Do Smartphones Benefit Classroom Learning or Not - Essay Example

English 24 July Argumentative Essay: Do Smartphone’s Benefit room Learning or Not? Introduction Digital technologies are a tremendous benefit to all students and especially those with special needs as they provide multiple ways to access content, practice new skills, apply new knowledge, receive feedback, and demonstrate learning. Many governments in the world today have acknowledged the importance of technology by either including it as a subject in its own right in the curriculum, or stressing its importance as a set of cross-curricular skills, usually ICT. Technology allows information to be presented more accurately and more attractively than by most traditional means, so that it engages the attention of the user. Despite having its benefits technology has its disadvantages and many people have pointed at them as reasons why smart phones are not good for class room learning (Academic Conferences Limited and Balcaen 159). The use of smart phones in classroom learning has its failures and benefits at the same time (Winebrenner and Brulles 214). However, the benefits certainly outweigh the failures. This paper supports the use of smart phones in class room learning by arguing on its benefits against its failures. The term smart phone is generally used to refer to more advanced cellular phone, whose capabilities outdo those of feature phones. Smartphones are primarily communication devices, but today, their functions have increased. Many schools today allow students to use their smart phones or other handled devices in the classroom. One thing people should not forget is that smart phones are not limited to classroom learning, but can also be used to do further research after class, making them very beneficial to learning. For example, smart phones have software’s such as cameras, which are extremely helpful for creating digital projects. Students today are always finding ways to get connected. For example, children of all ages now know how to use smartphones more than their parents. Research has shown that even at the age of three, some children learn how to use their parent’s smart phones. The Benefits of using Smart Phones for Classroom Learning There are many benefits that come with using smart phones in classroom learning. These include: a. Reducing boredom in classroom learning People have argued that though smart phones reduce boredom in classes by making learning lively, students in this new age are highly motivated by technology and thus, tend to be very mischievous when the class is still in session. They tend to log-in social sites and instead of concentrating in class they, are busy exchanging non-educational materials leading to poor performance in academics Davies and Eynon point out that “opportunities to continue out-of-school uses of technology when in school have been limited or non-existent until quite recently for most young people” (1931). However, many are times that teachers look for ways to inspire or motivate learners in class. For example, one will find them opening doors and windows, also engaging the learners in singing so as to make them want to learn. Technology and in this case smartphones can play a key part in achieving this easily. It is very evident of how children of this new age are motivated easily by technology. A research done in 2006 suggested that “technology can have a positive impact on pupil’s levels of concentration, self-confidence, self-esteem, independence, and behavior” (Waugh and Jolliffe n.p.). b. Smart phones provide access to the curriculum for children with special educational needs Smart phones and especially those used by special needs learners, like any technology, are not cheap to purchase. In some schools, they are limited in meeting the needs of each and every student. This does not make learning any simple for such people, but rather, complicates their lives more and at the end, their goals are not achieved. Despite this, smart phones have been very helpful in providing access to the curriculum for children with special educational needs. This is because these phones have software’s that can be used by children with special needs. For example, speech recognition software means that those with severe physical disabilities and can simply speak see their words appearing on the screen and these can be saved for later use (Waugh and Jolliffe n.p.). Additionally, what a teacher teaches can be recorded in the phone and this will help those students who cannot write, because of the challenges they have. Smartphones function like computers, thus visually impaired learners can increase the font size or zoom factor when viewing text on the screen as they are sent by the teacher via email, and thus the whole class is able to proceed together, without any of them lagging behind. c. Enhances the teaching of foreign languages in the classroom Mobile devices including smartphones are arguably an ideal tool for efficient foreign language learning in higher education. This is because they provide an environment for students to learn a foreign language virtually anytime and anywhere. Using the internet enables the educators to email the vocabularies to the phones of the learners (Pittman 87). The learners are also able to check the meaning of words and also have them translated for them to understand. This makes the classroom learning of foreign languages easy and fun. d. Smart phones make educators and learners work easy in the classroom It has been argued that technology only helps accomplish educational purposes, and thus is not the final goal of education. Thus, learners and educators are advised not rely entirely on smart phones in everything they do, because this encourages laziness and with this, the expected goals are not going to be achieved. It is also a fact that most of the time might be spent learning how to use the smart phones, rather than going through what the curriculum requires of them to have handled at the end of syllabus (Pittman 88). As smart phones function like computers, they have software similar to those of a computer. With smart phones in the classrooms, teachers are able to share materials such as pictures or even demonstrate them. For example, when teaching about parts of a plant, a teacher can share the pictures of the parts via the internet. This makes the teachers work easy and it also becomes easy for learners to comprehend what they are being taught. This also saves the teacher a lot of energy that could have been used, while drawing the pictures on the boards, or even time taken to make the students comprehend what they are being taught. Additionally, students find writing stressful and thus they opt using the smartphones to perform such activities as dictation. Because of this, students are being trained in proper dictation technique using voice applications in smart phones, such as iPhones. Smart phones can allow students to work in groups on projects, sharing information and discoveries (Pittman 87). Therefore, the students can move towards a common goal, in a format they are comfortable with. Conclusion In conclusion, some years back, pulling out a cell phone during class used to mean likely confiscation or even being expelled from school. Today, a growing number of schools from primary school to university use smart phones in learning. This is because the world is turning to the use of smart phones as learning tool, which a very enticing idea. Technology in the classroom does have many benefits and has clear drawbacks as well, but the benefits are stronger than the failures. Smartphones and especially in this new age are very important in classroom learning. Technology in education is most simply a blessing to educators and learners. Technology might prove helpful in advancing student learning. Works Cited Academic Conferences Limited and Philip Balcaen. The Proceeding of the 6th International Conference on E-Learning: ICEL-2011. Reading: Academic Publishing International Limited, 2011. Print. Davies, Chris and Rebecca Eynon. Teenagers and Technology. East Sussex: Routledge, 2013. Print. Pittman, R. E. Taxonomy of learning. Mainz: PediaPress, n.d. Print. Waugh, D and Wendy Jolliffe. English 5-11: A Guide for Teachers. 2nd ed. London: Routledge, 2013. Print. Winebrenner, S. and Dina Brulles. Teaching Gifted Kids in Today’s Classroom, Minneapolis: Free Spirit Publishing, Inc, 2012. Print. Read More