Free iPhones are being doled out to the lucky pupils at the Gumley House Convent School in West London. It’s not an early Christmas present, but a classroom trial to test their effectiveness as learning aids.
Instead of fighting the often losing battle of trying to ban the use of mobile phones in school, Gumley House is taking the opposite approach – well, when it comes to a privileged group of 30 pupils, anyway.
That’s how many kids will be taking part in the iPhone trial, which will last until the end of the academic year. The pupils will only have to fork out for any calls they make on their iPhone 3GS, with the rest of the tab being picked up by Brentford City Learning Centre.
Pupils will be actively encouraged to interact with their phones during lessons, although it isn’t clear whether they will be given free reign to play Super Monkey Ball or if access will be restricted to specific education-related apps.
The group involved in the trial will meet on a regular basis to share ideas and discuss how using the phone is impacting on their learning. However, critics have questioned the wisdom of the scheme. Speaking to the BBC, Katie Ivens from the Campaign for Real Education argued that “mobile phones have quite rightly been banned from many classrooms as they prove to be a distraction. The case for learning by computer has not been proved at all”.
Perhaps the pupils should swot up on our How to Stream TV on your iPhone feature for more lesson-busting tips.