Technology and Education: Don't Fight It, Embrace It!
I recently overheard a parent complaining about how much time her child spends on his phone each night.
"Instead of doing his homework, he's attached to it. He never puts it down," she sighed.
I also have co-workers who complain that their students stare at their phone throughout class, never even looking up to leave the class when the bell rings.
Having grown up in an era before iPhones, I can sympathize with their exasperation. To make phone calls, children of the 80's and 90's like me used rotary phones with receivers on long curly cords that were attached to the wall. We often had to wait to use the phone until other family members were finished with their calls. When our phone call was finished we hung up, walked away, and moved on to life's next task.
Back then a phone was a stationary tool that you used to make a phone call. Period.
Fast forward to 2018. I regularly see elementary school-aged children walking down the street staring at their phones watching YouTube videos or scrolling through social media posts. At restaurants, I've noticed tables of entire families silently engrossed in their phones instead of talking to one another.
iPhones have drastically changed the way children behave and they way they learn.
So, instead of fighting students' phone use, why not embrace it?
Utilizing educational apps is a great way to harness the behavior of students and turn a perceived negative behavior into a positive one. There are thousands of educational apps available for students, and many are free. The links below list just a few of the many worth checking out:
Parents' Magazine: Apps for Elementary Students
Project Learning Tree's List of Apps for Middle School & High School
Productivity Apps for Students
Family-Friendly Apps
Happy scrolling!
What an excellent post! Your wonderful personality sure came right on through , it made it a joy to read. I appreciated how you approached it from the lenses of families and parenting.
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