In-Class Smartphone Advantages

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The Benefits of In-Class Smartphone Use

Introduction

IT technologies today improve continuously and with great speed. In a blink of the eye, as it seems, smartphones, tablets and computers become smarter and more sophisticated. Simultaneously, these technologies become cheaper and, therefore, more affordable to people, which also means that smartphones have now become a must have for everyone.

School and college students are not an exclusion. Various sources report that up to 99% of students have a smartphone, and nearly all of them bring their devices with them to class. This raised a concern among educators and the public altogether, as accessing social media, playing games and texting has never been easier, no

Many professional educators believe that using these devices in class purposefully can not only make students more attentive, but will also improve students’ knowledge acquisition. An article featured in the journal Interventions That Work, for example, points out that “with a willingness to experiment, teachers might be able to create classrooms where the cell phones currently tucked into students' backpacks function as important tools instead of incessant distractions” (Ferriner). This last perspective on the issue under study seems to become more and more

Of course, students will use free internet to surf social networks and YouTube if they are allowed to do so because that is what they do at home. It is the teachers’ responsibility to show a different application of the Internet and their devices apart from entertainment. Daniel O’Sullivan from the Guardian puts this idea rather well in his editorial dedicated to the topic under study. He writes, “Outlawing mobile phones is a shortsighted measure that doesn’t account for all the innovative things that teachers can, and regularly do, devise to give children the skills they need to thrive in the modern world” (O’Sullivan). Educators should teach students to use their devices as powerful educational tools, and not only for fun. An author of the National Education Association affirms that “with their easy internet access, a multitude of education-friendly apps, and the ability to be used at a moment’s notice smartphones have all the tools necessary to boost student learning”