NEW YORK (UPI) — New York’s school system is instructing teachers on how to integrate cell phones into their lessons — despite a citywide ban on mobile phones in schools.
The city Department of Education’s Office of Instructional Technology has been offering teachers the courses, which include a lesson planned Friday on how to use cell phones to search word definitions, currency exchange rates and maps on Google, the New York Sun reported.
Lisa Nielsen, the creator of the class and a manager of professional development at the technology department, said the purpose of the lessons is not to undermine Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg’s ban on the electronic devices.
However, she said she does not agree with the city’s stance, views cell phones as “brain extenders” that students should be taught to harness productively, and thinks schools should be able to set their own cell phone policies.
“I think that we should respect their views and let them lead the school the way they feel is most effective,” she said.
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