Should students be allowed to use cell phones on all assignments and assessments?

North Scott High School in Eldridge, Iowa is allowing students to use their cell phones for practice tests. Teachers are using PollEverywhere to assess students’ knowledge and see what course material needs additional attention.

It would be even better if all schools, including North Scott, allowed students to use their cell phones for any assignment or assessment. A world’s worth of information is now at our fingertips, anytime and anywhere. If we permitted students to instantly look up any low-level factual recall knowledge – like we adults do daily in the real world – wouldn’t this force schools to employ better, more complex assessments that got at higher levels of understanding? I think it might!

Kudos to North Scott High for starting the journey of figuring out how to integrate into classroom instruction and assessment the powerful mobile computers that their students carry with them every day. Now, is it ready for the next step? Is your school?

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