Bottom line, I think the ONLY electronic devices allowed should be Laptops, Palm Pilots, or devices that can allow you to access the internet remotely, or store word documents. Anything else is just a distraction. Too many people in this school just use cell phones to text, or listen to mp3 players or iPods. It's rather silly. We're not here for leisure, we're here to learn. Even if it's hard to focus, listening to music (rare exceptions to this rule) or playing games is not going to make that easier.

What about mp3's and iPods being used for podcasts that are educational? Students could then create their own podcasts and share them out. Just thinking out loud here....

Hmmm...That IS true, and honestly my experience with iPods and mp3 players and cellphones are limited because I don't have them, I just see others with them. That's a wonderful insight though T-Mang, in fact, if I knew HOW to make a podcast, I'd make one every day. I like speaking, and I REALLY like speaking to other people in a way that helps.

It's easy!!!! At home download audacity...completely free. You need to also install the mp3 package for it, again free. You will need a mic (if you want to borrow one come see me in my office) and your ready to go. To cast it out there are many sites that will host it or you can transfer it to mp3 players as a file.

I'd heard of this program...wonderful! I have a mic, but nowhere good to record really, too much background noise at home. Still, would you help me make an educational podcast? I think it'd help a lot of people, it would reach people who otherwise ignore a lot of what's going on in school.

Cell phones in school should be allowed as long as a student is not talking/texting on it in the middle of classroom instruction. Sometimes it is necessary to contact a parent during school for situtations like being sick or forgetting a project/paper at home.

Agreed, but I think that's why they have the telephones installed in the rooms. Sometimes teachers get edgy about letting students use them though, so I understand. But as one of my teachers famously said, "Leave your cellphones. You're NOT that important. Nobody is calling you to perform heart surgery."

Connor...i would love to. How do you want to broadcast it?

Again, we should "hate the player, not the game". Don't deny good use of instructional tools because a few don't know how to use it properly in the right environment. What we need to do is train the user on appropriate behaviors. In time, some would learn.

Err...well, that's where I start getting stuck :D I'm pretty much useless unless I get my hand held for the start of an undertaking. I have NO idea how I'd broadcast it, or how I'd publicize it's existence to the student body. But I think it's something we should think about, I'm intrigued!

Hahahah, yes, some. I pray the school would LET us train to know how and when to use the devices, I'd like to see the day where I can come into school and just use a laptop or something to take notes and such. Wave of the future!

Yet, I see students texting all the time....it is a huge problem for teachers who are expected to enforce the rules. The same thing goes for music devices. Students are here for 6 hours and are expected to abide by the rules during that time. It will be the same out in the "real world" where there are work place rules. What is the best compromise here?

Connor....sounds like you have some good ideas and want to pursue more with technology. That's what we are here for!

It is the wave of the future! We are fighting it right now, but I think educators should be embracing it!

Miss Darden, I feel you on that one. It's hard as a student who doesn't have a cell phone (or a desire to have one) to understand the WHY behind students messing around in class with electronics. At home, sure, I'm a nerdy nerd, but in school we need to be focused on school, as hard as that is. I have ideas, but I'm uncertain how to implement them. I welcome any and all help. And Miss Mang (I'm terribly sorry, I'm not certain how to spell your name :P) I agree wholeheartedly. Too much is going to waste, and frankly our school technology is outdated compared to nations abroad.

As for the best compromise...have a set peroid within class-time where there is a lull, break, or early end (this happens quite often, actually) where students are allowed to use electronics in whatever fashion they please without fear of administrative reprocussions. On the flipside, if anyone was seen using electronics outside of this set time, their electronics would be immediately confiscated for a day first offense, three days second, a week third, and a month fourth. After that, it would be until the end of the school year. Fitting, no?

Connor you bring up many good points. What is the best answer? I don't know. I do know that if you actively engage your classroom you do leave less time to goof off. However, you will always have a student who chooses not to participate whatever the case. What we need to realize is if that are choosing not to participate they don't need a hand held device for this to take place. They will find other outlets, no?

And not only is time used better, but the lessons stick with the class longer. Teachers droning on is a sure-fire way to have vital information go in one ear and out the other. Hahah, yeah, you've always got that one jerk in the back who argues with the teacher or simply refuses to work. Drives me crazy some days. And I know just how right you are, the more you tell people to not do something, the more compelled they are to do it. People find great ways of not doing what they're supposed to be doing.

The more I think about a podcast, the more I am intrigued. I want to make one. I don't know how I'm going to publicize it, or make it, or even what I want to say, but I want help from T-Mang and BDard, or even both to create this. I want a way to reach out to fellow students, to talk to people I don't even know and just give them my own personal run-down on what's going on. I've spoken with one of my teachers, and my instructor thinks it would be a neat idea, even offering to be a guest speaker. This idea has a ton of potential...feedback?

I think it should be left up to the teacher's discretion. Honestly, there are some classes that leave huge blocks of time at the end of class as "free time" for the students- you either talk, sleep, or work on other things. (Like after taking a test, too). Usually, people end up talking & the victims have to listen to the conversations of the classmates who talk really loudly- music would quiet most students & save the ears of others.

How early is the administration gearing us for the 'real world?' We're students with low attention spans given 20-40 minutes of free time, and told we forbidden to touch anything electronic. I'd rather be taught integrity etc than not to use music devices. As long as it's not disrupting class or students are rocking it out during lecture, I don't see much harm unless it's against the belief that school is just for learning, and that is it. Sure, school is a place to learn, but it's also a place of interaction. I don't see much productivity of learning in gossip or sleep either, but both happen in school also.

ambiguous, you bring up excellent points. As an educator, I have to ask why is there so much "free time" and if there is listening to music does seem the better choice then disrupting others.

I'm assuming that teachers have a daily schedule - & when a class finishes early, or it takes lesser time than mapped out- the free time is left over. Say we have notes, and finish the notes early-

I see your point. I've seen it happen a few times in Tabb, where time near the end of class is time used by people to sleep and talk and such. Why NOT listen to music or access things on a computer? Surely SOMETHING to get us stimulated and thinking rather than sleeping or talking about how hard someone partied over the weekend or how they fooled a cop? I favor the use of high technology in classrooms, let us get used to using computer and such in front of our peers; we'll be doing it for the rest of our working lives! Timecards, Computer Based Training (CBT's), Cash Registers, and other electronics, we've got to use these all the time nowadays. Let's start learning to manipulate them NOW rather than LATER. God knows we've got the time on our hands.

I believe that students should be allowed to carry any sort of electronic device they choose. The only stipulation is that it must not interefere with class or learning. I have seen one to many children get their gadgets taken away during class, using them at appropriate times or not.