The new academic year started on September 15. With the start of classes, the posts made by students on their social media accounts have also come to the fore. In particular, it is noteworthy that some students open live broadcasts during class hours and state that the lessons are ineffective or empty.
Although certain restrictions are placed on students' use of mobile phones during class, observations show that these rules are not fully applied in some schools.
It is interesting, is it appropriate to apply more serious restrictions on students' use of phones and social media during class?
Sona Aliyeva, "Honored Teacher", who gave a statement to AzEdu.az on the topic, noted that a student entering a social network during class and especially opening a live broadcast from the classroom cannot be accepted as normal behavior:
“In my opinion, the approach to phone use during class should not be based on punishment. Of course, giving complete freedom on this topic is also wrong. There are already rules of conduct in Azerbaijan regarding this. Therefore, the concern of society is related to the extent to which the rules are consistently applied in schools.
A student entering a social network during class and especially opening a live broadcast from the classroom cannot be accepted as normal behavior. Filming without the consent of the teacher and other students, and publicly displaying the lesson process creates both a disciplinary and digital ethics issue at school. Also, if a student says “the lesson is empty” in a live broadcast, it is not right to automatically accept it as truth, and it is unacceptable to completely ignore it.
The recurrence of such cases should be a certain signal for schools. Because sometimes the phone is not the cause of the problem, but the result of distraction from the lesson. For this reason, it is possible to keep phones in special storage places during class in schools, to allow their use only for educational purposes, and to apply pre-determined consistent measures for rule violations. But solving everything with technical means, for example, cutting off communication in school with signal blockers, is not the right approach”.
If the teacher himself uses the phone during class, it becomes difficult to demand digital discipline from the student:
“Here, the teacher and the parent also have responsibility. If the school sets a rule, it must apply it with the same principles for all parties. If the teacher himself uses the phone during class, it becomes difficult to demand digital discipline from the student. The parent should also know that there should be an alternative channel determined by the school to contact their child during class.
As part of the educational process, we should not just tell the child to “put the phone away”. Digital behavior, responsibility on social networks, not sharing someone else's image without permission, and purposeful use of technology should also become part of school education. Both parents and teachers should understand that the goal is not to take the phone from the student. The goal is to protect their attention during class, create a healthy educational environment at school, and at the same time teach the child to manage their digital behavior”.
