Surfing the web used to be something that was only possible while sitting at a desk and being plugged into a wall. Now, with the advent of smart cell phones, people can connect to the Internet anywhere. Students can quickly do research on a topic while sitting anywhere. The access to immediate information is a very valuable educational tool.
Protecting students has become a critical responsibility of a school administrator. Events such as the 1999 Columbine High School massacre have scared both students and parents. The faster security or police are able to respond to a situation, the more likely they will be able to protect people. Students who have a cell phone create something similar to a neighborhood watch program--if they see something dangerous happening, they can immediately make a call. Speed can save lives.
Podcasting is something that has become more and more popular over the past few years. People are able to take a video and then upload it onto the Internet in different episodes, or "pods," where others are able to watch. This is an ideal tool for educators, as students can rewatch a lecture, watch a presentation that they may have missed or watch someone talk about a topic from thousands of miles away. Cell phones have the ability to show podcasts, enabling students to watch them from virtually anywhere.
Being able to call a child is not an everyday need. But emergencies happen, and if ones does, you will want to be able to get in touch with a child immediately. Having to burden someone at the school to find one child among what can be thousands can take a long time. Being able to call that child on her cell phone is the easiest and fastest way of communicating in these types of emergency situations.