Cell phones have so many more functions than simply being a tool for communication. Most cell phones today come with features such as calculators, notes, cameras, calendar etc. All those features listed can be used for classroom organizational tools. I taught 5th grade and I can remember wishing each of my students had their own calculator! My wish came true when I was given the opportunity to teach using PDA’s. Each of my students had a Palm and installed on that Palm was a calculator, notes and a calendar among many other wonderful applications. We used those calculators when needed and no one was without a calculator! The Notes and calendar were wonderful tools to help keep track of assignments due, log-in information, lists etc. Just like how business people use their cell phones today.

I also would encourage all my student to cheat! If, by cheating, you mean call/text someone to get an answer. I’d say go ahead! That’s what I do as an adult when I don’t know the answer. By cheating do you mean using your resources to find information? That’s exactly what I do when I need information.

Memorizing answers for a test is not education. That is a nice skill to have, but it isn’t going to get a person through life like the skill of using the tools at hand to find answers and information needed to solve problems.

@Wes: YES! I agree that education is about CREATING content and SHARING ideas!imputed

I censored the profanity from your post.

Sorry to hear you’ve apparently had a series of negative experiences with teachers and the formal education system in your area.

I hope those bad experiences won’t stand in the way of you obtaining a worthwhile education that will open doors for you and enable you to live the life of your dreams.

Tools can be used for lots of different purposes, and cell phones are no different. Phonecasting is one of my favorite educational uses for phones, when the recordings created are put into digital stories.

I believe education is about and should be about CREATING content and SHARING ideas, not just listening to the ideas of others, reading the ideas of others, and CONSUMING that content. I think Kay Tibbs does as well, and that philosophy was part of what she was sharing in this presentation at MACE.

So you came up with a few secondary uses for cell phones that are almost less distracting from learning then your usual trite garbage lessons? Phones were made to communicate, not do school work. That is their primary function, and that is what they would be used for. Any thinking contrary is naive insanity.

As for CIPA, after reading through it I don’t think it pertains to student bought cell phones, only to cell phones purchased through the district. In that case, you would need to talk to your provider about filtering the cellphone. I’m pretty sure Blackberries can be locked down and pass all traffic through a filter/proxy for CIPA compliance.

As I understand it, CIPA would also apply to school purchased Kindles