Classroom Tech Trends To Watch

By Merry Gordon

Updated on Aug 19, 2013

 

Your kid spent half of math class with his cell phone out, tweeted his way through Spanish and came home only to spend an hour on a social networking site—and he swears it’s homework. Delinquency run amok? Think again. Before you start revoking phone and computer privileges, read up on how classrooms are capitalizing on new media with their tech-savvy audiences.

Revisiting Cell Phones in the Classroom

Once the bane of high school teachers everywhere, cell phones have gone from irritating to imperative in the secondary classroom. Charting Magellan’s course, compiling a list of Shakespeare’s apocrypha or calculating pi to three hundred decimal places?—there’s probably an app for that. Cell phones can be used as cameras for media projects, portals for Internet access and graphing calculators, and their myriad uses evolve constantly with the integration of new technology. Though the threat of cheating or disruptive conversations via text message looms large, mobile enthusiasts argue that these evils existed in the classroom long before the advent of cell phones.

One particular use for cell phones in the classroom is Poll Everywhere. Poll Everywhere tracks live audience polling via SMS text messages or the web. While it offers tiered pricing for the corporate sector, the free version is popular for educators who use this slick app for quick quizzing or classroom surveys.

Mouse Mischief

It’s no secret that education funding is suffering. If a laptop for every student can be tough for schools to pull off, a mouse for each student isn’t as much of a stretch—Microsoft is hoping teachers will see things that way. Its program Mouse Mischief works in tandem with Microsoft PowerPoint, allowing teachers to include interactive elements like multiple choice questions in their presentations. Students, using wireless or wired USB mice, click their answers in real time. It’s an easy tool for student engagement, and Microsoft has made management simple for teachers by enabling single-click commands and teacher controls that disable mice and set timers, among other things. The design sustains up to 40 mice in a classroom and has been tested around the globe. The premise is similar to that of PollEverywhere text polls, but capitalizes on what most schools already have, rather than banking on student cell phone ownership. For any student who has ever sat through a dry PowerPoint presentation, Mouse Mischief will be a welcome foray back into synergistic classroom technology.

 

Are Schools Safe?

by Education.com

Updated on Jan 14, 2008

 

School should be a safe haven, free of crime and violence. But that's not always the case according to a new report out from the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES).

The study, Indicators of School Crime and Safety, is the ninth in a series of annual publications produced by the NCES and a handful of government agencies. It aims to show what students face when they enter the schoolyard. And it covers a wide range of education topics most parents don't like to think about – victimization, fights, bullying, weapons, drugs, and alcohol.

Parents who think of school as a place where a child's biggest problem might be someone stealing his lunch have some catching up to do. Today's students have bigger fish to fry. In 2004, students aged 12-18 were victims of about 1.4 million nonfatal crimes at school, including about 863,000 thefts, 476,000 violent crimes (like simple assault), and 107,000 serious violent crimes (rape, sexual assault, robbery, and aggravated assault). Fifty-five out of every 1,000 students in America, aged 12-18, were victimized in 2004. This is compared to 73 in 2003. So the numbers have gone down a bit – a small consolation, but a consolation nonetheless.

As for school being a haven? The study found that students aged 12-18 were more likely to be robbed in school, than away from school. One in 10 male high school students reported being threatened or injured with a weapon on school property in the past year. Almost one in four students reported the presence of gangs in their schools. And one-quarter of all high school students had been offered drugs on school property.

The biggest problem on students' minds though is bullying. Almost 30 percent of middle and high school students reported having been bullied at school during the last six months. And for many, it was reason enough to avoid school altogether.

We all want school to be a safe harbor for our children. But that is sadly not always the case. If you've been functioning under the assumption that not much has changed since you roamed the halls, it may be time to reevaluate that assumption. Talk to your kids about their school. Let them know you're listening and that you take their fears or concerns seriously. Because no child should have to be afraid in the schoolyard – whether they're 8, or 18.

 

 

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