More than half (53 percent) of middle and high school students said the largest obstacle they face in using educational technology today is not being able to use their own cell phone, smart phone, or MP3 player for mobile learning in school.
Many forward-thinking districts have completed mobile device pilots or currently support mobile device initiatives that involve both school-supplied devices and student-owned devices.
The Plano, Texas, Independent School District previously has piloted mobile device initiatives for students, and Associate Superintendent for Academic and Technology Services Jim Hirsch said the district now has more than 10,000 K-12 students connecting to the district’s network each day with a personal mobile device.
“Discipline referrals for inappropriate use of devices have fallen now that our students are allowed and encouraged to use their devices during school,” he said. “As always, the students meet our expectations, and the use now is educational, not subversive or secretive.”
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Kajeet-powered devices will feature network-based controls that can be applied to both the available features on the devices as well as the interactions the devices have with the school or district network.
School leaders will be able to control the student devices based on individual users or groups of users, with different settings for different times of the day, Flood said.
For instance, network administrators might turn off the devices’ ability to send or receive phone calls or text messages during school hours, and they might choose to block all streaming video access except for pre-approved educational streaming services. Certain groups of students might have access to different applications or features than other groups on a case-by-case basis, or depending on the needs of a teacher or his or her lessons.
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