Technology has been rapidly changing throughout the 21st Century. While teachers have adapted to 21st century learning, the onslaught of constantly emerging technology has created a divide in how certain technologies should or shouldn’t be implemented in the classroom. Nowhere is this more prevalent than the issue of smart phones; devices that are more powerful and accessible than what is found in school computer labs across the country. My research question is, “Do teachers feel that smartphones and personal devices belong in the classroom?” This leads to more sub questions such as: what are teachers’ experiences with implementing technology through personal devices, what are advantages and disadvantages of personal devices? how frequent should their use be? etc. The purpose of this research is to illustrate teacher’s preconceived notions and opinions about personal devices, as well as the impact of these devices. The research examines how Campbell River teachers choose to incorporate smart phones into day-to-day teaching and how many choose to not incorporate them at all due to a variety of complex reasons. Parents, teachers, and students need up-to-the date information on how, why, and if smartphones should be integrated in and outside of school.
After a grueling grudge match with Survey Planet and how their survey software formats survey’s without paying for it, which can impede young academics trying to cheaply pass the Research Ethics Board (REB), I received the go ahead to survey as many teachers as were willing to find out their thoughts on smart phones/personal devices in the classroom. Armed with an e-mail, a dream, and the innate ability to get people to do me favours by constantly pestering them until they agreed to write the survey, I had 100+ filled out survey’s by Campbell River teachers to go through.
I am currently in the process of interviewing survey takers who indicated they would like to answer further questions. The interview process has been slow, due to the fact that transcribing interviews might be the actual worst thing ever employed in academics. Of course, I have all the hot tips for transcribing – chief among them? Type quickly!
I’m ready for all types of questions. Want to know the quickest way to get something done? Want to know how to write brief, hilarious e-mails in order to get surveys done? Or did you sign up for this seminar as a placeholder, hoping the reading strategies group would open up some more spots? In any case, feel free to ask me anything!
Hi Jake. Your research question is a very timely and it is an interesting one. I find myself a bit torn about this very issue in classrooms. I look at having smart phones in the classroom as a tool for students because of how accessible they can be for students, especially if the student(s) have a disability. As well, teachers can create some interesting activities using phones, such as QR Code activities or real-time surveys – I found this list that has lots of other great classroom phone use ideas: https://xyofeinstein.files.wordpress.com/2011/10/33_interesting_ways_to_use_mobile_phones_in_th.pdf
On the other hand, I don’t really like the thought of students being on screens all day. What do you find most challenging about the survey process? Do you have many responses from the survey yet? If so, are most teachers in support of using phones in the classroom? Best wishes with it all!
Thank you for your question / comment.
I think, based on my survey results, that many teachers are as torn on the issue as you are. Many teachers see technology as a benefit in the classroom but are against personal device usage because of the host of problems they cause. I had 112 responses to the survey (about 1/3 of all Campbell River teachers) and I’m now in the process of going through the information and coding it all.
About 50% of teachers who answered do allow some sort of personal device use in the classroom but with the caveat that it is not unrestricted. Many answers referenced that they only allow them when laptop carts are booked, for a Kahoot game etc. So if you break down the numbers further, about 10% have unrestricted access (high school teachers, mostly), 40% use it some of the time, 50% not at all or basically never. But that’s just from a quick break down as I have not gone through and tabulated everything to the percent yet (spring break, here we come!)
The most difficult part of the survey was finding meaningful questions and designing it to be quickly done (that is the key, to me, quick survey or nobody wants to do it).
Thank you again for the comment and I will check out the resource you posted!
Regards!
Hi Jake,
Great topic! I definitely would be curious in learning more. I’m of two minds on smartphones. In my Spanish classes – I love allowing students limited access to their smartphones. They are a fantastic tool for using apps like Kahoot, accessing online dictionaries like wordreference.com, and filming movies as an alternative to oral presentations. They can absolutely add a lot, however I find myself in a tough place with them outside of activities like that because students tend to grab them the second they feel bored or uninterested in curriculum. The week Disney + came out, I actually caught a student watching The Little Mermaid! While she has great taste in cartoons, this was shocking to me as I consider myself to have quite an interactive class. I’d be curious to hear the perspectives of teachers who are very much pro smart phones, and strategies they’ve successfully implemented to use phones as a tool for engagement, rather than students responding to texts, checking snapchat, tik tok, etc.
How long are you finding it takes you to transcribe the interviews? Interviews are what I’m considering for my research. I am speedy at typing but would love to hear your pro tips, things you wish you knew before going that direction, and what you’d recommend to others who are venturing in the world of interview transcription.
Part of your World, Under the Sea and Kiss the Girl might be the single greatest trifecta of Disney songs ever!
Thank you for the question. Smart phones in the classroom is a complicated topic and it’s going to stay complicated for a long time. What I’ve found interesting about the results, so far, is that even the pro smart phone crowd aren’t totally enthused with having to embrace it.
But, onto your question. Interviews are really fun to do and offer a chance to build a lot of depth into whatever topic you are researching. I found in the zoom/teams era that for transcription I use two devices. I record the interview on Teams/Zoom and while the interview is recording, I also use the dictate function in Microsoft Word. While it’s not perfect, it picks up enough that you can then go back and fix all the little mistakes it made while you’re listening to the interview.
I also used an app called Rev Recorder to record the interviews. I did this because they offer transcription services at a $1.25 a minute so if you get behind or don’t feel like transcribing an interview, you can just hit the button and it’ll send it in and you’ll get it back within 24 hours. I haven’t used that feature yet, but it was nice knowing I could do it if I really wanted to.
Thanks again for your question!
Hi Jake, thanks for your humour! Congrats on getting so much survey data, obviously this is an interested topic to teachers. I have not heard of Survey Planet? What factors did you consider in order to choose that platform?
Thank you for you question Rachel,
The short answer is that you haven’t heard of Survey Planet for a reason. It’s just not that good. And if anybody can learn anything from me, it’s that you should not use Survey Planet. Is it fine and passable? Sure! Is it as good as Survey Monkey. Not a chance.
So what did I use Survey Planet? Oh what a tale that is.
Survey Monkey only lets you make a 10 question survey without paying. But I needed to have the whole survey (14 questions) made to pass REB. BUT, Survey Monkey, I thought, was like $300 to use (yes, I should have looked harder as a great person pointed out to me there is a student plan that is unadvertised).
So I, being cheap, thought there has to be a better way. I found Survey Planet, which for free let me setup the entire survey. I used that to complete my REB application. But then, of course, I was sort of stuck. I paid my $20 American to enable the survey to save results and break them down for me. The analyzing and organization of the results are fine but there just not as good as Survey Monkey.
That was a very long reply to a simple question.
In the end, friends don’t let friends not use Survey Monkey.
I wonder if the teachers you surveyed were honest in answering about usage as it pertains to themselves? All three of my adult children, just aged myself, stated in their experiences that they were not allowed to use their smartphones, but their teachers were using them consistently themselves, sometimes for trivial purposes.
Very good question. I answered Jake’s survey and I am very aware of how I use phones in front of students. This is not always the case and when students see teachers, parents and members of the public using phones in ways we try to discourage it is an impossibly hard pill for them to swallow. Monkey see monkey do…
I am an advocate for technology in the classroom and have allowed phones in the classroom (with restrictions) for seven years (teaching grade 6/7). For the past 5 years I have felt like I should not allow phones (I flip flop on what I should do and then ultimately allow the phones in September because I try to teach phone self regulation).
After much self reflection (a year of Covid and this Masters program) next year is going to be the first year I am not going to allow cell phones. I will prepared a letter for families and have already secured a class set of calculators.
Hi Jake, I think I can see why you and your teaching partner are well paired – good sense of humour! How many interviews are you planning to conduct?
Hi Wendy,
Yes my partner teacher and I get along very well. There are lots of moments in the day to find some humour in most situations.
As for the amount of interviews. I had 5 people contact me from the survey and I interviewed those 5 people. At this point, my research is done – I just have to actually sit down, sift through all of it and try to finish this up.