News Briefs
Iz txtng da ftr of edu?
May 21, 2009 11:31 AM
For those who purchased iPhones before they could vote or drink legally, texting is the way to communicate. Rumors leading to panic circulate fast via texting, and schools in Utah are considering whether schools and the beast can coexist.
With a new service enabling schools to send out their own text messages, coaches notifying players of schedule changes via text messages, and some teachers even incorporating texting into their lessons, some educators hope cell phone text messaging can become more a tool and less a menacing distraction.
Example: An English teacher at Northridge HS, north of Salt Lake City, asked his students to text their term-paper topics into their phones, and their responses instantly appeared on a Web page projected at the front of the room. They spent another 10 minutes having a discussion — via text messaging — about their papers. The exercise held their attention and increased participation among those reticent to speak up.
“It saves time. You can see what everyone is thinking without having to go around and talk,” one student said.
“Personally, I’d rather read a text than listen to an announcement over the intercom,” another said.
While these educators agree that texting during class for personal reasons is taboo, they say learning to control that is just part of the challenge of working with a new technology.
Others say the technology fix can’t be so easily controlled, and one Los Angeles charter school is going in the opposite direction. As an exercise, it’s banning the use of all electric devices, including TVs, iPods, iPhones, BlackBerrys, computers and cell phones — if only for a week. Students say giving up texting is the worst. They are allowed to use a computer, but only for homework, and a cell phone for an emergency, and must chronicle their experience in journals.
The teacher who sponsored the week’s worth of electronic withdrawal believes the constant electronic stimulation and sensory overload make kids ill-equipped to follow the slower rhythms of classroom dialogue or interact with one another in meaningful ways.
One student who listens to music on MP3 players, watches the 42-inch surround-sound TV in her living room or the 32-inch in her bedroom, has an electronic PlayStation, a computer and two cell phones that take pictures and link her to the Internet, admitted, “I don’t talk to my family anymore, and I don’t know what’s going on in the world.”
Salt Lake Tribune, April 20
Los Angeles Times, April 29
