In
this modern era, technology becomes more developed. One of the results of
today’s technology is the invention of smartphones. Smartphones provide us with
invaluable applications that we can use in various purposes. For instance, we
can use them to browse the Internet in a short time. This causes many people
from different levels want to have and use smartphones, even students of Junior
High School want to use them. According to the 2013 UNESCO Report, mobile
technologies are commonly found nowadays even in areas where schools, books,
and computers are scarce. Due to the fall in prices of these technologies,
mobile phones in particular, many people, even in impoverished areas, can afford
and know how to use mobile devices (UNESCO, 2013). In Indonesia, particularly
in Jakarta, many students from different levels are using smartphones. They
assume that it gives them many benefits, such as enabling them to access the
Internet, enabling them to contact their friends, and many more. However, there
are many people out there who disagree with letting Junior High School students
use smartphones. They think that using smartphones in class will distract
students’ attention from their lessons and make students easily access
inappropriate sites such as porn sites. Nevertheless, the use of smartphones in
class for Junior High School students can be done under some conditions and
requirements.
As
we know, smartphones do so many things but one of the most important aspects of
their usefulness is the fact that they keep people connected. This beneficial
technology give people, especially Junior High School students, fast, easy and
increased communication by integrating contact information and providing
applications that can be easily accessed and allow people to stay in touch with
each other. According to Duggan (2013), texting, social networking, sending and
receiving e-mail remain popular to connecting people. In this case, students of
Junior High School can take advantage of their smartphones in a communication
way. Their smartphones help them connect with their friends and stay in touch
with them. Some people think that using smartphones in class will help the
students access the Internet easily. When their teachers are not in the class
and ask them to do tasks, then this technology can help them send their tasks
to their teachers. It means that the students will not need to wait for the
teachers to turn in the assignments, since they can send them via e-mail which
can be accessed through their smartphones. Nowadays, teachers ask their
students to do their assignments in the form of PPT (PowerPoint). This device
is already available in a smartphone. Here, the students can use their
smartphones to do their assignments which require this device. When it comes to
presentation, the students mostly tend to use their smartphones to present
their presentation. Use of such devices can also contribute to more attractive
teaching and learning processes, thus catering, with their applications, to
different learning styles (Buck et al., 2013). Therefore, mobile phones have
the potential to make learning more accessible, collaborative and relevant
(UNESCO, 2012).
Tangney
et al. (2010) argue that, given their inherent capacity to motivate
collaboration and contextualized learning, mobile technologies have the
potential to contribute to Mathematics Education. When the students of Junior
High School find difficulty in calculating numbers or use various equations in Mathematics,
their smartphones will help them solve their problems in Math. According to
research, students of Junior High School in Jakarta actively participate in
teaching and learning process in class using their smartphones. Moreover,
smartphones make learning more interesting, more enjoyable and therefore more
attractive to learners, Atwell, et al (2009). In the status quo, the students
of Junior High School prefer using mobile learning methods to using common way
of teaching. In addition to making learning in class more interesting, they can
also explore more information in the Internet.
There
are, however, some people arguing that using smartphones will distract
students’ attention from their lessons. It is because they use their
smartphones only for games and browsing inappropriate information. According to
data compiled by the research firm Nielsen, 58 percent of American children
from 13 to 17 years old owned a smartphone as of July 2012—an increase of more
than 60 percent over the previous year. In 2012, however, studies show that
there are more than 68 out of 100 Junior High School students who actively use
their smartphones during the learning and teaching process in class do not
actively participate in class activities. It is because they are flattered with
interesting facilities which their smartphones provide. As a result, they use
their smartphones only for games and browsing inappropriate information.
However, this idea cannot be a good reason for not letting the students of
Junior High School use smartphones. Gibson et al. (2012) also say that, even
though many teachers consider mobile phones a distraction in the classroom,
others believe they are beneficial. When the teaching and learning process is
on, the teacher will always supervise their students from what they are doing.
It means that there is no time for the students to play games on their
smartphones and browse inappropriate information in the learning process.
Using
smartphones in inappropriate way causes students’ achievements decrease. This
idea is completely groundless. A mobile phone also had been used to improve
students’ learning performances (UNESCO, 2012). According to Tella (2003), a
mobile devices enable to develop the cognitive competence of students and
motivated the students to learn. It is because smartphones provide the students
with various applications which are extremely useful for them, Google, for
instance. When they find difficulty in answering questions in a particular
subject, they can easily access the Internet and type anything on Google. A
mobile learning enables to increase and expand the learning opportunity
(UNESCO, 2005). Besides, a mobile phone also had been used to improve students’
learning performances (UNESCO, 2012).
Can
we therefore conclude that using smartphones during the teaching and learning
process brings many advantages to Junior High School students such as being
able to access to the Internet easily, keeping in touch with their friends,
doing assignments which require smartphones’ facilities (PPT, Ms. Word, and
many more), and make them eager to study hard, since they learn things in a new
way; that is using smartphones. However, the teachers should also supervise
their students when they use their smartphones in classroom activities so that
the students will not use their smartphones in inappropriate ways such as
playing games in class using their smartphones. Therefore, I strongly agree to
the use of smartphones in class for Junior High School students.
References:
UNESCO (2013). Policy guidelines for mobile learning [Guidelines].
Paris, France. Retrieved May 09, 2015, from http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0021/002196/219641e.pdf
Duggan, Maeve. "Cell Phone Activities 2013." Pew Research
Center's Internet & American Life Project. Pew Internet & American Life
Project, 19 Sept. 2013. Web. 14 Oct. 2013.
Buck, J. L., McInnis, E., & Randolph, C. (2013). The new frontier of
education: the impact of smartphone technology in the classroom. Proceedings of
the ASEE Southeast Section Conference, Atlanta, GA, United States, 120, 11p.
UNESCO (2012). Turning on Mobile Learning in Latin America: Illustrative
Initiatives and Policy Implications. [Working Paper Series on Mobile Learning].
Paris, France. Retrieved May 09, 2015, from http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0021/002160/216080e.pdf
Tangney, B., Weber, S., O’Hanlon, P., Knowles, D., Munnelly, J.,
Salkham, A., Watson, R., Jennings, K. (2010,October). MobiMaths: An approach to
utilising smartphones in teaching mathematics. Proceedings of the World
Conference on Mobile and Contextual Learning (mLearn2010), Valletta, Malta, 9,
9-16.
Attewel, J., Savel-Smith, C., & Douch, R. (2009). The Impact of
Mobile Learning. London, UK: Newnorth Print Ltd.
"Play before Work Games Most Popular Mobile App Category in the
US." Nielsen. The NielsenCompany, 7 June 2011. Web. 14 Oct.
2013.<http://www.nielsen.com/us/en/newswire/2011/games-most-popular-mobile-app-category.html>.
Gibson, J., Taylor, T., Seymour, Z., Smith, D. T., & Fries, T. P.
(2012). Educational aspects of undergraduate research on smartphone application
development. Proceedings of the World Multi-Conference on Systemics,
Cybernetics and Informatics (WMSCI 2012), Orlando, FL, USA , 16, 211-216.
Tella, S. (2003). M-learning – cybertextual travelling or a herald of
post-modern education. H Kynäslahti and P Seppälä (eds) Mobile learning (pp.
7–21). Helsinki: IT–Press.
UNESCO. (2005). Mobile Learning for Expanding Educational Opportunities.
Thailand: UNESCO Asia and Pasicif Regional Beurau.
UNESCO. (2012). Turning on
Mobile Learning in Africa and the Middle East. Paris: UNESCO.
By: Dinda Maulana
Final Project
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