Banning Mobiles in Classrooms: Boon or Bane!

The very spectrum of learning to learn has to be periodical towards giving standards to the kids to know the best and ultimate. The learning segment of today has changed than ever before and the very nurture of technology with its adoption in academics has had its flavor towards acceptation in totality.

Far-fetching results reveal that the tech introduction within schools has had its pace with the interest of the masses to maximize learning towards the standards of meeting the Quality Expectations in particular. The initiative has to be to integrate technology with quality learning as the substitute for the chalk and the duster but the TECH relationship in particular, laminating the success at large.

No wonder, if we stay away from the power of technology, the mobiles, as easy means of connect, we shall be robbing our children to get to the best medium of knowledge share in particular.

The 21st Century Education talks are incomplete if we do not refer to Smart Boards. The interactive nature of the Smart Board provides many practical uses for the classroom. Using Smart Notebook software, teachers can record each step of a lesson activity for students to review at a later time.

The teacher if HE needs respect must be of the opinion of Excellence. Education is the pathway to it. It is reflected by the involvement of the Quality Infrastructure at the learning arena which otherwise is not of any use.
The TEACHERS, the knowledge facilitators need to harness the requirements to the best of their abilities and interest further. Hence, with no reason, the teachers need to have a balanced approach to policies and practices for children’s use of the Internet. One must at the same time initiate conversations with teachers, administrators, and parents, rather than set and implement rules that may be perceived as too rigid. One must take note that all stakeholders have a chance to contribute to the decision-making process. There is no doubt in the fact that a computer and a great software can be fun and exciting learning tools, and can even provide practice of pre-academic and academic skills.

No wonder, we have e CLASSROOMS now in every school but does that solve the purpose? I doubt my experience. It is the mindset of the teachers, the educators which needs to be functioned well. The Teacher ought to be a TRAINER/ LEARNER/ ALL-ROUNDER, with his/ her presence in the CYBERSPACE mandatory. No longer having an EMAIL ID and an expertise of MS OFFICE but more and more…viz….having a WEBSITE, BLOG, WiKi, and more, apart from being SOCIALLY NETWORKED 24×7. GONE ARE THE DAYS OF POWERPOINTS. But at the same time it is indispensably true to keep in mind, however, that computer software cannot teach a child the concepts that he/she is not developmentally ready for. Computers should always be considered as a supplement to other, more concrete learning activities like completing puzzles, building with Lego and blocks, reading books, creating art projects and playing on the playground. It is universally true keeping the database analysis in view out of the day.

We believe that everyone should have access to technology. One way the software companies are helping to transform education for teachers and students through global partnerships.  The teachers need to share a commitment to digital inclusion in education―inclusive classrooms, personalized learning, and accessible technology. Various researchers and scholars have defined the need of Quality Education but no one has ever desired the need of “We” the teachers today to be interesting and “Informed” with the march of time or else we would be the only “Un-interested” thing (Identity) in the class, if we are not enriching and of any interest to the children to make them forget their Facebook Walls’ and the SMS which otherwise make their mind fertile of interest. As a matter of fact, the mainstream computers and other technology used in schools often include settings and features that enhance accessibility, yet many educators are not trained on accessibility and do not know which features will help students with specific disabilities. Increasing awareness of available accessibility features and providing teacher training will help many students without requiring schools to acquire new technology.

As Facilitators, we must be up to date in our pedagogical approaches. But most importantly, we must move towards Andragogy, enabling the students to assume responsibility for their learning.

Teacher training and support is critical. www.nexteducation.in has paved the way for Indian Schools in a big way which includes ICT Hands-on training for teachers and QUALITY EDUCATION implementation. For teachers to be able to help students personalize their PCs and adjust accessibility settings, teachers must first have the necessary knowledge, skills, and resources themselves.  Also, accessibility is a complex subject that requires an understanding of how learning style differences and disabilities impact computer use. Teachers need to know who to contact within the school or local community for information about accessibility.

While research shows that combining ICT with innovative teaching practices strongly predicts students’ acquisition of 21st-century skills, the challenge continues to be helping teachers develop the competencies needed to combine great learning activities with the meaningful and relevant use of ICTs. There are many challenges to the effective professional development of ICT integration:
1. Many teachers are aware that they should integrate ICT into their teaching practices, but are uncertain as to what that actually means.
2. The absence of a common internationally recognized standard in the area of ICT integration, as well as training based on those standards, prevents having a consistent method to assess teacher competency
3. “One size fits all” training fails to address the needs of individuals. Teachers within one school will have very different needs. While some may have never used a computer, others will be using multiple devices and applications to achieve desired outcomes.
4. Mandating training which is not relevant. Buy-in by the teacher, including the assessment and planning of their own development, decreases resistance to training and increases the likelihood that what is presented actually will result in a change in their teaching strategies.
5. The ability to effectively scale largely face-to-face professional development to reach all teachers in a country is a daunting and expensive endeavor.

Schools as well need to recognize the cloud is a key component to their digital content platform strategy to storage options as it relates to security, identity, back-up, etc., It’s also a way to cost-effectively deliver more technology to more people quickly and so that they can focus their IT resources on projects that really drive improvements to learning.

With Independence of learning by own pace by the children today, paving the way to the movement where schools will move beyond 1:1 computing and really focus on digital learning. It will transform from a device conversation to a learning conversation. There will be trends like “bring your own device” (BYOD) that support it, and the proliferation of multiple device types (laptops, slates, tablets, phones) that support the technology environment schools want and need. But then the conversation needs to turn to connecting the devices to curriculum and pedagogy and the assessment models. And all the content needs to be accessible on multiple devices and be available anytime and anywhere. E-learning is just the capsule or the umbrella to conquer the KAIZEN deponent of the same in a giant way. What is required is a WIN WIN Situation in classrooms today through e-learning.

Above all, the market size for digital classrooms is likely to touch almost 1,00,000 classrooms with a phenomenal growth rate of more than 100 percent in the recent years. This trend is expected to continue for the next several years.  While private schools and colleges are going for a digital classroom concept for each of their classrooms, in government schools, the trend is to make at least one classroom digital. However, it will still take few years to reach a high level of adoption as the sheer number of schools itself is very high, with government school number touching 15 lacs while private schools are almost 1 lac.

The way education is delivered and the importance it has in developing modern India is driving the changes in the educational set up. Also, globalisation is effective in bringing the latest teaching methodologies and tools to the Indian market. The latest teaching delivery mechanism includes the student having a networked computer at his disposal, fully networked classrooms, multimedia method of delivery and study content in soft form. The classrooms are becoming connected in real time and interactive in nature.

Cheers! for our Educators today who are learning to teach from the students today, as far as the technology is concerned. Let Mobiles be the requisite today for a learner to be SMART with age and time.

Best wishes and Cheers!

Dr. Dheeraj Mehrotra is an Academic Evangelist, Author & National Teacher Awardee represents Next Education India Pvt. Ltd., a School Provider Digital Learning Company, headquartered at Hyderabad.