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Smart way to learn [Gulf Weekly (Bahrain)](Gulf Weekly (Bahrain) Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) (Image: cover.jpg ) A LEADING Bahrain school is piloting the use of smartphones in the classroom as a valuable tool for tech-savvy nine and 10-year-old children following in the footsteps of students studying at senior school.While it used to be the case that students were widely discouraged from using their mobiles in school and punishments were given out for annoying ringtones disturbing the class; pupils texting each other rather than doing their work; or some students even cheating on school work or exams, today due to the capabilities of the devices, students are now being encouraged to have them in the classroom. Ed Goodwin, Principal of St Christopher's School, revealed: "We are using mobile phones in some classes in the senior school and are going to pilot their use in Y5 and Y6 this year."The school, which boasts more than 2,000 pupils, is currently finalising a BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) system for its sites in both Saar and Isa Town ... this will mean that students will be able to use any device in school – rather than restricting them to iPads, Android phones or other systems."Ultimately, it is our aim that, wherever learning can be enhanced by the use of technology, our systems will enable this to happen," explained Mr Goodwin."We have allocated a school email address to all pupils from Y2 upwards, to facilitate some of the changes we are making and to enable better collaboration between students, teachers and their classes."We are researching apps, such as Diigo, which will facilitate pupil and staff research and collaboration. Pupils now have home access to all standard school software and their school files. "We are developing other areas to increase the ease with which parents and pupils can access school information – we hope to launch the first phase later this term. We will also be launching a complete replacement school website later this term."Concerns about inappropriate usage are, in general, exaggerated – we will implement measures to reduce this and, where necessary, deal with problems as they arise. These concerns can't be allowed to stop the progress of helpful technologies in the school."Students at the school are pleased with the developments says sixth former and GulfWeekly's Youth Talk columnist Hemangini Raina, 18. The editor-in-chief of the student magazine and leader of sixth form prefects, said: "By allowing students to bring in their mobile devices, we are now able to access useful websites such as WordReference in language lessons. "Personally, I've found the new policy to be quite useful, and it is a step in the right direction. It's great that there is a formalised structure, such as 'Phone Zones' and the appropriate usage code which set a clear guideline of expectations."According to Marcus Hennessy on teaching site, lessonplanspage.com, many schools have seen positive results from students using smartphones in the classroom. He said: "They're used to access the internet, schedule homework, and send emails to teachers and fellow students regarding assignments. "The phones allow students to conduct web searches, scan QR codes linked to relevant websites, graph science projects, and create Excel spreadsheets. Results are encouraging: students' overall maths and science scores have improved from last year!"Parents also benefit with the knowledge of the safety of their child, either because they are only a phone call away if they are late home or because there are a variety of ways to track where their child is via the smartphone. (c) 2014 Al Hilal Publishing and Marketing Group Provided by SyndiGate Media Inc. (Syndigate.info). |