Cell Phones, iPods, Netbooks... all banned from the classroom.

I live a very technologically advanced life.  And, frankly, most people now between 4 and 60 do.  Corporate executives each have at least one Blackberry phone and children on the train are playing their Nintendo DS.  Middle aged women are reconnecting with high school classmates on Facebook (my mother the prime example).  And widowed senior citizens are looking online for dates.  And of course teenagers are blogging, tweeting, IMing, updating online profiles, purchasing things online, searching online encyclopedias, etc.

Technology is an integral part to many Americans' lives but almost none of it is permitted in the classroom.  And when it is, we set strict limits and give stern warnings about deviating from the lesson.  I can't remember the last time I wrote a paper and didn't respond to emails, update my Facebook status, or download my latest credit card transactions.  We talk about integrating technology into the classroom, and then we do so in a completely forced and unnatural way. 

The question should no longer be 'how do we integrate technology,' but rather should be 'how do we integrate learning into technology.'  But the world is changing and so will education.  Textbooks are now being scrapped for tablet computers with textbooks installed.  It's economical - saves raw material, distribution expenses, and perhaps even sales people.  These "texts" will begin to be fully technologically integrated with immediate access to interactive maps, video, audio, blogs, demonstrations, and more. 

Cell phones are an obvious first step to every student having a tablet computer.  The school in which I teach is located in what is considered an area of concentrated poverty, however, about 75% of the students have cell phones.  Texting in answers can provide for immediate formative assessment data.  Calling in verbal responses perhaps is a better (and more universal) way of checking for understanding than writing on paper.  And taking pictures with camera phones is a much better way for students to show things from home (ex: find examples of levers in your home).  The cell phone ideas and Google Literature trips are just two great ways to integrate technology, but it's time that we make technology the medium for education - not an add-on.