When home schooling ends, should we stop the ban on mobile phones in schools?

School closures may be just around the corner. What is the plan for learning and teaching once they are closed? Is school learning now to go fully online? COVID-19 has brought us to a juncture where we need to think carefully about the real place of technology for schools learning.

Mobile phones have been banned in many states of Australia because students are deemed too irresponsible to use their own devices. While there are some exceptions, that really has been the black and white message. The expectation that students now use their own devices to undertake all learning is a massive about face.

The implementation of technology in schools has been messy. For many years we have taken a defensive stance. Children have been considered inadequate and unable to handle themselves safely and effectively online. As a result, how to use technology and the internet effectively to genuinely enhance learning has taken second place.

The world is changing before our eyes and it is effecting the long held traditional structure of schooling. Students around the globe in schools and universities are no longer able to sit at their desks. They no longer have a teacher to tell them to stop fidgeting and to focus on their work. Now their devices are their only conduit to getting an education. While for now this is a short-term situation, it does not mean this is the last time it will happen. 

The real question now is not how to keep children off their device but instead relate to how to technology can be used to genuinely enhance learning. How can we make online learning an engaging task that will make children want to login in the morning, and want to engage in the content and learn?

Watching their teacher do the same in class actions on video is not going to cut it. While it is a satisfactory temporary measure, it is not the solution-long term. This kind of video cannot compete with the TikToks, and YouTube videos by vloggers that our children view multiple times daily. Children will ultimately switch screens.

 Online learning needs to take a leaf from what students find engaging online however it must have its own identity. It must be engaging but not competing with online entertainment, because it will not win out.

Let’s shift the discussion from banning technology to talking with students openly about online learning that they would find engaging. We cannot do this with these discussions. Children are too tech-savvy, and we are not savvy enough.