i remember even back when i was in high school with the motorola razr's and stuff we were not allowed to bring our phones out of our lockers until the end of the school bell rang
did schools since then become more relaxing with the advent of smartphones?
Afaik students are generally supposed to be allowed their phones but not in class. It's been a while since I read it though.
I'm keenly aware of this because my municipality is in opposition of the national guideline and forbids all students from bringing phones on school grounds. They go as far as to request parents to not give phones to their children at all.
I assume phones have become so ubiquitous that schools have kind of given up? I graduated high school three years ago and kids there were alwayson their phones as soon as the teacher turned around. Worth mentioning that we didn’t have lockers and afaik lockers aren’t common in Japanese schools either
My school was similar in that it could be in our bag, but not out during class. We had one to call our Mom to pick us up from high school.
These days sometimes it's useful, but I am really picky about how I allow them in lessons. If Google or Siri is doing all the work or they're looking at something else, they're in the bag or I take out a basket and everyone puts their phone in there until we're done. If they need a dictionary, they can use it to look up one word at a time.
From what I've heard teachers (worldwide) gave up on trying to police it. You can't punish students when it's literally every kid doing it, constantly.
My son’s private high school uses Teams and other things on their smartphones (& laptops, of course). They turn them off during class. Seems like a good way to teach them basic manners and common sense. I’m glad he has his phone with him, especially with sports after school and weekends and changing schedules, etc.
For teachers to communicate with the students? Is it so mysterious? Sometimes about events or assignments, etc. The coaches use it to let players know about practice schedules and game rosters (my son plays soccer). Seems straightforward and useful. Perhaps you’d prefer a million print outs or faxes? Do you have children in high school?
Still applies that for simple asynchronous messages, email is not a great solution. For longer form, information-heavy messages, email still has a place, of course.
Professors used emails to communicate with the class, regardless if it was 20 students or 100.
This is university, btw. And not even exclusively for 'information-heavy' messages. Stuff like 'Today's class is canceled, see you next week' or "Remember to bring XYZ to lab" type of communications.
Not at all. I’ve worked in MNCs and startups and internally no one uses email except for specific use cases. (External communications with costumers is a different matter, entirely.) More specifically, this is about students and sometimes the information the teachers and coaches need to get out is changing quickly. As a father, I’m glad my son’s high school allows them to have their phones and at the same time teaches them to use them responsibly (not during class, etc.).
There a ton of reasons why. They can collaborate and work in groups, turn in written assignments and projects, they can also view their grades, message teachers and there also groups with all of the parents for certain classes.
But all of this can be done on a computer and not a phone. So students really do not need a phone for this. Teams pretty much doubles as an alternative for D2L or Blackboard. Its pretty useful.
Phones are significantly easier and faster to check, especially on the train or out and about. Maybe the school is a Microsoft environment and they avoid Google, no idea why they chose what to use but as a parent, I’m glad my son has his phone with him and uses it responsibly.
And is a train in the classroom? I'm speaking about at school. There is 0 reason for kid who doesnt have an accommodation to use their phone over a laptop during class time to do school work on teams, Google classroom, blackboard or D2L.
Thats exactly what Teams is being used for in this instance. You can even have exams, quizzes projects and anything else needed for a class. You can even move to online classes if school is canceled for inclement weather.
Im assuming Teams is being used as a cheaper alternative to Blackboard and D2L. Obviously a lot of this is used because of Covid and it just stuck. Trust me on this kids using teams isn't turning them into corporate drones.
I do think teams, d2l, Google classroom or any other LMS shouldn't justify phone use on classrooms. But they are all being used for at least a portion of education. And you Obviously know its been like this for awhile. Hell I used blackboard 20 years ago
Have you heard of Google Classroom? Teams is just another version. You can make assignments, students can submit word docs, PowerPoints etc. it’s incredibly useful for schools
google classroom is an entire suite of tools, and has google chat which is a teams-like messaging application. teams is just the chat app. are you talking about microsoft office suite as a whole? microsoft does not offer any type of LMS-like software suite for schools.
There’s a Teams version schools use that has Word and PowerPoint, Sharepoint etc built in. I’ve worked in schools and used it a lot. Students can access Word on their Teams app on their own devices. Teachers can give them assignments and they can work on them and turn them in at home or at school or wherever. Also can turn off the messaging, email, chat function of it so it can just be for doing the work for younger students
This. I actually dont like Teams. But it does have the same uses as Google Classroom. I've only taught teens and adults but teams does have its uses and I'm pretty sure the cost being quite low is what makes it attractive.
I actually just googled it and Teams is apparently free for schools. So why wouldnt they use whats essentially a free LMS. And that turning off email or messaging is a good thing if students send some dumb shit.
Just like edmar10 said the Teams schools are using isn't the same as the one you're using. Its an entire suite that has everything you'd find on an LMS and more. So, thats why its so common for schools to use it. The only real positive I've seen is that you use the same platform for digital classes.
I've never taught kids under 12 or 13 so I dont know what elementary school kids do online. For Middle and High School Teams does have a legitimate use. But it doesnt justify cell phone use during class time.
Never had problems with phones in my school. There were a few kids who went on them in class but those were the type of kids who, without phones, would simply just be causing trouble in class. Rarely went on our phones much at break and lunch, perhaps we’d show each other a few memes but mostly for my friend group it was basketball.
It's worth noting that this global trend wasn't backed up by research. It started as a reactionary idea. The policies were being implemented before the actual research and the research that are now trickling in show mixed results in improving school grades. The research that yields positive results largely find small improvements in grades largely confined to low-achieving, economically disadvantaged students, especially those who don't study STEM.
have you come across any solutions from these studies? I can see phones being both useful & a hindrance to learning so I'm interested if you came across solutions that worked.
The research is mixed with no clear conclusion. Some studies show a positive improvement, others show no improvement. Even those that show a positive improvement show a modest improvement largely confined to the lowest percentile of students; most students remain unchanged.
Most educational interventions result in meager improvements in performance anyway so this one isn't unusually weak compared to most interventions.
We should implement smartphone bans anyway because scientists have time to wait before coming to a conclusion but teachers don't have time to wait on the scientists and there's little harm in implementing phone bans and its similarly effective to other interventions. While most students won't see considerable improvements, it's good to implements policies that help the lowest percentile of students (assuming that this mirrors the final conclusions of researchers).
Ah ok, so yeah,, quite different today, they use it also to bully other students in the chat groups for school, ban mobile phone use during school, is the only way to stop education from getting even worse than it already is.
i remember even back when i was in high school with the motorola razr's and stuff we were not allowed to bring our phones out of our lockers until the end of the school bell rang
did schools since then become more relaxing with the advent of smartphones?
I think it's because they became useful in lessons... Then seen as essential to contact parents....
Not sure how true that is mind you...
Afaik students are generally supposed to be allowed their phones but not in class. It's been a while since I read it though.
I'm keenly aware of this because my municipality is in opposition of the national guideline and forbids all students from bringing phones on school grounds. They go as far as to request parents to not give phones to their children at all.
I assume phones have become so ubiquitous that schools have kind of given up? I graduated high school three years ago and kids there were alwayson their phones as soon as the teacher turned around. Worth mentioning that we didn’t have lockers and afaik lockers aren’t common in Japanese schools either
My school was similar in that it could be in our bag, but not out during class. We had one to call our Mom to pick us up from high school.
These days sometimes it's useful, but I am really picky about how I allow them in lessons. If Google or Siri is doing all the work or they're looking at something else, they're in the bag or I take out a basket and everyone puts their phone in there until we're done. If they need a dictionary, they can use it to look up one word at a time.
During my time in Japanese school, everyone had smartphones, kept them in their bags, pocket or desk during class.
I believe it was policy to keep them in the bag.
I only took mine out during breaks. I had an NES emulator. Mario 3 babeyy
This was high school though.
I think in the US it could partially be attributed to parents wanting to be able to reach / track their kids if there's a shooting.
Obviously in Japan that isn't the case. In my son's elementary school they can't have phones, they can't even wear a wrist watch.
From what I've heard teachers (worldwide) gave up on trying to police it. You can't punish students when it's literally every kid doing it, constantly.
My son’s private high school uses Teams and other things on their smartphones (& laptops, of course). They turn them off during class. Seems like a good way to teach them basic manners and common sense. I’m glad he has his phone with him, especially with sports after school and weekends and changing schedules, etc.
literally for what purpose lmao. why would you need this sort of thing in a school environment? teaching them to be corporate drones early, i see
For teachers to communicate with the students? Is it so mysterious? Sometimes about events or assignments, etc. The coaches use it to let players know about practice schedules and game rosters (my son plays soccer). Seems straightforward and useful. Perhaps you’d prefer a million print outs or faxes? Do you have children in high school?
any sort of messaging in regards to those is built into whatever LMS the school is already using
send an email???
Email is ungainly. Does your company use email for simple internal communications?
schools are not companies
Still applies that for simple asynchronous messages, email is not a great solution. For longer form, information-heavy messages, email still has a place, of course.
?
Professors used emails to communicate with the class, regardless if it was 20 students or 100.
This is university, btw. And not even exclusively for 'information-heavy' messages. Stuff like 'Today's class is canceled, see you next week' or "Remember to bring XYZ to lab" type of communications.
what makes it not great? works the exact same way in practice
Threads are readable with teams, it allows for edits and moderation by the teachers. Not to mention ability to group messages
Not at all. I’ve worked in MNCs and startups and internally no one uses email except for specific use cases. (External communications with costumers is a different matter, entirely.) More specifically, this is about students and sometimes the information the teachers and coaches need to get out is changing quickly. As a father, I’m glad my son’s high school allows them to have their phones and at the same time teaches them to use them responsibly (not during class, etc.).
There a ton of reasons why. They can collaborate and work in groups, turn in written assignments and projects, they can also view their grades, message teachers and there also groups with all of the parents for certain classes.
But all of this can be done on a computer and not a phone. So students really do not need a phone for this. Teams pretty much doubles as an alternative for D2L or Blackboard. Its pretty useful.
Phones are significantly easier and faster to check, especially on the train or out and about. Maybe the school is a Microsoft environment and they avoid Google, no idea why they chose what to use but as a parent, I’m glad my son has his phone with him and uses it responsibly.
And is a train in the classroom? I'm speaking about at school. There is 0 reason for kid who doesnt have an accommodation to use their phone over a laptop during class time to do school work on teams, Google classroom, blackboard or D2L.
that's what an LMS – like Blackboard, as you said – is designed for and best enables, not a corporate messaging app...
Thats exactly what Teams is being used for in this instance. You can even have exams, quizzes projects and anything else needed for a class. You can even move to online classes if school is canceled for inclement weather.
Im assuming Teams is being used as a cheaper alternative to Blackboard and D2L. Obviously a lot of this is used because of Covid and it just stuck. Trust me on this kids using teams isn't turning them into corporate drones.
I do think teams, d2l, Google classroom or any other LMS shouldn't justify phone use on classrooms. But they are all being used for at least a portion of education. And you Obviously know its been like this for awhile. Hell I used blackboard 20 years ago
i feel like some LMSes are at least decent while teams is just the worst, borderline-unusable application known to mankind
Have you heard of Google Classroom? Teams is just another version. You can make assignments, students can submit word docs, PowerPoints etc. it’s incredibly useful for schools
google classroom is an entire suite of tools, and has google chat which is a teams-like messaging application. teams is just the chat app. are you talking about microsoft office suite as a whole? microsoft does not offer any type of LMS-like software suite for schools.
There’s a Teams version schools use that has Word and PowerPoint, Sharepoint etc built in. I’ve worked in schools and used it a lot. Students can access Word on their Teams app on their own devices. Teachers can give them assignments and they can work on them and turn them in at home or at school or wherever. Also can turn off the messaging, email, chat function of it so it can just be for doing the work for younger students
This. I actually dont like Teams. But it does have the same uses as Google Classroom. I've only taught teens and adults but teams does have its uses and I'm pretty sure the cost being quite low is what makes it attractive.
I actually just googled it and Teams is apparently free for schools. So why wouldnt they use whats essentially a free LMS. And that turning off email or messaging is a good thing if students send some dumb shit.
Just like edmar10 said the Teams schools are using isn't the same as the one you're using. Its an entire suite that has everything you'd find on an LMS and more. So, thats why its so common for schools to use it. The only real positive I've seen is that you use the same platform for digital classes.
I've never taught kids under 12 or 13 so I dont know what elementary school kids do online. For Middle and High School Teams does have a legitimate use. But it doesnt justify cell phone use during class time.
Never had problems with phones in my school. There were a few kids who went on them in class but those were the type of kids who, without phones, would simply just be causing trouble in class. Rarely went on our phones much at break and lunch, perhaps we’d show each other a few memes but mostly for my friend group it was basketball.
It's worth noting that this global trend wasn't backed up by research. It started as a reactionary idea. The policies were being implemented before the actual research and the research that are now trickling in show mixed results in improving school grades. The research that yields positive results largely find small improvements in grades largely confined to low-achieving, economically disadvantaged students, especially those who don't study STEM.
have you come across any solutions from these studies? I can see phones being both useful & a hindrance to learning so I'm interested if you came across solutions that worked.
The rationale behind smartphone bans are:
The research is mixed with no clear conclusion. Some studies show a positive improvement, others show no improvement. Even those that show a positive improvement show a modest improvement largely confined to the lowest percentile of students; most students remain unchanged.
Most educational interventions result in meager improvements in performance anyway so this one isn't unusually weak compared to most interventions.
We should implement smartphone bans anyway because scientists have time to wait before coming to a conclusion but teachers don't have time to wait on the scientists and there's little harm in implementing phone bans and its similarly effective to other interventions. While most students won't see considerable improvements, it's good to implements policies that help the lowest percentile of students (assuming that this mirrors the final conclusions of researchers).
https://archive.ph/RO1So
https://archive.is/zUHpH
Thanks for the summary & links!
Makes sense.
My school didn’t ban phones (back in 2006-2010) and I had a smartphone in 2008 with internet access.
Most people simply just put them away during class and used them in between or during lunch time.
If anything it helped my grades cause I could look up things I wanted to learn right after class
You are the minority, most kids stay on social media all day
I mean back then the iPhone didn’t have an App Store. MySpace was just going out of fashion. And Facebook was the popular social media platform
Ah ok, so yeah,, quite different today, they use it also to bully other students in the chat groups for school, ban mobile phone use during school, is the only way to stop education from getting even worse than it already is.
Only allow Kids' Keitai" (キッズケータイ)