The Sumner County Board of Education is considering loosening their policy regarding mobile devices in the classroom. Advocates point to the increased use of student technology for educational purposes and the convenience for parents of being able to communicate with their children during school hours. Others on the board worry this could further open the schools to inappropriate behavior and distraction.

“I’ve had several teachers approach me saying that they are implementing cell phone technology into their classroom and it is working well,” said Board Vice-Chairman Danny Hale, who was a leading voice behind a 2010 policy revision allowing cell phones to be used for educational purposes. He added that cell phone adoption in later grades is near-universal and the program could be expanded to include “smart phones” which are essentially small computers.

Hale said he has heard only positive things about the policy change, but asked for feedback from other board members and school administrators. Citing the experience of nearby school systems, he also asked if the rules could be expanded to allow the devices during lunch period.

“For my daughter it would neat to be able to get a message to her, have her be able to respond to that message at lunchtime - to make plans for pickup or whatever,” Hale commented.

Director of Schools Dr. Del R. Phillips responded that Sumner schools must shift the way it thinks about student cell phones - teachers and administrators must go from punishment to management. “We have to make a mental shift from a punitive consequence for having cell-phones to how do we teach ethical use and manage the behavior during the day, because... students are going to have them.”

Phillips, another strong advocate for classroom technology, acknowledged the many concerns teachers have about the technology, but said that traditional methods of control such as putting cell phones away in a designated box may have to change.

One of those concerns is the content students can access at school via the school’s wireless Internet system. According to Phillips, the school system can limit what sites students can access via whatever devices students bring. Any student who wished to surf the web during class would only be able to access the sites the teacher allowed.

Phillips discussed the possibility of a “bring your own technology” policy (BYOT) at for Sumner schools. “I’m in agreement that, philosophically, we have to start understanding how to harness the power of technology that students have in their hands, but I think we have to work through the delicate process of how we’re going to do that.”

Board member Andy Daniels noted that expanding technology use at schools would allow students and teachers to reap economic benefits. By example, he pointed to a $0.99 smart phone application that performs all the functions of calculators that can cost $90 or more.       

Several high and middle schools already have such a BYOT policy and are using that application, said Director for Instruction Jennifer Brown.

However, Brown feels more input is needed. “We want to include our teachers and principals, because they’re going to be the ones that implement it so we need to be talking to them.”

Board member Beth Cox agreed, and voiced other concerns about expanding classroom technology use. “Some of the smart technology out there, we can control,” said Cox “but in terms of cell phones... they are particularly hard to monitor because of the texting and photos you can take in a second.” Cox noted that cell phone pictures and texts can be shared with friends quickly, making it easy to share inappropriate pictures, cheat on exams, or bully fellow students. Other technologies, such as specially-built “clickers,” e-Readers, and tablets such as the iPad, are easier to monitor.

Cox also warned against embracing technology at the cost of teaching other interpersonal and thinking skills. “They still need have discussion, they need to have debate, and they need to have thinking process and that involves discussion with the students,” said Cox. “I’m all about introducing technology to our students, but there’s also the art of having classroom discussion, having verbal communication, learning eye contact for our students that we need to make sure we still have with our students.”

The board is likely to do more research into the topic before bringing it up at a future study session.

by Corey Conley