The frustration of a teacher forced to compete against a digital device for a student’s attention must be daunting.
As more and more data is compiled about the issue, the picture is becoming crystal clear.
Excessive screen time — whether spent on a computer, television, tablet, smartphone, or combination of all of the above — has a substantially detrimental impact on a developing brain’s ability not only to learn, but also to focus and retain information.
Recognizing this irrefutable reality, the Ontario government has instituted a provincewide ban on cellphones in schools.
In Alberta, the government has no intention of following suit.
We feel the answer can be found somewhere in between.
While schools should have policies addressing the 21st century issue, a broad brushstroke ban from the top-down might not be the best approach.
No two schools and communities are the same, and educators — not bureaucrats — are best suited to develop a customized system that is most suitable for their students.
Chinook’s Edge School Division has not discussed a sweeping cellphone ban in its schools, as superintendent Kurt Sacher said the preferred approach is to work with individual schools in individual communities.
“Our teachers in different schools work together to come up with other strategies,” Sacher said during an interview.
“Classrooms in our schools have a variety of different ways to respond with cellphones…we’ve left it to the discretion of the teachers in the school.”
While digital devices do provide a positive potential in education, such as offering lightning fast access to researching information on the internet for a project, Sacher also recognized the concern not only for distraction but also for mental health, especially for middle school-aged students. All too often, what happens on social media off of school property has a tendency to find its way into the classroom, he said.
So some schools in the division have taken approaches such as students turning in their phones at the start of a class, and getting them back afterwards, he said.
“We like trusting the professional judgment of our teachers,” he said.
Although Alberta shouldn’t necessarily jump on the bandwagon with Ontario, he said it would not hurt for our province to also have a closer look at the impact of digital devices on our students’ education.
“We need to look at our context in Alberta,” he said.
And we agree.
Perhaps the UCP, which talks a mighty big game about supporting education and student development, will think about striking an expert panel to prepare a report outlining recommendations school districts throughout the province could consider in their effort to curb harmful digital device distraction in the classroom and encourage positive uses as some teachers have already done.
— Ducatel is the Round Up’s editor
