Students could use their own smart phones in class for school research projects.
LUDLOW — The School Committee has approved a pilot program to promote technology use in the schools.
School Committee member Jacob Oliveira said the School Department cannot afford a computer for every student.
To help students to be able to make use of the Internet for research, the School Committee approved a policy whereby teachers can submit proposals to their building principals which would allow students to use their own cell phones or wireless devices in class in guided projects. Parents would be asked to sign permission slips for students to participate in the program.
The pilot program has been titled Bring Your Own Device.
According to surveys done by the school district, 41 percent of students in fourth and fifth grades at Veterans Park School have a cell phone. Of those, 57 percent have smart phones that connect to the Internet. A total of 91 percent of students say they have Internet access at home. At Baird Middle School, 82 percent of students have cell phones.
Lorraine Boucher, technology coordinator for the school district, said parents would be asked to give permission for students to use their cell phones either as calculators or to access the Internet in class for research projects under the direction of the teacher.
“We are looking for ways to get technology into the hands of students,” Boucher said.
“We are looking at this as a temporary experiment, not as a permanent policy,” Boucher said. She said that until the district can afford computers for all students, teachers want to be able to teach students to access the world through technology.
“We don’t have the budget, and the kids have the technology,” School Committee member Michael Kelliher said.
The students already have the cell phones in their pockets and backpacks, Boucher said.
Kelliher said the students have the devices in school. Teachers ask them to turn the phones over and put them on the table when they don’t want the students to use the cell phones in class, he said.
Oliveira said there are some students as young as first grade who have cell phones in school. He said there are toddlers who can use iPads and cell phones.
“It is second nature to them,” he said.