What hat shall I put on when thinking about Mobiles in the classroom?

DeBono's Six Thinking Hats is a thinking tool that allows individuals and groups to express their opinions and feelings about a certain topic. Throughout this post I will be writing about the topic "Mobile Phones In Classrooms". I will be utilizing the wiki of our cohort and sharing the consensus of everyone's opinions and categorizing them into each hat.

My personal opinion of this topic is that I believe mobile phones should not be allowed in the classroom. I remember when I was in high school and got my first phone and I was constantly on it playing the old game Snake. I was often distracted and disengaged from learning because of this old game. I can only imagine the disengagement of students these days with the advancements of phones with all their games, apps and social networking. There are enough technological tools that can help teachers to keep students engaged and enjoy learning such as smart-boards/projectors, computers and Ipads. I believe all students should own a mobile phone whilst away from home purely for safety but not whilst in the classroom, this is where they need to be left in their bags.

The Black Hat (Negative)

1. Distraction to the individual as well as others in the vicinity. 
2. Security measures to keep the individual safe from explicit exposure.
3. The costs to parents for buying, maintaining and replacing/repairing of the phones.

The Blue Hat (Process)

1.  Design a way to utilize them effectively in the classroom.
2. The necessity to keep up to date with modern technology in society.

 The Green Hat (Creative)

1. Phones bring a lot of extra resources into the classroom.
2. Can replace some learning areas such as completing homework on the phone.
3. Allows more opportunity for individuals to express themselves through phone technology. 

The Red Hat (Intuitive) 

1. Arguments on which device would actually be better owned by a individual in the classroom, Smartphone, Ipod or Ipad. 
2.  So much uncertainty of how successful this would be in a classroom
3. Positive and negative opinions of the topic so there always be some individuals not happy with the decisions made. 

The Yellow Hat (Positive)

1. It is a great engagement tool as long as the use parameters are set to keep learners on task.
2. Helps with organisation of the individual, diaries, calenders, due times and homework. 
3. Can promote a high level of learning through available apps. 

The White Hat (Objective)

1. What age levels do we allow learners to use them?
2. More time spent tutoring spent tutoring the learners how to actually use it.
3. Possible increase of cyber-bullying.

Overall participating in this wiki experience and reading everyone's opinions and judgements on this topic was a great experience. I have learned a lot not only about the use of DeBono's system but also the many different views of Mobile Phone use. Using both a wiki and the DeBono's system would be a great resource to utilize in the classroom with your learners as it is interactive and engaging.