My school partnered with Sprint

[Jalapeñomel]

We are what is called a community school, where the community and school partner together, and Sprint gave community schools in our district a massive grant/partnership.

It includes free smartphones (Samsung LGs I believe) and 3G of data a month (it's actually unlimited in the sense that they don't pay overages, it just slows down a lot) for every student. They can have this phone as long as they are enrolled in a community school (it travels with them if they move to a different community school in the city) and until they graduate.

I accidentally posted this on P&CE, oops!

[drink227]

While I see they have a point, cell phone are the root of a lot of problems. Thinking about cyber bullying and all the issues phone can cause I don't know if I can get behind this. On the other hand there are so many apps we recommend but not all students (Middle School) have access to smart phones.

[Jalapeñomel]

Sept 22, 2017 20:18:57 GMT -5 drink227 said:

While I see they have a point, cell phone are the root of a lot of problems. Thinking about cyber bullying and all the issues phone can cause I don't know if I can get behind this. On the other hand there are so many apps we recommend but not all students (Middle School) have access to smart phones.

For the most part, my students already have phones, so I can't see much changing with regards to the madness that happens online.

But since the data is unlimited and can be used as a hotspot, it will be so crucial for them to be able to do many chem simulations (I don't have gas in my room because it's used as a classroom and a lab), and I can go paperless with homework (I'd like to go all paperless, but for that, we'd need laptops).

Also, their families can use this hotspot to do things online like apply for jobs.

[imimahoney]

I think that's awesome! My students use their phones daily for work (we are BYOD) and sometimes chromebooks aren't available. Out of my 110 students 3 don't have smart phones and I hate when they feel unprepared in class. This would take away that issue.

[sarahswim]

This is awesome! What a great opportunity for your students and their families.