Part A: According to Zogbhy Analytics, 87% of people surveyed ages 18-24 say they never let their smart phone leave their side. With this information, we as educators can assume that our school aged students; (especially secondary education ages) have the access to their own, or a parent or guardian's smart phone everyday. And those that do have their own, very rarely let them leave their side. Educators should take into consideration this information and use it to their advantage. We know students are going to use their phone at school anyway, so why not make it a useful tool that can help our students learn?
Another statistic that stood out to me is the fact that 68% of individuals say they would rather use their smartphones than their laptops. This makes complete sense considering a smartphone can do almost everything one can do on a laptop. By allowing students to use their phones in class would also keep them in the classroom rather than in the office or in school suspension for having their phones out in the first place. It is new times in the learning environment. We have technology all around us; lets use it to our students advantage.
Part B: By using cell phones in the classroom, educators are utilizing a tool that is free of cost to the school system. Most people own smartphones that are basically portable computers. They also come equipped with cameras that can take still portraits or videos. You could allow students to access websites from their phones that pertained to the lesson being taught. You could also allow students to take photos of assignments on the board or let them use the video camera to video a mock presentation in order for them to make appropriate changes to their presentation. You could even go as far as letting them use smart phones to write notes using programs such as evernote. The sky is the limit concerning what we could allow students to use their phones for.
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