No Cellphones in Class
What one technology, service, or application caused the greatest disruption to one of the industries?
Entertainment
Marketing
Education
A major piece of technology that disrupted the education industry was the mobile phone. Cell phones today can be classified as miniature computers easily accessible from your pocket. They give access to a wide variety of applications and features helpful to learning, as well as methods of teaching — one example being the flipped classroom. A flipped classroom consists of teachers recording their lectures through video or audio and students are expected to listen or watch outside of class. The idea of a flipped classroom probably seemed laughable a few years prior when students were limited to desktop computers only accessible from home or at libraries. Now students are able to access the web from their smartphone, but that may not necessarily have a positive impact on education.
For all the potential that cellphones bring to the academic setting, it has effects on the students themselves. Despite a student’s ability to access note taking tools and research from their cellular device, there are numerous distractions in place unrelated to class content that seem to have a negative impact on student learning. The National Communication Association conducted an experiment to examine the use of mobile phones in class and see whether it helped or hindered learning. Compared to the students who used their mobile phones, the ones who did not use their phones received approximately 13 percent points higher on their tests, were 62 percent better at taking notes, and retained information from lectures better.
The introduction of smartphones and ability to access information quickly is changing the way we learn, becoming a double-edged sword. As Nicholas Carr, author of “Is Google Making Us Stupid?” says, “The Web has been a godsend to me as a writer. Research that once required days in the stacks or periodical rooms of libraries can now be done in minutes.” Despite the wealth of information at his fingertips, Carr notices that his capacity for concentration and contemplation has been eroding. He now tends to swiftly rummage through articles, looking for relevant keywords or phrases. The use of the web and the smartphone have put immediacy and efficiency in front of longevity and intricacy. According to surveys conducted by the Pew Research Center, the ownership of a smartphone centers primarily around adults between 18-29 at 85 percent and individuals with high education levels (51 percent use by high school graduates or less, and 78 percent use by college graduates and continuing scholars). Smartphones have emerged as a new tool in the classroom environment as younger people use them more prominently. As our use of the smartphone continues, our method of teaching and learning will not only be altered, but so will our process of acquiring and retaining new knowledge. Interestingly, this “immediacy” effect has been occurring with a generation that was pre-smartphone, and pre-internet. It beckons the question of how future generations will learn when technology moves beyond smartphones and beyond the Internet we know today.