However, a common pitfall for students is blatant regurgitation of online answers without second though. Don’t understand something? Google it and write down the best answer. But how much can we trust these answers? We are at a time where people can post information to the internet faster than it can be reviewed.
The ability to instantly look up an answer results in many students bypassing critical thinking and instead reflexively jumping online if they don’t get an answer within a minute or two. I’ve had too many students that don’t even attempt to translate online answers they’ve found into their own words for ease of understanding.
Some students even fail to assess the credibility of the online source they’re citing. Once I had a student reference an incorrect answer found on Yahoo Answers submitted by a user named Mr. Grumpy whose user image was a cat.
While search engines attempt to provide the most valid answers as highest ranking there still exists a fair amount of inaccuracy in top search results. My point is best explained in a special two-part blog I authored about the problems with online answers.
7) PRO/CON: Translation Services
Not every student is fluent in [insert language of your choice in the blank]. In classrooms, smart phone usage may greatly assist language-learners who have trouble understanding their professor.
I am not saying that students should be translating via their smart phones during the class, but translation apps or Google Translate can prove helpful when interpretational difficulties arise.
As a science professor, I also find it helpful for students to use such apps and online translators in translating complicated Latin and Greek based scientific vocabulary terms for ease of understanding.
6) CON: External Distractions
There is merit in the idea of jamming smart phone signals in college classrooms. I believe that to be truly effective you need to minimize (or better negate) anything that deters you from the task at hand.
Even when on vibrate, smart phones can be a distraction, allowing issues from the outside world to penetrate the classroom walls. These external distractions can leave students at least distracted and at most unlearned. Don’t get me wrong, if these calls were emergencies, my outlook would be different. But, overwhelmingly, these incoming calls and texts are not.
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