'Banning Is Not the Answer' to Mobile and Social Tools in Schools

By David Nagel

04/11/12

Before choosing to restrict the use of social and mobile tools in schools, policymakers and education leaders have to consider the negative impact such restrictions will have on learning. That's the premise of a new policy report released jointly this week by more than a dozen prominent education associations and advocacy groups.

The report, "Making Progress: Rethinking State and School District Policies Concerning Mobile Technologies and Social Media," was released by more than a dozen major education and ed tech groups, including the Consortium for School Networking (CoSN) and the FrameWorks Institute, which produced the report, along with the American Association of School Administrators(AASA), the National Association of State Boards of Education (NASBE), theNational Association of Elementary School Principals (NAESP), the National Association of Secondary School Principals (NASSP), the National Education Association (NEA), the Student Press Law Center, the Partnership for 21st Century Skills, the National Writing Project, the National Council of Teachers of English, Common Sense Media, and the Joan Ganz Cooney Center. It was funded through an award from the MacArthur-UCHRI Digital Media and Learning Research Hub at the University of California, Irvine.

The goal of the report, its authors argued, was not to prescribe specific policies but to illuminate issues that need to be considered--both positive and negative--in order to help bring policy in line with the needs of education and realities of technological world in which students live.

"In today's world, most students are attached to mobile devices of some kind whether in or out of school. When policy and practice are aligned, the amazing possibilities presented by this fact surely outweigh the challenges. Creating that alignment is our first step," said NASBE Deputy Executive Director Bradley J. Hull in a separate statement released to coincide with the report.

Social and Mobile Technologies: Current Realities
The report cited five "critical observations" related to the use of social and mobile tools in schools, both supporting their use and acknowledging the need to address issues related to their use. These included:

1. Social media and mobile devices are already in widespread use by students, and schools are beginning to adapt their own policies to take advantage of students' current interest in technology.

2. Mobile technologies and social media offer "tremendous" educational benefits, including bridging formal and informal learning, providing access to educational resources students otherwise wouldn't be able to use, and offering the ability to learn lifelong technology skills, among others.

3. Some federal, state, and local policies do not match up with current realities and need clarification or updating in light of current social trends and technological advancements.

4. Advocates of social and mobile technology need to address negative behaviors that are sometimes associated with these technologies, including the use of technology tools in bullying, along with self-destructive behavior and poor decision-making on the part of minors whose actions can have lifelong consequences. The report's authors pointed out that schools provide a unique opportunity for students to use their favorite tools in a supervised, mentored environment.

taken from:
 THE Journal, 
http://thejournal.com/articles/2012/04/11/banning-is-not-the-answer-to-mobile-and-social-tools-in-schools.aspx?=THE21