Impacts of Mobile Phone in Schools

The digital revolution makes way for technology-assisted learning through gadgets such as mobile phones, laptops, and iPads. Drawing the line on whether these gadgets act as learning motivators or distractors is vital to establishing and understanding the impacts in school. Mobile phones have become very popular in society, with a part of almost every household possessing mobile phones and cellular networks (Crompton & Burke, 2018). They not only serve as communication gadgets through texts, calls, and emails but have gotten more roles as learning machines: Impacts of Mobile Phone in Schools.

Mobile learning, which is learning via electronic devices (Crompton & Burke, 2018), has become a part of the school curriculum, leading to debates. The debates surrounding the impacts of mobile phones in schools involve teachers, students, and parents, amongst others in society. A parent would want constant communication with their child, while teachers would struggle with creating boundaries in their classrooms (Rabiu et al., 2016). Students would struggle to balance their mobile phone use for school work (Ott, 2017).

To determine which side of the mobile phones in schools debate is more persuasive, it is imperative to regularly assess the effects of these devices in classrooms. On the one hand, mobile learning helps students study by overcoming time and geographical constraints and encouraging their willingness to learn, which has a beneficial impact on learning outcomes. On the other hand, mobile phones in school act as a form of distraction that negatively affects the teacher’s authority in classes and contributes to student disengagement, thereby complicating the learning process, especially for students with difficulty in mobile learning. Therefore, the impact of mobile phones in school exhibits negative repercussions because of the negative effects on academic performance, curriculum implementation, and classroom roles.

The impact of mobile phones in school exhibits negative repercussions because of the negative effects on academic performance. Rabiu et al. (2016) state that the ease of mobile phone portability consumes students’ concentration in classes due to excessive usage. Excessive usage leads to health issues such as sleep deprivation that impact a student’s academic performance. Engagement is therefore reduced with the use of mobile phones both during school hours and after school after hours.

Subsequently, mobile phones, in this case, act as disruptive devices that lead to deteriorating academic performance. Despite a ban on mobile phones in classes, students use the devices to communicate via text, which decreases their engagement (Ott, 2017). This usage leads to reduced self-control and poor self-regulation among students due to easy access to their mobile phones despite time and location restrictions. Consequently, boundaries need to be established in classes to ensure students can regulate the use of their phones to learn while in class and educators learn to manage their classrooms.

A decrease in academic performance is also shown among students struggling with mobile learning (Heflin et al., 2017). Mobile learning involves applying different tools incorporated into the curriculum; these tools may pose difficulty to some students, lowering their academic performance. Further, multitasking in class during lessons poses a challenge because it contributes to distractions that lower academic performance (Heflin et al., 2017).

Additionally, multitasking is linked to poor memory and lack of concentration, contributing to deteriorating academic performance. Accordingly, factors such as distractions, disengagement, multitasking, and difficulty in using educational tools negatively affect students which leads to poor or lowered academic performance.

The impact of mobile phones in school exhibits negative repercussions because of the negative effects on implementing the curriculum. Mobile learning uses the concept of community amongst learners, which is a shift from authority-based learning (Heflin et al., 2017). In traditional learning, the educator delivers curriculum-specific information to the students, while in mobile learning, the educator acts as a guide in the classroom. Handling mobile phones in schools requires that schools prepare for the changes that come along with the use of mobile phones and also with the level of information that students come into contact with; all these are factors that need to be catered for within a curriculum (Ott, 2017).

Additionally, Ott (2017) positions that with mobile learning, students become intrinsic in that the tasks are not predefined in the curriculum, as would be the case with traditional learning. Consistently, the students decide on the tasks’ requirements, including tools and methods required to carry them out, with guidance from the teachers. Therefore, educators restrict and permit the usage of mobile phones for such tasks.

Also, mobile learning requires more than the educator’s materials for learning, affecting the curriculum design to favor students’ selection of preferences and levels (Lin et al., 2017). With this in mind, teachers require professional development to ensure they have the skills and knowledge to guide such a classroom for curriculum implementation. Furthermore, schools will require policies in place to support their curricula (Nikolopoulou, 2020). Thus, mobile phones in schools negatively impact curriculum implementation due to the challenges accompanying them.

Finally, the impact of mobile phones in school exhibits negative repercussions because of the negative effects on classroom roles. As aforementioned, in traditional learning, the teacher had the authority to create the curriculum, assign tasks, and teach. However, with mobile learning, the educator becomes a guide, affecting their classroom authority. As a result, the educator’s control and management of their classroom is weakened, and their authority is compromised (Rabiu et al., 2016).

In addition, because the teacher’s role has changed, students can learn whatever they desire despite it not being in the teacher’s materials due to the surplus information they have access to on their mobile phones (Ott, 2017).  Professional development is thereby necessary to ensure that the teacher’s role in the classroom is safeguarded in mobile learning (Nikolopoulou, 2020). The student’s role also changes to intrinsic learners in that they choose the tasks to perform and the method and tool to use, while in traditional learning the curriculum created guided the tasks without the consideration of students’ interests.

Also, the mobile phone’s role and helpfulness in a classroom is vital in that an educator can initiate restrictions to foster learning.  Conclusively, it is apparent that classroom roles have changed with mobile phones in schools, which compromises a school’s authority. However, with the necessary training, teachers and educators can learn effective classroom management.

Despite the negative repercussions previously mentioned, it is also evident that mobile phones foster learning. The fostering of learning occurs in several ways, including overlooking the restrictions of time and location, making it flexible. A student can study whenever they can access their mobile phones when interested, making it convenient.

Furthermore, Lin et al. (2017) position that mobile learning fosters learning motivation more than traditional learning, which should yield a desirable learning outcome. Also, mobile learning offers students the chance to choose what they prefer, such as levels that foster self-regulation. These are some of the arguments for mobile phones in schools as they pose some benefits.

In conclusion, the debate on mobile phones in schools presents an argument with both support and opposition. Both arguments are supported by various ideologies. For instance, arguments for mobile phones in schools position that students benefit by studying without restriction as their phones are portable and easily accessible. Also, students get the option to select their tasks, which increases learning motivation and, in turn, learning outcomes.

Although it is apparent that mobile phones foster learning, the impacts of mobile phones in school exhibit negative repercussions. These repercussions involve being distractive, negatively affecting the teacher’s authority in classes, and contributing to student disengagement, complicating the learning process. This leads to outcomes such as deteriorating academic performance from distractions from mobile phone usage, and some students may struggle with multitasking, which is not only distractive but also results in poor memory, contributing to low academic performance. Another outcome is difficulty in curriculum implementation, whereby the educators may have an issue with sticking to a predefined curriculum as a student’s interest and level are considered in mobile learning.

This setback will then require the educators to undergo professional development to ensure they have the knowledge and skills to manage and guide their classes. Another outcome is the change in classroom roles as the change to mobile learning undermines an educator’s and school’s authority due to the shift from traditional learning, and as a result, schools need to create policies that restrict and guide mobile phone usage in schools. For these reasons, it is apparent that mobile phones in school present new challenges that changes need to be made to cater to, and this is despite the mobile phone’s contribution to learning.

References

Crompton, H., & Burke, D. (2018). The use of mobile learning in higher education: A systematic review. Computers & Education, 123, 53–64. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compedu.2018.04.007

Heflin, H., Shewmaker, J., & Nguyen, J. (2017). Impact of mobile technology on student attitudes, engagement, and learning. Computers & Education, 107, 91–99. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compedu.2017.01.006

Lin, M., Chen, H., & Liu, K. (2017). A study of the effects of digital learning on learning motivation and learning outcome. Eurasia Journal of Mathematics Science and Technology Education, 13(7), 3553–3564. https://doi.org/10.12973/eurasia.2017.00744a

Nikolopoulou, K. (2020). Secondary education teachers’ perceptions of mobile phone and tablet use in classrooms: benefits, constraints and concerns. Journal of Computers in Education, 7(2), 257–275. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40692-020-00156-7

Ott, T. (2017). Mobile phones in school: From disturbing objects to infrastructure for learning [Doctoral thesis, University of Gothenburg]. https://guoa.ub.gu.se/handle/2077/53361

Rabiu, H., Muhammed, A. I., Umaru, Y., & Ahmed, H. T. (2016). Impact of mobile phone usage on academic performance among secondary school students in Taraba State, Nigeria. European Scientific Journal ESJ, 12(1), 466. https://doi.org/10.19044/esj.2016.v12n1p466

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Augmentative essay on Impact of Mobile Phone in Schools

Course Project Overview

Required Resources Read/review the following resources for this activity:

• Textbook: Chapter 15
• Lesson 
• Minimum of 5 scholarly sources 

Week 7 Assignment
This week, all the hard work you have done in researching your topic and issue will come to fruition in your argumentative paper. Address the requirements below to complete your paper:

Follow the directions in the assigned textbook reading on how to write an argumentative essay on the issue you chose in Week 1.

Write a 4–6 page argumentative essay on your chosen topic.

Be sure your essay contains the following:

• An opening paragraph that states a clear thesis that is focused, plausible, and arguable and that gives direction and purpose to the paper
• A fair-minded, balanced, and objective development of the pros and cons of the issue in a well-organized sequence of ideas, free of mechanical errors
• Credible, reliable, and authoritative evidence in support of the points made
• A minimum of five authoritative sources that support your claim
• A strong conclusion that summarizes your views, reminds the audience of the issue and its importance, and shows in brief that you have successfully defended your thesis

Once you feel you have got the final draft, try to put the paper aside, even for a few hours, and then read it again.
Consider these questions when you review your paper:

• Did you address at least three aspects of the issue you chose?
• Does each aspect have relevant and authoritative evidence in support of your point?
• Have you included a view that is in opposition to your viewpoint, and have you answered that opposing view, pointing out its flaws in such a way as to refute it?
  

  Impacts of Mobile Phone in Schools

Edit your paper

• Look for wordiness, repetition, vagueness, and ambiguity.
• Check the organization of the paper as a whole; make sure each paragraph maintains focus.
• After you are satisfied that the content of your paper is good, carefully proofread it and correct mechanical errors.

Writing Requirements

• Length: 4–6 pages (not including title page or references page)
• 1-inch margins
• Double spaced
• 12-point Times New Roman font
• Title page
• References page