In the world of ‘anywhere, anytime learning’, students need most of all to learn how to use technology wisely, writes Andrew Stevenson.

MOBILE phones, the ubiquitous accompaniment of youth, have broken through the resistance of schools, gradually taking over the playground and preparing for a final assault on the classroom.

Public schools are allowed to set their own policies. Some, such as Haberfield, demand children hand mobile phones in at the office; others, including Roseville, operate a more permissive system, allowing students to capture digital images of other students provided such use does not threaten the safety of any person, break any law and provided the photographs are taken with ”the permission and/or knowledge of the target”.

While students say they need their phones to keep in touch, modern smartphones are capable of communicating with everyone – illustrated perfectly last week when a bullying attack at a Sydney school was captured on a phone, posted online and viewed the world over…

The article closes with:

Asked what life would be like without her mobile, Bianca Corallo had a simple answer: ”Boring – I would be blocked off from the rest of the world.”

Laura Ferreira said: ”Without your mobile you wouldn’t really be able to communicate except by actually talking to someone.”

The full article can be read here…