One of the things I like about the style of schooling in the tertiary sector is the nonchalant attitude of lecturers towards students with regard to teaching and learning. I love the freedom that governs the learning pattern, where students are to decide whether to tag along or not, and at the end, the result dictates everything. Students have the freedom to use their phones and decide whether they distract them or not. If they are distracted by them, then they fail, and if they are able to maintain their concentration and shun the distraction, then they pass.
As funny as it sounds, that's how I see it, and I always frown at lecturers who give the order, "No phones," in their classes. It's understandable when everyone is ordered to put their phones on silent in order not to disturb the quietness of the class, but the idea of submitting one's phone in a basket before entering the lecture hall, turning off the phone before entering the lecture hall, or generally restricting students from using phones as we currently have in some primary and secondary schools is out of place.
Why use phones in class/school? Won't it be a big distraction?
During my days in school, the usefulness of phones was rated below how they are used today, but even at that, we depended on our phones a lot to get many things done, even during classes.
Back then, some of my friends were fond of video-recording the calculation processes done by the lecturer while he was explaining them. We used our phones to quickly snap items that were in limited supply, and so on.
Although it distracted us too, I won't lie, because I remember the chatting and lack of concentration while the lecturer was teaching, but even at that, it all boils down to the student's seriousness, and if they fail, the school or the lecturer who didn't restrict the use of phones should not be blamed.
Come to think of it, I have said it many times to students around me: I don't think I would have used hard-copy books if I were in school today, except for courses that require the submission of handwritten assignments. With phones in our schooling system, everything is easy-peasy, especially with the trends in AI.
Thanks for reading.
