GEM-4

Chapter 4 in this book is titled "Misuse of Mobile Communication Devices and Cyberbullying." At first I was apprehensive if these two should be included in one chapter, but it turned out to work very well and cover many different necessary problems and recommendations to fix them. This chapter continues to go along with the theme of the rest of the book and relate to chapter 6 of the ISTE book we used during class time.

This chapter talks about misuse and abuse of mobile communication devices (MCDs) in the classroom. Teachers have seen cheating, videos posted without permission, cyberbullying, etc. in schools with the rise of MCDs. Students are able to text others for test answers, make lists of answers, and even simply find answers online during tests which is causing problems in classroom testing. Audio, video, text, and photos have been posted without permission which has been getting many students into trouble with teachers and administrators. Also, many students are being cyberbullied during the school day and after the school day on social sights like Facebook, Myspace, and Twitter. This problem comes in many shapes and forms and is not always easy to identify. Many schools are simply banning the use of MCDs to try to solve this problem, but that makes many students want to try to use them even more. Some schools are implementing planned use, but even then many students are using them outside of the rules. This book suggests to embrace them and find ways to use these MCDs in classroom settings so that students are using them for learning rather than harm. There is a list of measures to take if students are being cyberbullied. Make sure teachers, students, and parents understand any policy in place for MCDs in schools.

This chapter is useful because it gives uses for MCDs in schools that help students learn. However, it is a stretch for those of us going into elementary education. Even though children are getting students younger and younger, it is not realistic to expect that each student in your 3rd grade classroom will have a cell phone or other MCD.