Digital Distractions in a Wireless Classroom

To quote Distractions in the Wireless Classroom, “The Cooneys were intrigued by the tapping of the laptop keys as students appeared to be taking copious notes. ‘As we looked over their shoulders from our back-row seats,’ says Mollie Cooney, ‘we found instead they were on Facebook, Dave Matthews Band Web sites, instant messaging friends, and e-mailing fellow classmates.’
The opening of the article reminds me of a common scene that can be spotted in the classes back in my institute in China, where students exchange messages via mobile phones or surf the internet just for entertainment during the students’ self-study sessions in the computer labs.
Such phenomenon can be viewed either positively or negatively. On one hand, with the speedy development of economy of technology in China, the current college students in there are enjoying the convenience brought by the electronic devices which are produced as a sign of the latest technological advancement. That is, the gap is narrowing down between the living standard in China and abroad. However, equipped with such devices, students are distracted from their studies.
As classroom teachers we worry about the influence of the wireless classrooms to the performance of grades of students. The most common solution for us to do individually is to announce the rules for students to turn off the mobiles phones and laptops and to give those who violate this rule proper punishment. Yet the repeated persuasion is a waste of time in class and will bring a tense relation between teachers and students. The best solution, maybe just as Jane Drews puts it, is to carry out etiquette education to the students fresh in class. For example, we can hold a discussion at the greeting session on the harmfulness of digital distrations among students. For another example, we can make a vedio or slides show to students revealing the bad effects and the apinions of teachers, parents and their fellow students. I beleive such activities, if well designed, can make students aware of their responsibility of maintaining the class order and creating a good study atmosphere.

IT Educational Policy in USA

Group Division:
Liu Dongping on values given to education and IT;
Xiao Yun on roles of teachers;
Wang Xinjun on roles of students;
Yang Rong on roles of language and language learning.
(Although we assigned the tasks separately, we discussed the task for several times and finally made it a whole.)

Primary Source 1:
From http://usinfo.state.gov/journals/itsv/1297/ijse/ijse1297.htm
(This is from an e-journal article in US Society & Values. The editors comment on President Bill Clinton’s speech to illustrate the values given to American education.)
Values given to education:
The American system of education, like the society that shapes it, is facing myriad challenges and opportunities. What is the role of technology in the classroom? Is there a place for voucher-funded schools? Can national standards and testing be mandated for schools which are locally controlled? At a time when education is of increasing importance, where does society find the resources to fund this expanding need?
At the same time it is facing these questions, the U.S. system of education remains committed to universal access to education for all its students. It also has long contributed to its citizens' economic upward mobility and exerted a powerful democratizing influence. Despite the challenges facing American education, and the continuing debate among politicians, educators, parents and students, there is a national consensus that high quality education must be accessible to all.
Primary Source 2:

From http://nces.ed.gov/pubs2004/2004011.pdf

(Since 1994, the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) has surveyed public schools to estimate access to information technology in schools and classrooms. In the fall of each academic year, a new nationally representative sample of public schools is surveyed about Internet access and other Internet-related topics. The results of this survey show what progress has been made since these data were first collected in 1994, and help assess the magnitude of tasks remaining to make the Internet available as an educational tool in all schools. A report presents key findings from the survey “Internet Access in U.S. Public Schools, Fall 2002.” by NCES shows the following :)

Values given to IT:

In fall 2002, 99 percent of public schools in the United States had access to the Internet.
When NCES first started estimating Internet access in schools in 1994, 35 percent of public schools had access (table 1). In 2002, no differences in school Internet access were observed by any school characteristics. This is consistent with data reported previously (Kleiner and Farris 2002), which showed that there have been virtually no differences in school access to the Internet by school characteristics since 1999.

Roles of students in computer access


More children and adolescents in the nation used computers at school than at home in 2001
(DeBell and Chapman 2003). The survey “Internet Access in U.S. Public Schools, Fall 2002” obtained information on various measures of student access to computers at school, such as the ratio of students to instructional computers with Internet access, student access to the Internet outside of regular school hours, the provision of hand-held computers to students and teachers, and laptop loans to students.

Roles of teachers in professional development on how to integrate the use of the internet into the curriculum


Although approximately one-half of public school teachers in 1999 reported that they used computers or the Internet for instruction during class time, and/or that they assigned their students work that involves research using the Internet, one-third of teachers reported feeling well or very well prepared

Nationwide, 87 percent of public schools with Internet access indicated that their school or school district had offered professional development to teachers in their school on how to integrate the use of the Internet into the curriculum in the 12 months prior to the fall 2002 survey.

Forty-two percent of the schools that had professional development had 1 to 25 percent of their teachers attending professional development in 12 months preceding the survey. Seventeen percent of the schools had 26 to 50 percent of their teachers, 11 percent of the schools had 51 to 75 percent of their teachers, and 30 percent of the schools had 76 percent or more of their teachers attending professional development on how to integrate the use of the Internet into the curriculum in the 12 months preceding the survey (table 20). Another 1 percent reported not having any teachers attending such professional development during this time frame.

Roles of language and language learning

Primary Source 3

From http://esperanto-usa.org/node/649?PHPSESSID=bceec4ac119f9cd4091c2e3e93e86908

(A blog of Esperanto-USA)

Learning languages in the United States is something to which we all give lip-service, but which in fact is heavily ignored in our schools, and it seems to me that anything that can help should be at least looked at.

Primary Source 4:

From http://www.usatoday.com/news/education/2007-01-09-language-children_x.htm

(By Beth Walton, USA TODAY. More children learn more than one language)
Not only is learning a foreign language easier for children than it is for adults, but children who are exposed to other languages also do better in school, score higher on standardized tests, are better problem solvers and are more open to diversity.