After a 30 year career in the metal industry as a tradesperson, I have re-trained and am now a teacher in a high school. After 5 years teaching in a small country school, I am now teaching in a local high school and the change has been quite profound. I am wondering if I am suffering from the 'emporers new clothes' syndrome when it comes to some of the things I see. Mobile phones and I-pods appear to be an issue that clearly impinges on the capacity to learn for many students. With a masters in educational studies, I am struggling to understand why we are allowing this technology in a learning environment where it's very presence presents a major obstacle to good classroom order and any potential for learning.
I have tried to find any definitive research on the effects of these devices and learning but have so far been unsuccessful.
I am not anti-technology, in fact am quite the opposite. I do see mobile phones as a pre-cursor to the next wave of learning technologies with PDAs etc but in the current circumstances, I can't see how we are serving the learning needs of our students by allowing these devices in the classroom. Is it just a lack of will on the part of teachers to deal with this issue? Do we have too many teachers approaching their retirement to be bothered with addressing this as an issue?
I want to hear from anyone who might have something to contribute to this issue, positive and negative. My interest area in school s is boys' education and they appear to be those most affected by this issue.
