What 2024 holds for technology use in classrooms
By Erin Chow ‘25
In the new year at Catlin Gabel School, every classroom has been gifted a phone sleeve.
Photo by Erin Chow.
Reaching for your cell phone to browse social media and respond to notifications can be the initial reaction when the teacher starts to turn a quick warm-up into a lecture. Except now your cell phone isn’t there. Instead, it is behind a zipper or in the sleeves provided in classrooms courtesy of the new technology implementation for the remainder of the 2024 year.
It's common that when students participate in doing homework, they attempt to multitask by checking their unread messages or social media notifications. However, digital multitasking does not benefit academic performance and can hinder the ability to comprehend, recognize, and recall information. A report conducted by Common Sense Media found, “50% of teens say they ‘often’ or ‘sometimes” use social media while doing homework, while nearly two-thirds say they ‘often” or “sometimes’ text while doing homework.”
Even when phones are turned off or notifications are silenced, phones can still become a distraction whether it is conscious or subconscious. There can easily become a longing for the device to keep up with the “latest news” or scroll through the regularly updated feed.
Nationally, the “no-phone” movement has been spreading amongst a number of schools in hopes that students will be able to focus more in the classroom as phones create an obstacle to learning and also can limit in-person social interactions.
At Catlin Gabel School (CGS), faculty have recently noticed an increase in phone usage throughout class time, which slows down the learning process.
John Harnetiaux, CGS Upper School Student Dean, and CGS Upper School Division Head, Aline Garcia-Rubio, both recall reading midterms and noticing tech usage being a “common piece of feedback.”
The decision for the 2024 technology implementation was an administrative decision that used a combination of reading midterm reports, consuming extensive research on the topic, and faculty observations with the goal of creating a better classroom experience for students.
“Is there a benefit for students to have their phones in class? If there isn't, let's just remove this distraction,” said Garcia Rubio. She acknowledges this and adds, “Not everything is fixed, it's just removing one obstacle of learning.”
Before the new technology guideline, English teacher, Brett Mathes, explained how he worked with students to minimize their distractions.
“I rely on classroom management strategies – for example, by setting boundaries, reminding students to adhere to our classroom agreements and norms, asking each to set an intention for how they are showing up in our class, based on their learning goals, and building in time for transitions and breaks that allow students to manage their needs and hit the figurative ‘refresh’ button,” he said.
Now, the implementation has gained the support of many teachers who accepted the new guidelines to maintain consistency of tech usage among all the classes.
For students, the experience with the new expectation has been mixed. Sophomore Katie Jin said, “As much as I don’t like it, I think it's a step in the right direction.”
However, she believes that it would be better for students and teachers to build a relationship of trust regarding technology use in class versus completely banning usage.
Jin believes in the importance of showing students why minimizing technology usage is crucial in the learning environment, which can be done by encouraging students to research the topic.
One aspect of the new technology guideline is keeping any cellphone device behind a zipper or in the phone sleeves that hang in each of the classrooms.
CGS junior Leon Liu shared his opinion on the repetitiveness of constantly being reminded to put cell phones in the phone sleeves. “I think it takes away from class time and the workflow of whatever we are doing,” he said.
Although removing cell phones from the classroom is beneficial, senior Kalani Heston believes that students can still become distracted from their computers and other parts of their surroundings. “The computer does the same things as the phone, so if I was going to be distracted, I would still have my computer,” said Heston.
"If I get caught now, it’s an actual consequence," said ninth-grader Jack Mitchell, who is now more aware of using his technology during class. In addition, frequent reminders of abiding by the new implementation have been mentioned during assembly, posts in the bulletin, and the weekly newsletter.
One aspect of the guidelines that has received the most irritation is the usage of earbuds and headphones. Heston often likes to listen to music during class time such as “brown noise” which helps her focus. Liu and Mitchell agree and emphasize that students should be allowed to listen to music during study periods and group work time.
This addition of new technology usage expectations is still fresh and is becoming more consistently used throughout each of the classes at CGS.
In his closing thoughts, Harnetiaux mentions how part of the guideline is just “seeing how it goes” but adds his interest in hearing “student arguments for the implementation to be revised.”