Monday, December 6, 2010

Cell Phone Use at Janesville High Schools


Link to December 6 Janesville Gazette article, "Schools continue to deal with cellular misbehaving".

Excerpt: Stried suggested to the administration that a cell phone-jamming system could render cell phones useless, but it turns out the Federal Communications Commission bans such technology, with few exceptions.

The principals said there’s no rule change in the works, although they have discussed whether to expand the hours of acceptable use, perhaps to allow phone use during lunch or at passing time.

Meanwhile, as cell-phone capabilities expand and improve, they might be used to help students learn. In fact, that’s already happening on a limited basis.

Parker and Craig teachers have used cell phones to help with test preparation, the principals said.

In one class, a student teacher had students use their phones as response devices, linked to the classroom’s SMART Board.

The responses were recorded and evaluated so teachers could pinpoint specific weaknesses that required re-teaching.


Just the kind of teaching methods needed to prepare students for a 21st-century workplace: 'standardized' tests of true/false and multiple-choice questions. Or don't employers care about writing, listening, and collaborative (group discussion) skills anymore?

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