Student WiFi: Wi’s and Wi-Not’s?
Starting this year, the school has introduced a Wi-Fi network exclusively for student phones. The reason for this? The use of phones as tools for internet access in class or during assemblies has been growing. Ms. Krieger, director of educational support, says that, logically, “if teachers are expecting students to be utilizing devices during school, then we are required to provide wi-fi for those devices.” Though phone usage was once discouraged at school, quick internet access has become increasingly essential to learning both in and out of the classroom. Thus it has become important to democratize such access, so that everyone is on equal playing field when asked to utilize devices.
While some students complain of slow connections or limited access, Mr. Louie, director of educational technology at JCHS, explains that the limitations for this network are essentially the same as the ones for student computers — meaning that there are identical restrictions on video streaming and gaming. The only reason ‘Student Phones’ is a separate wi-fi network is to “prevent the likelihood of jams occurring as a result of misuse of wi-fi or too many devices on one network,” says Mr. Louie. But does this new wi-fi network for phones fulfill its purpose, or does it serve as a distraction when students should be focusing in class?
While one might assume that such access might result in an increase of improper usage, a quick survey of students and teachers indicates that phone activity in class has mostly remained the same. Ms. Krieger observes that “phones are a distraction, but having wi-fi doesn’t increase that—students were using their phones just as much before. In general, their computers are just as distracting.” In other words, students who get easily distracted by their phones were using them just as much before, and the new network does not seem to escalate that problem. And perhaps phones aren’t even the biggest issue—while phones can be an obvious distraction, computers can still be misused in class more discreetly. Senior Sophia Brodie-Weisberg goes so far as to say that “ninety-percent of the time, when students say they’re taking notes in class on their computer, they’re actually doing something else.”
The use of technology in the classroom in general still poses the same questions: how can technology be used for productivity instead of distraction? And how can teachers ensure that technology increases student involvement in class instead of hindering it? While perhaps technology will always invitingly offer distractions, it is also safe to conclude that phones aren’t serving as any more of a distraction than they were before, now that the new wi-fi network is in place. When it comes down to it, all students need to have equal access to a learning platform that is more and more a part of our modern education, and it is up to the school to make sure that this availability is granted.
