wHome[/url]

hashtag fail

 

[djk]

I think schools should install cell-phone jammers in every classroom. If they spill into the halls or schoolgrounds…, oh well.

For that matter let's get them into concert-halls, theatres and restaurants as well. And installed in every new car as part of the odometer sytem, so no phone can be used unless the car is stationary.

Time for the feds to set standards for jammers we can buy and install—with appropiate notices—in our homes and businesses, so we can reserve our little part of the world for people who are actually there.

I'll go quietly now; there'll be no trouble.

Cell-phone jammers are illegal in Canada.

 

[Tangwhich]

I think schools should install cell-phone jammers in every classroom. If they spill into the halls or schoolgrounds…, oh well.

For that matter let's get them into concert-halls, theatres and restaurants as well. And installed in every new car as part of the odometer sytem, so no phone can be used unless the car is stationary.

Time for the feds to set standards for jammers we can buy and install—with appropiate notices—in our homes and businesses, so we can reserve our little part of the world for people who are actually there.

I'll go quietly now; there'll be no trouble.

While I would like to see strict enforcement of the no cell phone while driving rule, jamming the signal is stupid. What about the other people in the car? This is Toronto, not Pyongyang.

 

[fuji]

This is a bad idea. Mobile phone use between classes and at lunch, in the halls... OK!

But in the classroom, no way in hell. They're a distraction. You need to concentrate in class. Not fuck around trading nude pics of your girlfriend and playing Farmville on facebook via your mobile phone.

 

[Babypowder]

You need to concentrate in class. Not fuck around trading nude pics of your girlfriend and playing Farmville on facebook via your mobile phone.

check your pm's

 

[my name Peggy]

I could maybe see the argument if cell phones were actually used as 'calculators' or 'learning devices' but they're not, they're used to text the idiot next to them how fat the teacher is and what their plans are for the weekend...Since teachers have a hard enough time getting kids to listen to them as it is, I dont see how this will be of any 'educational' benefit to them and while only give kids more power to be disruptive.

 

[basketcase]

Except a slide rule doesn't let you play games, send texts and, generally waste time with random web content.

In my day we always got heat over talking or passing notes because the teachers rightfully knew it was distracting us from learning. Kids need to learn how to put their phones aside and focus for a while and if they can't do it for an hour in class, they're in trouble.

 

[Mervyn]

A slide rule takes a bit of skill , in fact I would be thrilled as a teacher if one of my students used a slide rule, say over a calculator... In some classes Calculators were not allowed, especially during a test. Generally Math teachers would say no because you were supposed to be able to do the math yourself , while sciences were more concerned with you knowing and being able to manage the various formula's.

As for recording lessons, that's fine, but that simply requires the placement of the device in such a place where it can see the teacher. and until the class is over you don't need to touch it at all, so the use of texting back and forth, playing games etc become moot.

 

[someone]

I would love it the laws were changed so jammers could be used during examinations at schools and universities. When a student is escorted to a washroom, the proctor cannot actually go into the stall with him/her to make sure he does not pull a smart phone out of his pants to access possible online material. I am sure a hell of a lot of students use this as a way to cheat.

What if a teacher could put all their curriculumn online and kids could access it 24/7? What if they were required a log in so that the teacher could check to see who logged in from their phone to check the course work? Smart phones are not just phones -- they are e-readers, cameras, conferencing and presentation devices, just to name a few.

This is the way of the future and smart phones are just a tool. No different than wrenches or slide rules were in the mid 20th century. Those 30 yrs disconnected from the realities of secondary education shouldn't embarass themselves by announcing they are "tired of the quality of buggy whips these days!" - can you hear me all the way back there in the early 20th century guys?

Like it or not, they are going to change a lot, but the most important thing is that the tool connects the students to each other and the teacher, making learning more creative and intuitive.

...my two cents.

Universities already do this with course management programs like Moodle and Blackboard. The problem is that many students think it is a substitute for attending class and then whine after they fail/do badly.

 

[my name Peggy]

@Horsecock, no one's denying that they can't be a useful tool, but you're the one that's naive to think that's why kids really want them in the classroom. They mostly just want an excuse to text, surf the net and dick around in class, which they will have free range to do if they're allowed. Hell, they do it now and they're not allowed!! If they were excited about the 'learning possibilities' between 'student and teacher' they would put the cell phone away as it stands now and actually pay attention in class and learn something. This isn't happening.
...Also unless a kid was sick or there was a death etc, there was never an excuse to miss class or a lesson. People miss class because they dont want to be there lol, they dont need technology as an excuse to skip school .
..At the end of the day, technology is as amazing as it is isolating. A piece of technology is never a subsitute for human teaching. So while the possibilities are endless and of course they must be explored, we must look into if the benefits of incorporating them will actually serve that purpose or be just another way to not pay attention in class and further isolate students and weaken the teachers authority in the classroom.

 

[my name Peggy]

-" what do you think they are doing when they are texting? They are collaborating and communicating and being brought together by using a tool. Education is a fluid entity, it is about the lighting of a fire, not the filling of a bucket."

You lost me right there.

If that was the case, then why are these "collaborating' kids getting such shit grades?? Answer: They're not collaborating and enriching their social horizons for the future, they're living in the moment and gabbing next to the idiot beside them about what alcohol they're bringing to the party that night lol. Please dont even go there.

Why are so many kids going into university as 'functionally illiterate"? Why is the United States, the 'Greatest Nation in the World" 25th in Math, 12th in Reading and 20th in Science?? Countries like Finland & Czech Republic are kicking their ass, yet they dont have all this amazing wonderful technology in the classroom. Do you know what they do have though? RESPECT. And a willingless to learn no matter the medium presented to them.
FYI-I have taught ESL in South Korea and Thailand and the quality of education and the respect kids have for their higher ups is ASTOUNDING. They would blow any kid out of the water here. Yet they dont have these amazing 'smart phones' and bullshit-they know that working hard and PAYING ATTENTION IN CLASS =good grades, plain and simple.
You are absolutely right, we dont live in an information age-we live in an age where we can fake it through school because we have the 'answers' presented to us on the net and barely squeak by. This doesnt make us smarter or make us think outside the box . The people who are natural 'innovators' do well, and there are some really cool things that have come out of our country, but the majority of our country continues to be dumbed down. This is not a good thing.
If you still dont believe me, look at the country that's kicking our ass the most: China. They are taught in a traditional environment and although technology is prevalent, it is not substituted for teachers and authority or an 'excuse to miss class'. This is a fact. While they may not be the most 'creative' culture, they are industrious, intelligent and slowly becoming the next super power, while our kids are whining because the classes aren't 'fun' enough.

"And if you refuse to accept this and figure out how to use it to your advantage, then enjoy watching your job become redundant while that kid who is in highschool now, takes your job from you in 5 yrs."
It's not the North American kids that are taking your jobs you have to worry about, its China and India. YOU are becoming redundant lol.


So you can give me your song and dance about how amazing and wonderful all these opportunities are, but they're not being translated into the real world and how kids are actually peforming at school. Rather than listening to the whining and bitching of these idiot kids, they need to smarten up and earn the respect of having this technology in the class rather than waste their time blabbing on the phone and 'sexting'. Once they've earned this 'right', then we can talk. Until then, stop swearing at your teacher, stop texting about NOTHING and PAY ATTENTION.

 

[T.O.tourist]

If cell phones are to be used as a study aid in classrooms, is horsecock volunteering to purchase smartphones for all the kids whose families can not afford to buy their kids phones?
Education should be on a level playing field, No?
Anything else is just not cricket, mate.

 

[my name Peggy]

No shit, I didn't even touch on that one bc it's so ludicrous. See the unemployment rate in the U.S? They can't even put food on the table and now they have to worry about a $500 phone that's gonna save the world and replace the teacher standing right in front of them. We need to focus on the resources we do have rather than creating more economical problems for ourselves.

 

[basketcase]

...
As for recording lessons, that's fine, but that simply requires the placement of the device in such a place where it can see the teacher. and until the class is over you don't need to touch it at all, so the use of texting back and forth, playing games etc become moot.

I could just imagine the reaction of parents if their little darlings were to be a part of that recording. Who knows what misdeeds could no longer be blamed on someone else?

 

[Mervyn]

Those that talk about kids wasting time texting each other - what do you think they are doing when they are texting? They are collaborating and communicating and being brought together by using a tool.

Ripping a page out of a encyclopedia, writing a note on it saying how much you " h8 this class", folding that into a paper airplane and throwing it at another student to read is also collaborating and communicating and being brought together by using a tool.

Neither teaches the other a thing, neither helps them with the learning process either. Neither even teaches good communication skills, if anything they deteriorate language and communication skills.

 

[my name Peggy]

@Mervyn lol EXACTLY He's missing the message. The medium doesnt matter as much as wanting to pay attention and learn period. You could have the most state of the art, snazzy(lol) technology, but if the kid doesn't want to learn, it's all moot.

 

[basketcase]

Like I said, enjoy watching your job be replaced in 5 yrs by those same kids you are so critical of when they surpass you in your job because they are tech savvy.

Don't say I didn't warn you.

I guess you don't see a difference between tech savvy and too busy socializing to learn some facts. I don't look forward to hiring engineers who have no clue about scientific fundamentals despite all the time they spent on facebook.

Technology is constantly changing. The ability to learn isn't.