“Teachers must have an abundant amount of trust in their students that they are staying on task when using their own devices in the classroom.” “Attending school in a dilapidated building with poor heating, and non-existent cooling systems, coupled with broken windows that were replaced with sheet metal, instead of glass, weighed heavy on a student’s psychic,” he wrote. “Student learning and teacher morale take heavy tolls in these types of environments. Without adequate learning resources and safe and secure learning environments low income student cannot compete in today’s society.” Hopkins points that schools can’t even meet these basic infrastructure needs, let alone student access to technology resources. Many readers commented that all students should be given access to the internet and the devices that supply them, but fewer accepted the assertion made by Michael Mills, a professor of Teaching and Learning at the University of Central Arkansas, that race plays a role in whether teachers trust students to use devices responsibly. “[The article] stated that schools do not allow students of color to use their mobile devices because they think they will not use them in appropriate ways. I do not believe this is true at all,” wrote Amanda Phillips. “I think it is our job as teachers to set the ground rules and expectations of using these types of devices in class before they are even allowed to bring them. Each student should get an equal chance to bring and use their device in class; race should have nothing to do with it.” Phillips’ comment was echoed by several readers who agreed that the bigger issue is how to set a structure for kids to use their own devices appropriately. “It doesn’t matter where a child comes from, there are issues beyond being able to have kids have access to devices,” wrote Allie Kohl. “Implementing devices into the school throws a lot of red flags and makes it hard for teachers to really ensure that students are
Posted on: Mon, 21 Oct 2013 22:35:20 +0000
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