Cell Phones in the Classroom: Preservice Teachers’ Perceptions

Source: Journal of Digital Learning in Teacher Education, Volume 30, Issue 1, 2013 ת pages 11-20

This study examined the perceptions of preservice teachers regarding their support of the use of cell phones in the classroom, the benefits of specific cell phone features for school-related work, and the instructional benefits of and barriers to using cell phones in the classroom.
The study also compared the perceptions of the preservice teachers classified as digital natives with those of the preservice teachers classified as digital immigrants to determine if there was a relationship between perceptions and age.
The participants were 92 preservice teachers enrolled at a small Midwestern liberal arts university, who answered a survey.

The results indicated that although most of the preservice teachers were unsure about allowing cell phones in the classroom, they indicated that the devices’ calculator, access to the Internet, and audio player features provided instructional benefits.
In addition, more than half identified anywhere/anytime learning opportunities, increased student engagement, opportunities for differentiation of instruction, increased communication, and increased student motivation as benefits of using cell phones in the classroom.
Their leading concerns included classroom disruptions and cheating.
The results of this study have implications for teacher education programs that are interested in teaching/modeling the use of mobile technology in classroom instruction as well as bring your own device (BYOD) initiatives.