Wednesday, April 14, 2010

Nice one TDSB �Ideas and Thoughts from an EdTech

Nice one TDSB �Ideas and Thoughts from an EdTech


Nice one TDSB

Warning: This post was written in about 10 minutes with a fair bit of emotion. While I’m hoping for clarity, I’m there’s no guarantee.

These are the types of decisions that continue to promote the “us vs. them” mentality. What incites me is the reason they give for banning cell phones:
There’s the disruptive nature of the phone ringing or vibrating during class.
Students can text message each other and send answers about exams, a high tech way to cheat.
They can also access the Internet over the phones, making it too easy to surf or find answers they’re supposed to know while class is in session.
Phones can also act as MP3 players, another interruption.
Disruptive? That might be a good thing. But even if we don’t view the term disruptive in a positive sense, can we not involve students in developing policies that everyone agrees upon? In my experience, anytime students are given the opportunity to develop rules, it saves everyone a great deal of trouble in enforcing them.
Students can text message and cheat? Read this.