Cell Phones in Class... Good or Bad

Some people believe cell phones have absolutely no place in the classroom. Mr Josh Allen is one of those. He even goes so far as to criticize parents on their spending habits, "the discussion on why a parent bought their child a Blackberry is so ridiculous my head may explode." He also states, "Laptops are much more versatile yet uniform than cell phones. Any monies a school spent on phones and plans would be much better served with any number of technologies." I find this last statement comical. I have never heard of a school spending money on cell phones for student.

Overall I believe this guy is an idiot. My cell phone has made the use of my lap top almost non existent. Yes I still write papers on my computer but anytime I need to look information up, find directions or email I use my cell phone. Clearly cell phones are useful. I agree with Ms. Liz Kolb, that cell phones are a wonderful tool in classrooms. They can be used to research, record lecture, post on class blogs and much more. Additionally cell phones are the future for technology and students need to be prepared to use them. I used to work at a company where the marketing dirrector did almost everything with his cell phone. Many companies keep track of employees, shipments and meeting with cell phones.

I also understand that cell phones can be a class distraction. However, cell phones are a distraction that can be handled with a strict set of rules that students are held accountable to. The more I read through this article the more ideas I had for using cell phones in the class productively. It makes me curious about even more ways to use phones in the class.