Case+Study

 Using Cell Phones for Education Purposes



It is incredible how cell phones have changed over a period of time. Every time a new cell phone comes out to the market new technology has been added to it. Before cell phones were invented people would communicate through radios within a certain amount of distance. After [|Martin Cooper] invented the first cell phone people were able to communicate within long distance. Cell phones were very expensive back then and not a lot of people could afford them. However, like with all technology as time goes by electronics’ price goes down and makes it more affordable for more people to own cell phones. Now let me give you a quick background of the man who invented the first cell phone. Martin Cooper made the first cell phone in 1973 while being a general manager of Motorola’s Communications System Division. He wanted people to be able to communicate wherever they were. The Motorola Dyna-Tac weighted 2.5 pounds and was 9 x 5 x 1.75 inches. Then Martin Cooper started a ten-year process in which he brought the portable cell phone to the market. In 1983, Motorola introduced the 1-pound “DynaTAC” phone in a commercial costing $ 3,500 per phone. After 7 years, there were a million subscribers in the United States. Now there are more subscribers then ever with cell phones that weight as little as 3 ounces.

Furthermore, with cell phones being more affordable in this century, teenagers own them too. It’s almost as the cell phones have taken control over the teenagers’ lives because they text friends throughout the day. Teen’s text even when they are at school and that has become a problem for the teachers. The teachers want to ban cell phones from school since it’s a big distraction in their classroom. Students are not listening to the teacher’s lecture because they are too busy texting under the table. Teachers have lost the battle of getting rid of cell phones while being at school.

Back when I was in High School in 1997 none of my friends own a cell phone not even my parents. My parents told me that cell phones were only for business people. Therefore, I didn’t own a cell phone until 2001and not because I owned a business but because I had a child and was enrolled in Ventura College. Having a child made me buy a cell phone because I wanted to be reached at any time wherever I was in case of an emergency.

With ethics been issues regarding cell phones, schools already have policies for not using cell phones in class. Some of the teachers’ concerns with students are that students are using cell phones for cheating in test and for interaction while being in their class. Students concern with cell phones is of other students invading their privacy. For example, in the video “Revolution in the Classroom and in Social Lives,” a group of girls got into a fight while being in class and other students recorded them with their cell phone and put it on YouTube. After those girls were suspended they were interviewed later on and they said that they regretted what they did because their anger took over them and now everybody could see their video and could affect them in the future for career purposes. 

Furthermore, since schools have not been able to get rid of cell phones then they should incorporate them into the classroom. For example, the iPhone is already been used for school purposes. In addition, the iSchool cell phone is the future for all teachers and students since everything you’ll need will be there. With the iSchool cell phone, you won’t need pencils, paper, or even books because the iSchool phone has it all. With one touch away you could send your homework to your teacher, you could view test dates, use a graphing calculator and even read books. Parents could also view students’ progress through any phone or computer. The students will have the iSchool phones with internet limited to school education. While the teachers have unlimited internet access. Also, school will benefit from these phones specially now with the budget cut. The savings will be about $600 per student by not having to buy pencils, paper,books or expensive copy machines. With the iSchool phones the school will probably have to spend about $150 per student. Therefore, I recommend that when these iSchool phones come out they should be bought for students to use in their classroom.

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