Mobile technologies at school

EPA Vice President José-Manuel Prats was a member of the expert group publishing a policy paper on behalf of the SchoolEducation Council of Catalonia. We are sharing the paper because we think it can be used in the local and/or national contexts in other regions and countries.

"(1a) The School Education Council of Catalonia, a superior body of participation of the educational community in Catalonia, has, among others, the objective of studying how to improve the way in which teaching adapts to social reality, as well as drawing up its own proposals related to the quality of teaching. In accordance with these duties, this document refers to the need to make mobile technologies compatible with teaching and learning activities by using these devices effectively in schools so that their potential is used to maximum benefit and therefore strengthens the coexistence of education and mobile technologies.

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(1d) The huge social presence of technology is clearly visible in the home. In general terms, within one generation, we have gone from having no IT materials to having a range of devices at  our disposal: computers and laptops, tablets, mobile telephones and landlines, consoles and other digital devices, including televisions that connect to the Internet. Children and adolescents find this environment completely natural, whereas older people think it is largely oversold and need to make an effort to understand and adapt to it. Educating children about information and communication technology has become a necessity, even more so when mothers and fathers are the primary educators and the people legally responsible for the behaviour of minors.

(1e) The infiltration of mobile technologies into society, the population’s (particularly young people) generalised use of them, the power of their functionalities and the impact of the applications, as well as the proliferation of legislation and regulatory initiatives on various levels, clearly demonstrates, according to the School Education Council of Catalonia’s criteria, that it is convenient to raise this matter and publicise several thoughts about it. In this sense, the initial objective of this document is to provide guidelines and things to think about that could be useful for the educational community when providing adequate and satisfactory solutions to the challenges that arise from the omnipresence of mobile technologies in schools.

You can read the whole paper here

Source: http://consellescolarcat.gencat.cat/web/.content/consell_escolar/actuacions/publicacions_cec_en_pdf/static_files/Les-tecnologies-mobils_angles_web.pdf