Cell Phones in Education: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

Modern cell phones are more than just devices for making and receiving phone calls. New smartphones are tiny computers designed for communication, organization, and entertainment. These newer phones include tools for taking and editing pictures and videos, sending texts and emails, streaming video, connecting to others through social networks, and so much more. With the release of new education apps every day, cell phones are beginning to edge their way in among high tech learning tools. The fact that so many students have access to cell phones (or other mobile devices like the iPod Touch or a tablet) leads many teachers to consider their use in the classroom.

The above uses represent the GOOD of using cell phones in the classroom, but what about the BAD and the UGLY? One main argument against using phones in the classroom is the fact that cell phones can cause a major distraction in the classroom. If teachers are allow phones as part of a lesson, what’s to keep students from using the phones for unrelated and distracting purposes like texting their friends and checking their Facebook pages? Many schools have banned cell phones completely to avoid this distraction. If a teacher requires phones in the classrooms for an activity, they will have to implement rules and procedures to be sure the phones are being used for the right purpose.

It is also important to consider whether or not all of the students in the class have their own cell phones or other mobile devices that they could bring into class. If you don’t have a class set of devices, it would not be fair to present a lesson that uses a device not equally available to all students. I guess that’s the part I would call ugly. In certain socio-economic areas, using cell phones in class would be a lot more feasible than in other areas. Many of the ideas we are presenting on the Gateway this week are high tech adaptations of classic educational strategies like treasure hunts and interactive bulletin boards. Using cell phones can be an exciting twist for the students, but doing fun and interesting activities the ‘old-fashioned” way still adds variety and novelty to a student’s day.

If you decide to try using cell phones in your classroom, be sure to explore all the resources Joann introduces in her column and on our Facebook and Twitter pages throughout the week. You will find some pretty neat ideas!

Those ideas were mainly designed for classes with devices available for each student. To complement those resources, I decided to discuss different creative ways to use QR codes combined with a cell phone, iPod touch, or tablet. A QR code is similar to a bar code, but it can hold more information and can easily be scanned by mobile devices with a camera and a free QR code reader app. The following ideas are adaptable to work in classes with only a few devices to share. They could also be used as homework or extra credit assignments that students can complete with their parents’ devices at home.

An effective method for introducing a new topic or reviewing information is a treasure hunt that leads students through the important points of the learning. Whether or not this hunt uses cell phones, it will get the kids up and moving. They will be excited to learn as they search for and solve clues. If you want to create a QR code treasure hunt, check out this QR Code Treasure Hunt Generator. It’s simple to input quiz questions and answers into the generator, and the QR codes are automatically created for you to print. You can hide the codes you create, making a fun treasure hunt instead of an ordinary quiz. One person recommended taping the QR codes on students’ backs as an icebreaker activity or a cooperative learning activity. If you are using a treasure hunt as an introductory activity, students will probably need to research their answers, giving them an idea of what they will be studying in an upcoming unit. For a better explanation of how to implement a treasure hunt in your classroom, read this example from The International School of Toulouse. After you have done a treasure hunt in class, students should be able to create their own hunts at home to quiz one another.

Some teachers have found ways to use QR codes to help keep organized and to test students’ comprehension of books they have read from the class library. This activity from Digital Wish is a book organization system that introduces a neat way for kids to write book reviews and save them as QR codes to stick to the books. When students are choosing a book to read from the library, they can scan these codes to get the peer-created book reviews, helping them choose what they want to read.

I may be a chemistry geek, but I thought that the QR Code Periodic Table of the Elements was SO cool. I just had to share. Each element in the table is represented by a QR code. When you scan the code, you are directed to a YouTube video about that particular element. What a simple way to make learning about the elements more interesting. It would be fun for students to use this idea and create videos, poems, essays, or artwork for all kinds of charts. This would be a handy activity to keep in mind for a variety of subjects. I love to see students creating and getting excited about ideas in math, science, history, and the languages. Combining the QR code technology with creative activities you already use is a quick way to change up your lessons this year.

Thanks again to Richard Byrne from Free Technology for Teachers for inspiring this post with his recommendation of the QR Code Treasure Hunt Generator. I hope you can all find something interesting to do with QR codes!