Due to threats a school may receive, a student or teacher with a cell phone could place a call directly to emergency officials, which could help ward off and prevent a devastating event. Additionally, students allowed to carry a mobile device can quickly report a medical emergency to 911 when a student becomes stricken on a playing field. Cell phones can also be used to contact parents while students are out on a field trip, or for a student pick-up due to a medical event or missing the bus.
Cell phone usage and cell phone safety could be a way for educators to connect with students by providing an interesting and educational workshop on the proper usage of a cellular device. Students often see cell phones as only a means to connect with friends and peers through calls, texts and e-mail, but students may not see other uses a cell phone can provide. Teachers could instruct students how to properly place an emergency call, and the etiquette on polite cell phone use during and outside school.
Many phones today are high-tech devices that include Internet access. Some educators could incorporate cell phones in a lesson while monitoring a student's access to the World Wide Web. Cell phones with Internet service could be used in a classroom that has limited or no Internet service -- and perhaps could prevent the teacher from having to escort students to the school's computer room. Students with Web access through a cell phone could help an educator with a quick reference search during a lesson, saving the teacher and class time that typically would be spent searching a book.
Almost all cell phones come with a range of tools that may be beneficial to the classroom, and that are educational as well. Most cellular devices already provide a calculator, calendar and clock, while some even have more advanced tools that a teacher could find handy for students. Some newer cell phone models now include a digital camera, which could be used to document classroom activities if an actual digital, or non-digital, camera cannot be found in the classroom. Some mobile devices have a video and voice recorder that could record small clips of a student's speech, a teacher's lecture or a classroom activity.