Mobile Phones Show Class

Posted: 12/02/09 by Molly Kocour

Here's a headline that caught our eye this week:

Teachers begin using cell phones for class lessons

According to the AP, high schools across Florida are embracing mobile technology as part of the learning process.  As Ariana Leonard, a Spanish teacher at a public school near Tampa put it, students' mobile phones are such an important part of their lives that classroom use is like "giving them another avenue to learn outside of the classroom."

The instruction typically centers around text messaging and use of phone's browsers.

The reason is pretty straightforward: Among teenagers, 71 percent have cell phones, according to a 2008 survey by the Pew Internet & American Life Project. Importantly, that figure remains generally constant regardless of race, income or other demographic factors.

Not that this should be particularly surprising.  Schools are increasingly embracing mobile technology for a variety of educational and safety concerns.