Research Project Updates

    This week I found sources that were against smartphone use in the classroom, as well as examples where the phone industry has sponsored the use of smartphones in the classroom. Both of these are conflicting opinions on whether smartphones would be beneficial to students.

     The first source states the viewpoint of a professor at Bryant University, who believes that smartphones are a big distraction in the classroom and that they're too expensive to maintain. He believes that students spend too much time surfing the internet and texting in class instead of paying attention. One notable statistic from this article is that 66% of people between ages 18 and 24 answered that they fear losing or being without their phone meaning they are very attached to their phone and easily distracted by them. The smartphone ownership at Ball State has also increased from 27% to 69% in just three years.

http://www.usnews.com/education/best-colleges/articles/2012/03/21/smartphone-use-among-college-students-concerns-some-professors

    The second article describes how the phone industry is claiming that smartphones are making students smarter and that it can improve math skills. Digital Millenial Consulting  funded school districts in Chicago, San Diego, and Florida with smartphones as a part of a study to research the effects of smartphones and how they affect student performance. Students were given high-end Windows phones which they used for social-networking, research, and other various software. These students' grades were then compared to students who were not given smartphones and the group with the smartphones scored 25% than the students who were not given smartphones. The cost for each to student to receive a smartphone was costly at one thousand dollars a year.

     My research this week has been successful. I found studies that showed smartphones were beneficial in the form of statistic as well as opinions from college professors that are against the use of smartphones in the classroom. My goal for next week is to find more studies supporting or perhaps against the use of smartphones in the classroom as well as the best type of smartphone for students. Some other areas I need to research are ways to soften the heavy expense of funding smartphones for each student and any apps on the phones which are beneficial.

The image below shows distribution of smartphone vs non-smartphone ownership by grade level.