The Use of the Cellphones by the Students in Educational Establishments Journal Entry
In the modern age of technologies, many educational establishments cannot decide whether to ban students from using cell phones in classroom or not. I think this issue is controversial because cell phones can have
both positive and negative effect on students’ academic performance and productivity. While searching for some opinions about this subject, I have found two opposite viewpoints. According to Lepp et al. (2015), academic
performance of those students who use cell phones in classroom is much lower than of those students who do not use their devices (p. 7). Two recent studies showed that “89% (N=302) and 83% (N=251) of the students
surveyed perceived the cell phone primarily as a leisure device rather than an educational tool” (Lepp et al., 2015, p. 6). Therefore, cell phones only distracted students’ attention, which influenced their performance
negatively. On the contrary, the study made at the Australian Regional University demonstrated that cell phones might significantly improve students’ academic performance if used correctly. Thus, 94% of Australian
students participated in discussion forums, and 87% “were in favor of using their mobile devices to support their learning” (Farley et al., 2015, p. 7). I think that both viewpoints are valid and true but they have some
limitations: the number of students who participated in the research is not too large and the location of the studies is too narrow. Moreover, the students’ favor of using cell phones does not fully prove that their
academic performance is enhanced. Nevertheless, it proves that students can easier access any type of information and use it during the lessons. At the same time, I believe that cell phones might be distracting because students might use them for entertainment, gaming, and social networking websites visiting. However, I need to find more support to my belief to prove that cell phones should be banned in classrooms.
References
Farley, H., Murphy, A., Johnson, C., Carter, B., Lane, M., Midgley, W., … Koronios, A. (2015). How do students use their mobile devices to support learning? A case study from an Australian Regional University.
Journal of Interactive Media in Education, 1, 1-13.
Lepp, A., Barkley, J. E., & Karpinski, A. C. (2015). The relationship between cell phone use and academic performance in a sample of U.S. college students. Sage OPEN, January-March, …
