Jessica Bonsall Cell Phone AUP's

http://awurl.com/GDwbBcoGe

I stumbled over a blog written by a middle school administrator. This administrator was talking through the pros and cons to cell phone use in schools versus banned cell phones. The text I chose to highlight was a comment made from an outside reader, and I thought it was very applicable to our course. The writer suggested creating a tiered AUP as opposed to one general policy for middle school through high school concerning cell phones. Her argument was that we, as educators, stress students to use all of the technology that is available to them - and most students have a computer right at their finger tips in their cell phones. She proposed allowing different grades different responsibilities and policies concerning cell phone usage in schools. For example, while 7th graders may not be allowed to have their phones on at school, 11th graders can use them in the classroom. She suggested that cell phones should be used as part of the technology curriculum. I was reminded on the online surveys that we simply sent a text message to, and the data was collected an presented on a web page instantaneously.
I think this is an awesome way to compose a cell phone acceptable use policy. We should let students use the technology they have - not deprive them from a useful resource.